The Foresters

Alfred Tennyson

Sullivan and Tennyson had worked together before, on a song cycle for tenor, The Window, written and composed in 1867–68, but not published until 1871. Sullivan and Tennyson did not find working together on The Window congenial and did not attempt work together again for over twenty years. Meanwhile, Tennyson had written a play, The Cup, that was produced with success by Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre in 1881. Encouraged by this, Tennyson started work on a play based on the Robin Hood legend, completing it after a visit to Sherwood Forest in October 1881. But Irving rejected the play on the grounds that it was not dramatic enough for his audiences at the Lyceum, who were accustomed to his sensational productions. Tennyson turned to other projects, setting The Foresters aside for several years. In 1888, American actress Mary Anderson decided to produce The Cup. Tennyson suggested that she also produce The Foresters, but again the play was set aside. In 1891, however, Anderson's brother, Joseph wrote to the American impresario Augustin Daly recommending that The Foresters would be a good project for him and his star actress Ada Rehan. Daly was enthusiastic about the play and, by September 1891, agreed to arrange a New York production. By then, Tennyson was 82 years old.[1]

The text, consisting of a mixture of blank verse and prose, contained songs and dances which Daly, at Tennyson's suggestion, approached Sullivan to compose. Daly made numerous changes to Tennyson's text, cutting dialogue, moving events from one act to another, and reassigning songs and dialogue to different characters. Henry Widmer, Daly's musical assistant, may have contributed some music to the score.[2] Sullivan completed the score by December 1891, and the play opened in New York on 17 March 1892. The piece starred Rehan as Marian and John Drew Jr. as Robin. It was a hit[3] and was then played in seven other major American cities, becoming Tennyson's greatest theatrical success. A single performance of the play was given at the Lyceum Theatre in London on the same day as the first New York performance to secure the British copyright.[1]

An English production opened at the new Daly's Theatre, in London, on 3 October 1893, by which time the author had died. It starred Rehan and Arthur Bourchier. Despite the respect in which Lord Tennyson was held, the play received poor notices in London, being called "tedious" and compared with a nursery tale, and ran for only seventeen performances.[1] Sullivan's music, by contrast, was initially well reviewed.[4] The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, for example, wrote that the songs were "set with rare taste, discrimination and melody by Sir Arthur Sullivan, whose delightful music gives charm and interest".[1]

Sullivan's biographers and scholars of his work have been unanimous in censuring Tennyson's text. Gervase Hughes wrote, "How did the author of The Idylls of the King come to put his name to such puerile rubbish?"[5] Arthur Jacobs called the piece "perhaps the oddest of all the stage works which [Sullivan] was invited to undertake."[6] Percy Young scoffed, "Devoid of any kind of merit whatsoever."[7] But some of them did not warmly review Sullivan's score either: "One of Sullivan's lamest... resourceless in magic" (Young);[7] "[not] even one memorable number" (Jacobs).[6] Recent critics, however, have praised Sullivan's contribution.[8][9]

Cast list of 1893 London production

Original New York cast shown,[3] with changes in London cast noted. Vocal ranges noted for roles that sing parts in the incidental music:

• King Richard, Coeur de Lion – George Clarke
• Prince John – John Craig
• Robin Hood, Earl of Huntingdon – John Drew, Jr. (Arthur Bourchier in London)
• Sir Richard Lea – Charles Wheatleigh (Henry Loraine in London)
• The Abbot of St. Mary's – Thomas Bridgeland (Lloyd Lowndes in London)
• The Sheriff of Nottingham – Charles LeClercq
• A Justiciary – William Gilbert
• Walter Lea, Son of Sir Richard Lea – Ralph Nisbet (Robb Harwood in London)
• Followers of Robin Hood:

Little John – Herbert Gresham

Friar Tuck – Eugene Jepson (William Owen in London)

Will Scarlet (tenor) – Hobart Bosworth

Old Much – Tyrone Power (Sidney Herbert in London)

• Maid Marian, Daughter of Sir Richard Lea (mezzo-soprano) – Ada Rehan
• Kate, Attendant on Marian (soprano) – Kitty Cheatham (Catherine Lewis in London)
• Titania (soprano) – Percy Haswell
• First Fairy (soprano) – Miss Massoni (Gaston Murray in London)
• Retainers, Messengers, Merry Men, Mercenaries, Friars, Beggars, Sailors, Peasants, etc.

The nine musical numbers, with the opening lines of text for each, are as follows:

A recording was made of the music in 2004 by the New London Orchestra, the London Chorus and soloists conducted by Ronald Corp. It is published on the Hyperion label.[10] The Northamptonshire Theatre Orchestra and A La Carte & Friends performed the piece at the 2008 International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival claiming that theirs was the first live performance with orchestra since the nineteenth century.[11]

• Hughes, Gervase (1959). The Music of Sir Arthur Sullivan. London: Macmillan. OCLC 500626743.
• Jacobs, Arthur (1986). Arthur Sullivan – A Victorian Musician. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-282033-8.
• Young, Percy M. (1971). Sir Arthur Sullivan. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. ISBN 0-460-03934-2.

• The Foresters at The G&S Archive
• Links to Midi files, lyricsand script of the play
• Vocal score at the IMSLP
• Programme from the London production
• Review of the play in The Times, 4 October 1893
• Discussion of The Foresters and Sullivan's other incidental music at the G&S Discography
• Discussion of the Hyperion recording of The Foresters (and The Contrabandista)
• The Foresters at The Robin Hood Project of the University of Rochester