May 16, 2012
Gilbert & Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody
Carolyn Williams
Chair, Department of English, Rutgers University
Gilbert & Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody
Carolyn Williams
Chair, Department of English, Rutgers University
Minutes of the 33rd Meeting of the 70th Year
The 33rd meeting of the 70th year of the Old Guard was held at the Carl Fields Center.
Following the well-attended annual guest day reception, President Varrin gaveled to order the 111 members and their guests at 10:15 AM.
Tom Fulmer led the invocation.
Jo Johnson read his minutes of the preceding week’s meeting, describing the talk given by Mark Burstein, Executive Vice President, Princeton University, on the topic "The Evolving Princeton Campus."
President Varrin welcomed the guests as a group, instead of individually, due to their number. He then orchestrated the dispatch of several pieces of Old Guard business that customarily wrap up the end of the program year. He called upon Nick Wilson, Nominating Committee chair, to announce the slate of officers and committee chairs proposed for the 71st year of the Old Guard. Nick carried out this duty by reading the nominee names and offices proposed by the committee. He invited further nominations from the floor and, being none, announced that a vote by members on the slate as proposed would be held the following week, the last meeting of the program year.
Next, Jack Reilly, Membership Chair, welcomed 13 newly elected members as the Class of May 2012 whom he called by name to stand to the applause of the assemblage.
President Varrin completed the business segment of the meeting by recognizing Jim Ferry, Jim Livingston, and Jack Reilly for their service to The Old Guard as officers and committee chairs over the last three years. He presented each with a blazer patch carrying the distinctive Coat of Arms of the Old Guard of Princeton, New Jersey.
Landon Jones introduced the speaker, Carolyn Williams, whom he called "the very model of a modern major English professor." Professor Carolyn Williams chairs the Department of English at Rutgers University, where she teaches Victorian literature and culture, with particular interests in Victorian theater and poetry. She has written extensively about the essayist and critic Walter Pater and also about George Elliot. Until 2010 she was Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of the Writers at Rutgers and the Writers from Rutgers reading series. She was the founding Director of Writers House. She has been a leading voice in fostering student study groups. Her work as a scholar and teacher has earned her several prestigious awards, including the Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Scholar-Teacher Award in 2010. Beyond Rutgers, she has served on the Supervisory Board of The English Institute and the Executive Board of The Dickens Project.
She is a graduate of Wellesley College and earned her Master's and PhD degrees in English from the University of Virginia. She was a Guggenheim fellow in 2004-2005.
Lanny's spirited introduction concluded with the report that he had checked out student feedback on the "Rate My Professor" website and found only superstar comments for Professor Williams.
As Professor Williams took the podium, an outline of her topic she had prepared was distributed to all attendees (copy attached). This turned out to be very helpful and served as an illustration of how a high-performance teacher eases the student into her presentation.
Her talk was based on her most recent book, published by Columbia University Press (2011), titled “Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody.” The book contains an introduction to her ideas on the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (hereafter, “G&S“), followed by a chapter on each of the 14 operas written in the period of their collaboration from 1871 to 1897.
Professor Williams explained that she would introduce the basic ideas she has developed from her studies of Victorian culture as laid out in her book and would then illustrate her arguments by diving deeply into two areas discussed in her book: 1) G&S uses of gender parody and cross-dressing, and 2) G&S takes on culture & culture difference.
In her overview, she drew examples extensively from among 6 of the 14 operas: The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Pinanze, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Ruddigore, and Utopia, Limited. She asks "What are these operas like?" She cited several characteristics in terms of what she calls "nutshells" : Genre, Parody, and Gender.
Genre
Professor Williams credits G&S with the invention of a new genre, called English comic opera. This was an important innovation, the essential precursor to modern-day musical comedy theater. G&S created their comic operas by weaving parodies of prior genres: grand opera, melodrama, burlesque, pantomime, music hall, and their topical subdivisions (nautical melodrama, child pantomime, etc.).
The new genre did not make an immediate hit in London. It was recognized by English audiences only after the huge success of HMS Pinafore in performances in New York and Philadelphia. These caused a craze in the U.S., news of which rippled across the Atlantic. Londoners were alerted that something new and important was afoot. Prominence and fame came soon after. The new genre is alive today; G&S performances can always be found in most cities in the world.
Parody
She defined the term “parody” to be “a comedic refunctioning of pre-formed artistic, linguistic, or musical material”; in other words, parody is a comic recycling of something pre-formed that came before. Thus, parody lends an historical dimension to the humor. One of her main areas of study focuses on genre parody; she cited HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Pinzance as parodies that retain a recognizable reference to the older idea of the nautical melodramas prominent at the time of the Napoleonic wars.
G&S operas poked fun at many social and cultural norms. Gilbert, in particular, developed a deadpan style of acting that he used to effect. Typically, an absurd parodic situation would be set up. The actors would then proceed to play out the logical consequences in deadpan earnestness. She cites The Sorcerer as an early (1877) example of genre parody in which the plot centers around the comical idea of a “professional sorcerer” (itself a parodic name) who vends a love potion to the village with farcical effects on everyone falling in love with the wrong persons.
Gender
The Savoy Theater operas (Patience, Iolanthe) were the first to make fun of gender roles and the way they are reinforced in culture and society. Professor Williams defined sex and gender as distinct attributes to explain G&S mixing of sex and gender roles as sources of humor. She defined sex as the biological attribute: male and female; gender on the other hand is learned behavior: masculine and feminine. She noted that G&S uses of sex and gender parody as sources of humor is obvious once you look for it.
Closer focus on gender and gender-bending
The treatment of gender in G&S reflects the social discussions of the day regarding gender roles in society. Questions as to whether men are becoming more like women and vice-versa, and how perfect gentlemen should be, and how masculine may a woman be? G&S make a point of focusing on conventional femininity such as Iolanthe as she rises from a streambed where she has been buried for 100 years, yet she looked charming. (The speaker noted this is a parody of Das Reingold.)
G&S were also obsessed with unconventional femininity (and masculinity). Williams made connections to 19th century burlesque for G&S parodies of unconventional femininity such as the fairy queen in Iolanthe, or the cello-like figure of Lady Jane in Patience who when asked by the poet "Well, pretty damsel you are!" answered "No, not pretty, massive!"
As for the masculine gender, the ideal are the soldiers and the sailors. The call for attitude of all sailors in HMS Pinafore implies the learned nature of masculinity. The able seaman Ralph Rackshaw, the hero of HMS Pinafore, is a true-blue representation of the perfect Jolly Jack Tar, who is so good and trusting as to border on stupidity.
Unconventional masculinity also appears in the character of the pirate king in Pinanze. He appears before the high magistrate in an unconventional and alarming costume (a pirate "skirt"). In Patience, dragoons must act effete to attract their the women's return.
Cross-dressing is another gender-bender. Williams gave several examples: female to male - pantomime of a male by a female wearing a tight fitting doublet that shows off her figure unmistakably female that would ordinarily be frowned upon in real Victorian life.
Male actors playing feminine roles were often used in 19th century burlesque and pantomime to create a figure of a large, bossy, battle-ax: The Dame, a composite figure out of Wagnerian opera. G&S applied this male persona to cast the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe.
Culture and culture difference
Professor Williams shifted to the second of her deep dives: culture and culture difference.
Prior to Mikado, the genres used by G&S were of English or continental origin. With the expansion of the British Empire came contacts with other cultures There was a craze in France to collect Japanese artifacts such as blue chinaware. A cultural arts exhibit known as The Japanese village was on display in London, and luckily was staffed by Japanese people. A fortuitous encounter by Gilbert with the people of the village inspired him to write The Mikado, an entirely new Japanese opera in the genre of English comedy. He insisted that the opera be completely faithful in all respects to the Japanese culture, including understanding how the Japanese themselves would act in the roles and have his English players do the same. The clash of cultures makes this awkward, but the people came to learn from one other. G&S wind up with a new pattern: English actors performing Japanese themes in Japanese style in English comedic genre with Japanese musical score composed by an Englishman.
The talk finished with a few remarks about commercial uses of the Mikado.
A short question and answer period ensued until the time limit when the meeting was called to a close to enthusiastic applause.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles Stenard
Attachments:
Q&A
Speaker’s outline
Q&A:
1. How did the order of names get to be G&S? Was it ever S&G?
Answer: During all the years of their contentious collaboration, only one early play listed Sullivan first.
2. Where does this genre fit into our culture today?
Answer: G&S still performed world-wide and retains its teaching messages. Great productions are performed in most major cities continually.
3. Why was Gilbert not knighted until late in life?
Answer: Gilbert was a sales baron - he was anti-law and litigious in real life. It was not the practice to knight playwrights, whereas Sullivan was in addition a musician, so he was the first playwright to be knighted. However, Gilbert was eventually knighted.
4. How did Gilbert's vast vocabulary contribute to the G&S success?
Answer: Command of short words and longer three syllable words contributed to rapid-patter triplets,
5. Method of authoring?
Answer: Draft passes back & forth in an elaborate process.
Following the well-attended annual guest day reception, President Varrin gaveled to order the 111 members and their guests at 10:15 AM.
Tom Fulmer led the invocation.
Jo Johnson read his minutes of the preceding week’s meeting, describing the talk given by Mark Burstein, Executive Vice President, Princeton University, on the topic "The Evolving Princeton Campus."
President Varrin welcomed the guests as a group, instead of individually, due to their number. He then orchestrated the dispatch of several pieces of Old Guard business that customarily wrap up the end of the program year. He called upon Nick Wilson, Nominating Committee chair, to announce the slate of officers and committee chairs proposed for the 71st year of the Old Guard. Nick carried out this duty by reading the nominee names and offices proposed by the committee. He invited further nominations from the floor and, being none, announced that a vote by members on the slate as proposed would be held the following week, the last meeting of the program year.
Next, Jack Reilly, Membership Chair, welcomed 13 newly elected members as the Class of May 2012 whom he called by name to stand to the applause of the assemblage.
President Varrin completed the business segment of the meeting by recognizing Jim Ferry, Jim Livingston, and Jack Reilly for their service to The Old Guard as officers and committee chairs over the last three years. He presented each with a blazer patch carrying the distinctive Coat of Arms of the Old Guard of Princeton, New Jersey.
Landon Jones introduced the speaker, Carolyn Williams, whom he called "the very model of a modern major English professor." Professor Carolyn Williams chairs the Department of English at Rutgers University, where she teaches Victorian literature and culture, with particular interests in Victorian theater and poetry. She has written extensively about the essayist and critic Walter Pater and also about George Elliot. Until 2010 she was Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of the Writers at Rutgers and the Writers from Rutgers reading series. She was the founding Director of Writers House. She has been a leading voice in fostering student study groups. Her work as a scholar and teacher has earned her several prestigious awards, including the Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Scholar-Teacher Award in 2010. Beyond Rutgers, she has served on the Supervisory Board of The English Institute and the Executive Board of The Dickens Project.
She is a graduate of Wellesley College and earned her Master's and PhD degrees in English from the University of Virginia. She was a Guggenheim fellow in 2004-2005.
Lanny's spirited introduction concluded with the report that he had checked out student feedback on the "Rate My Professor" website and found only superstar comments for Professor Williams.
As Professor Williams took the podium, an outline of her topic she had prepared was distributed to all attendees (copy attached). This turned out to be very helpful and served as an illustration of how a high-performance teacher eases the student into her presentation.
Her talk was based on her most recent book, published by Columbia University Press (2011), titled “Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody.” The book contains an introduction to her ideas on the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (hereafter, “G&S“), followed by a chapter on each of the 14 operas written in the period of their collaboration from 1871 to 1897.
Professor Williams explained that she would introduce the basic ideas she has developed from her studies of Victorian culture as laid out in her book and would then illustrate her arguments by diving deeply into two areas discussed in her book: 1) G&S uses of gender parody and cross-dressing, and 2) G&S takes on culture & culture difference.
In her overview, she drew examples extensively from among 6 of the 14 operas: The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Pinanze, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Ruddigore, and Utopia, Limited. She asks "What are these operas like?" She cited several characteristics in terms of what she calls "nutshells" : Genre, Parody, and Gender.
Genre
Professor Williams credits G&S with the invention of a new genre, called English comic opera. This was an important innovation, the essential precursor to modern-day musical comedy theater. G&S created their comic operas by weaving parodies of prior genres: grand opera, melodrama, burlesque, pantomime, music hall, and their topical subdivisions (nautical melodrama, child pantomime, etc.).
The new genre did not make an immediate hit in London. It was recognized by English audiences only after the huge success of HMS Pinafore in performances in New York and Philadelphia. These caused a craze in the U.S., news of which rippled across the Atlantic. Londoners were alerted that something new and important was afoot. Prominence and fame came soon after. The new genre is alive today; G&S performances can always be found in most cities in the world.
Parody
She defined the term “parody” to be “a comedic refunctioning of pre-formed artistic, linguistic, or musical material”; in other words, parody is a comic recycling of something pre-formed that came before. Thus, parody lends an historical dimension to the humor. One of her main areas of study focuses on genre parody; she cited HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Pinzance as parodies that retain a recognizable reference to the older idea of the nautical melodramas prominent at the time of the Napoleonic wars.
G&S operas poked fun at many social and cultural norms. Gilbert, in particular, developed a deadpan style of acting that he used to effect. Typically, an absurd parodic situation would be set up. The actors would then proceed to play out the logical consequences in deadpan earnestness. She cites The Sorcerer as an early (1877) example of genre parody in which the plot centers around the comical idea of a “professional sorcerer” (itself a parodic name) who vends a love potion to the village with farcical effects on everyone falling in love with the wrong persons.
Gender
The Savoy Theater operas (Patience, Iolanthe) were the first to make fun of gender roles and the way they are reinforced in culture and society. Professor Williams defined sex and gender as distinct attributes to explain G&S mixing of sex and gender roles as sources of humor. She defined sex as the biological attribute: male and female; gender on the other hand is learned behavior: masculine and feminine. She noted that G&S uses of sex and gender parody as sources of humor is obvious once you look for it.
Closer focus on gender and gender-bending
The treatment of gender in G&S reflects the social discussions of the day regarding gender roles in society. Questions as to whether men are becoming more like women and vice-versa, and how perfect gentlemen should be, and how masculine may a woman be? G&S make a point of focusing on conventional femininity such as Iolanthe as she rises from a streambed where she has been buried for 100 years, yet she looked charming. (The speaker noted this is a parody of Das Reingold.)
G&S were also obsessed with unconventional femininity (and masculinity). Williams made connections to 19th century burlesque for G&S parodies of unconventional femininity such as the fairy queen in Iolanthe, or the cello-like figure of Lady Jane in Patience who when asked by the poet "Well, pretty damsel you are!" answered "No, not pretty, massive!"
As for the masculine gender, the ideal are the soldiers and the sailors. The call for attitude of all sailors in HMS Pinafore implies the learned nature of masculinity. The able seaman Ralph Rackshaw, the hero of HMS Pinafore, is a true-blue representation of the perfect Jolly Jack Tar, who is so good and trusting as to border on stupidity.
Unconventional masculinity also appears in the character of the pirate king in Pinanze. He appears before the high magistrate in an unconventional and alarming costume (a pirate "skirt"). In Patience, dragoons must act effete to attract their the women's return.
Cross-dressing is another gender-bender. Williams gave several examples: female to male - pantomime of a male by a female wearing a tight fitting doublet that shows off her figure unmistakably female that would ordinarily be frowned upon in real Victorian life.
Male actors playing feminine roles were often used in 19th century burlesque and pantomime to create a figure of a large, bossy, battle-ax: The Dame, a composite figure out of Wagnerian opera. G&S applied this male persona to cast the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe.
Culture and culture difference
Professor Williams shifted to the second of her deep dives: culture and culture difference.
Prior to Mikado, the genres used by G&S were of English or continental origin. With the expansion of the British Empire came contacts with other cultures There was a craze in France to collect Japanese artifacts such as blue chinaware. A cultural arts exhibit known as The Japanese village was on display in London, and luckily was staffed by Japanese people. A fortuitous encounter by Gilbert with the people of the village inspired him to write The Mikado, an entirely new Japanese opera in the genre of English comedy. He insisted that the opera be completely faithful in all respects to the Japanese culture, including understanding how the Japanese themselves would act in the roles and have his English players do the same. The clash of cultures makes this awkward, but the people came to learn from one other. G&S wind up with a new pattern: English actors performing Japanese themes in Japanese style in English comedic genre with Japanese musical score composed by an Englishman.
The talk finished with a few remarks about commercial uses of the Mikado.
A short question and answer period ensued until the time limit when the meeting was called to a close to enthusiastic applause.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles Stenard
Attachments:
Q&A
Speaker’s outline
Q&A:
1. How did the order of names get to be G&S? Was it ever S&G?
Answer: During all the years of their contentious collaboration, only one early play listed Sullivan first.
2. Where does this genre fit into our culture today?
Answer: G&S still performed world-wide and retains its teaching messages. Great productions are performed in most major cities continually.
3. Why was Gilbert not knighted until late in life?
Answer: Gilbert was a sales baron - he was anti-law and litigious in real life. It was not the practice to knight playwrights, whereas Sullivan was in addition a musician, so he was the first playwright to be knighted. However, Gilbert was eventually knighted.
4. How did Gilbert's vast vocabulary contribute to the G&S success?
Answer: Command of short words and longer three syllable words contributed to rapid-patter triplets,
5. Method of authoring?
Answer: Draft passes back & forth in an elaborate process.