Haddon Hall: Comic opera or opera comique?

Sir Arthur Sullivan

Wait - aren't comic opera and opera comique the same thing?  

While the latter may simply sound like a fancier synonym for the former, they each represent very different types of operatic performances. Who knew?

In an 1892 interview with the Pall Mall Gazette, Sir Arthur Sullivan, who wrote Haddon Hall along with Sydney Grundy, gave the following warning about the show: "...the public must not come to the Savoy with the impression that they are going to see a comic opera, but to see and hear an opera comique." What does that mean?

Opera comique emerged in the 1700s in with comical Parisian performances that put new words with known music (called vaudevilles).  By the time Sullivan came around, the genre had evolved to mean any opera that contained spoken dialogue in addition to all the singing.  The opera didn't even have to be humorous - Bizet's Carmen is considered one of the most famous operas of this genre, and Carmen is no comedy.

Comic opera, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like: a humorous opera that usually has a happy ending.  Pretty much the entire Gilbert & Sullivan cannon falls under this category, which might explain Sullivan's description of Haddon Hall above - he didn't want audiences to automatically expect the same material from his collaboration with Grundy as they got from his collaborations with Gilbert.  

The good news out of all of this is that you get to decide for yourself what kind of opera Haddon Hall is!  VLOC's presentation of this rarely-performed show starts on February 26th.  Get your tickets here (Feb. 26th preview) and here (Feb. 27 - Mar. 8), then let us know what you think!

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