Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan.[1] It was first performed by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre in London on 22 January 1887.
The first night was not altogether a success, as critics and the audience felt that Ruddygore (as it was then called) did not measure up to its predecessor, The Mikado. After some changes, including respelling the title, it achieved a run of 288 performances. The piece was profitable,[2] and the reviews were not all bad. For instance, The Illustrated London News praised the work of both Gilbert and, especially, Sullivan: "Sir Arthur Sullivan has eminently succeeded alike in the expression of refined sentiment and comic humour. In the former respect, the charm of graceful melody prevails; while, in the latter, the music of the most grotesque situations is redolent of fun."[3]
There were further changes and cuts, including a new overture, when Rupert D'Oyly Carte revived Ruddigore after the First World War. Although never a big money-spinner, it remained in the repertoire until the company closed in 1982. A centenary revival at Sadler's Wells in London restored the opera to almost its original first-night state. In 2000, Oxford University Press published a scholarly edition of the score and libretto, edited by Sullivan scholar David Russell Hulme. This restores the work as far as possible to the state in which its authors left it and includes a substantial introduction that explains many of the changes, with appendices containing some music deleted early in the run. After the expiration of the British copyright on Gilbert and Sullivan works in 1961, and especially since the Sadler's Wells production and recording, various directors have experimented with restoring some or all of the cut material in place of the 1920s D'Oyly Carte version.
^"List of Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas". gsarchive.net. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^Information from the book Tit-Willow or Notes and Jottings on Gilbert and Sullivan Operas (Archived 1 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine) by Guy H. and Claude A. Walmisley (Privately Printed, Undated, early 20th century)
^"Music: The New Comic Opera at the Savoy", The Illustrated London News, 29 January 1887, p. 117
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert...
Eugene d'Albert, The overtures to The Mikado and Ruddigore are by Hamilton Clarke (although the Ruddigore overture was later replaced by one written by Geoffrey...
in Iolanthe (1882), Pitti Sing in The Mikado (1885), Mad Margaret in Ruddigore (1887), Phoebe in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888), Tessa in The Gondoliers...
Pooh-Bah, The Mikado Reginald Bunthorne, Patience Sir Despard Murgatroyd, Ruddigore Sir Joseph Porter, H.M.S. Pinafore Sir Richard Cholmondeley (Lieutenant...
Sullivan) Nanki-Poo, The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan) Richard Dauntless, Ruddigore (Gilbert and Sullivan) Colonel Fairfax, The Yeomen of the Guard (Gilbert...
Cornwall, as do Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas The Pirates of Penzance and Ruddigore. Clara Vyvyan was the author of various books about many aspects of Cornish...
He got his big break when he was called upon to play Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore on short notice in May 1949 (and several of the other "patter" roles that...
music played under spoken dialogue, for instance, Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore (itself a parody of melodramas in the modern sense) has a short "melodrame"...
Despard Murgatroyd in a television production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore (with Keith Michell as Robin Oakapple). In 1983, he played the Sinister...
and David Janson. In 1966, Routledge sang the role of Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, the title role in Iolanthe, and Melissa in Princess Ida, in a series...
made other minor changes in the score. The "Matter Patter" trio from Ruddigore and "Sorry her lot" from H.M.S. Pinafore, two other Gilbert and Sullivan...
also had the quickest revival: after Gilbert and Sullivan's next work, Ruddigore, closed relatively quickly, three operas were revived to fill the interregnum...
against sailboats at Atlantic Ocean. In the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Ruddigore, Richard Dauntless sings of shipping out in "a revenue sloop" and encountering...
have been the inspiration for the Murgatroyd Baronets in the comic opera Ruddigore by Gilbert and Sullivan, and the opera has been performed at the Hall...
adapted for a cast of 6 to 8 and no chorus. The first was The Ghosts of Ruddigore (1997), where a couple of nerds, Amanda Goodheart and Kevin Murgatroyd...
you what I am" (King Gama) Sullivan: Ruddigore – "My boy, you may take it from me" (Robin) Sullivan: Ruddigore – "Henceforth all the crimes that I find...
"Basingstoke" is a code word in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1887 comic opera Ruddigore, used by the "bad baronet" after he reforms, to remind his bride "Mad...
Murgatroyd in Ruddigore and then reprised his original roles in revivals of Pinafore, Pirates and The Mikado in (1887–88). During rehearsals for Ruddigore, and...
Concerto in B minor, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, Patience and Ruddigore, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Music...
various scenes: gavottes in Ruddigore and The Gondoliers; a country dance in The Sorcerer; a nautical hornpipe in Ruddigore; and the Spanish cachucha and...
The Yeomen of the Guard 1964 – The Gondoliers 1965 – The Mikado 1966 – Ruddigore 1967 – The Pirates of Penzance 1968 – H.M.S. Pinafore 1969 – Merrie England...
General Stanley The Gondoliers (1982, TV movie) – Don Alhambra del Bolero Ruddigore (1982, TV movie) – Robin Oakapple / Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd Memorial Day...