"I Really Don't Know A Crotchet From A Quaver," Henry Lytton Laughingly Told Malcolm Sargent

Radio Record, Volume X, Issue 7, 28 August 1936, Page 14

"I Really Don't Know A Crotchet From A Quaver," Henry Lytton

Laughingly Told Malcolm Sargent

6¢ WT is one of the most pleasant recollections of my life-that:I was the conductor at the farewell performance of Sir Henry Lytton," said Dr. Malcolm Sargent, the eminent English conductor, at present in W ellington, to the "Radio Record," in commenting on the death last week of Sir Henry Lytton, the last of the three great Savoyard knights. "T so well remember the theatre crowded with an excited and expectant audience eagerly awaiting the first notes from the orchestra. The title of the opera to be performed that night had not been announced in the press or advertisements. Henry Lytton’s farewell appear-

ance I a Gliperop and Sullivan opera had been more. than. sufficient’ to cause ‘house full’ boards to be placed outside long before the curtain rose. "A murmur of delight rippled through . the theatre when my

baton released the cpening bars of the beautiful ‘Tolanthe’ -overture from the augmented orchestra. The orchestral playing had been a noted feature in the season’s performance and there was tumultuous applause when the overture ended, which changed to laughter and cheers when the curtain rose on Act I of ‘The Gondoliers.’ _ Lytton was applauded for minutes before he made his famous entry as the Duke of PlazaToro. It seemed that never before had he ‘led the army from behind’ ‘with such success. "After the interval a beam of light on a darkened stage showed the sentry-box and we were back in ‘Iolanthe’ once more-but only for qa few minutes, for after the famous Sentry Song: the lights went up revealing the setting of ‘Mikado’: Act II, . It was an evening of almost hilarious pleasure ‘for all concerne(l-éven the members of the company themselves had not known what opera (or operas) were to be performed until they arrived in their dressingroom and found their clothes laid out. Needless to.say that Henry Lytton’s reception in both sets and after: his farewell speech" was"térrific.""

_ When Richard D’Oyley Carte first engaged Henry Lytton, the conductor’s verdict was-‘‘Not much of a voice." "Never mind," said D’Oyley Carte, "he will do as an understudy to David Fisher as King Gama." And his salary was two pounds a week. Sir Henry himself was rather proud of his humble beginnings. He ran away from school at 17 and was secretly married. When his father, unaware of the marriage, took a stout stick to his son, the youthful Henry flared, "Stop it! You are thrashing a married man." He had some hard times after that-as bill-poster, scene shifter, "super." "When Rupert D’Oyley Carte asked me to take charge

of the music for a Gilbert and Sullivan London season I was delighted," Dr, Sargent went on. "As a boy I had been keenly interested. in the operas, and I had always been at the feet of Henry Lytton, who wae mv iden of all

-- Oke SS OOD that an actor should be. He was most charming and diffident about his music. ‘I really don’t know a crotchet from a quaver,’ he laughingly. confided to me at our first rehearsal. . But whethe: he did or did not, he had a keen ear for music and an amazing sense of rhythm. "It was a great joy to go to Sir Henry’s dressing-room ~ -and he would invariably offer me a spoonful of the chicken jelly which he always brought to the theatre. He was a most painstaking man about his makeup, arriving at the theatre an hour before the performance to allow himself plenty of time. His makeup as the ugly King Gama in ‘Princess: Ida’ was a: masterpiece. "He had an uncanny capacity for getting right inside . the part he was playing. If I had merely seen Sir Henry’s legs walking across the stage I could have told by his gait just which part he was interpreting. Of course, his New York. season was the wildest success. The newest and ‘ gayest musical comedy could not have been received with more enthusiasm on Broadway than the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with:-their essentially Dnglish atmosphere and humour?’ ‘(Continued on page 16.)

Interview With Dr. Sargent, Personal Friend of Lytton

Sir Henry Lytton and Dr. Sargent (Continued from Page 14.)

There’s a story told how Henry Lytton was "put on the mat" by Richard D’Oyley Carte for a youthful folly in "The Mikado." In the second act, where Ko Ko, Pooh Bah and Pitti Sing do their famoug roll-over act before the emperor, Lytton had to bear the full 20 stone of old Fred Billington (the baritone fra’ Bradford). An imp of mischief led Lytton to conceal a toy balloon under his clothes so that, when Billington rolled over him, the toy went off with a loud bang. "What's happened, Harry?’ asked Billington anxiously. "What have I done?" Young Lytton was gravely asked to "cease his schoolboy pranks," Dr. Sargent said that the last time he had seen Sir Henry was at a lunch in honour of Sir Seymour Hicks... The doctor had often. twitted Sir Henry about his voice so that, after the National Anthem had been sung, the old Savoyard turned round to Dr. Sargent with a twinkle in his eye and remarked, "I hope my top G is still in good form!" "T knew of Sir Henry Lytton’s serious illness before I left England," said Dr. Sargent, "and anxiously inquired for any available news of him on my voyage here. I was very distressed to hear of his death. The sincerity and single-mindedness which he threw into his life’s work as an interpretive artist should be an inspiration to all. No originalities or innovations were allowed by Mr. D’Oyley Carte; his actors must all be controlled by the traditional Gilbert instructions, yet Lytton made each performance ever new-the characters lived as freshly on the farewell night when I last saw them, as they had been revealed to me years ago when [ first saw them as a boy. With the passing of Henry Lytton we lose yet one more of the fine actors of the old school-we shall not easily forget him." I asked Dr. Sargent for a suitable quotation from Gilbert for this article. ‘He instantly replied :- "Is Life a boon? Tf so it must ‘befall That Death, whene’er he call, Will call too soon."