THE JAPANESE WERE NOT AMUSED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 61, 23 August 1940, Page 14

THE JAPANESE WERE NOT AMUSED

"The Mikado" Caused International Complications INSPIRATION FROM AN EXECUTIONER’S SWORD

HE satire of Gilbert and Sullivan seems rather dated nowadays but, in its own time, it was pointed and shrewd. And on one occasion at least it caused what is known as an "international incident." The question was whether the Japanese theme which heralds the arrival of the Mikado in the play was a real tune of Nippon with disrespectful associations. Was it, in fact, the Japanese equivalent of the "Beer Barrel Polka"? It was at one time so regarded, anyway, and the whole farce was construed as a slight to the Japanese Royal House. There followed the comic opera’s banning by the Lord Chamberlain in 1907. Gilbert was furious! The question even arose in the House of Commons, where it was hotly debated, and there was an attendant spume of newspaper excitement. But Gilbert and Sullivan were in luck; the trouble soon blew over; the ban was removed; and the show began its successful career. Yet the story of the opera’s genesis and evolution is in itself just as interesting as its temporary banishment and victorious reinstatement. A Japanese Fad To begin at the beginning, we must go back to one of the fads which swept through fashionable London in the Victorian era. In the early ’eighties, Prince’s Club, Knightsbridge, opened a Japanese Exhibition, and just as Londoners were later to crowd into Earl’s Court to see "Venice in London," "Savage South Africa,’ and other national displays, so, at that time, anything remotely Japanese become "the thing" among the pseudoBohemians of London. It was amusing and fashionable to dally over a bowl of rice and manipulate a pair of chop-sticks under the care of Japanese waiters; and within a stone’s throw of Hyde Park, geisha girls danced. The Sword Falls Among the visitors to these manifestations of Oriental culture was W. S. Gilbert. It was May, 1884, and it was imperative to decide on the subject for a new Savoy opera. Whatever effect the Japanese mode had on Gilbert, a tiny incident turned the scales. Hanging on his study wall was a Japanese executioner’s sword, and one day it fell down. From that insignificant occurrence came the germ of the idea for "The Mikado." The fallen sword was the very one which Grossmith, playing Ko-Ko, carried on the first night.

Gilbert wrote, "The plot having reached this stage, I read the story to Sullivan. He approved of it; made valuable suggestions bearing chiefly on the musical situations, and after three or four hours of careful deliberation, the chain of events was finally determined." The first production was the biggest triumph the musician and librettist ever knew. Here is Sullivan’s entry in his diary on Saturday, March 14, 1885, the date of the opening: "New Opera, ‘The Mikado,’ or ‘The Town of Titipu,’ produced at the Savoy Theatre with every sign of real success. A most brilliant house. Tremendous reception . ... Seven encores taken. Might have been twelve." Letter from ex-Kaiser In October of 1885 "The Mikado" opened in America-at Philadelphia. Soon after came its production in English in Berlin, and the ex-Kaiser, who was then Prince William of Prussia, not only promised to be present, but wrote (in English), the following cordial note to the composer. Potsdam Dear sir, Many thanks for your kind letter. which I have just received, and for the interesting news it contains. As soon as I am able, I shall visit the "Mikado." To-day the first performance will be viewed by my parents and all my sisters, whom I envy immensely their good fortune to see this charming piece, of which I have heard and

read so much in the English press. I hope that for the arrival of the Crown Prince they will have "polished up the handle of the big front door," for he might have been a Roosian, etc., but he is a Proosian! I often think of our nice evenings at Kiel, and the charming music on the yacht, which gave me the lucky opportunity of making your acquaintance. Yours truly, William, Prince of Prussia Queen Victoria followed the fashion, and commanded that a copy of the score should be sent to her. Several celebrated French composers, among them Massenet, sent their congratulations. All over the world, the piece found success, and nowhere more than in Germany, where it is still played as a special favourite, In fact, not so very long ago, reports say, a truly kolossal production of the opera was given in the immense Grossefestspielhaus in Berlin, and the Mikado made a grandiose appearance from the gangplank of a liner of Queen Mary-like dimensions. Following him was a regiment of wives in varying stages of nudity. The NBS promises no such novelties when it presents "The Mikado." But you will find the production of this comic opera at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 30, trom 2YA, Wellington, a very enjoyable one, especially as it is to be done in full, and the recording is a particularly good one.