Trial by Jury by Gilbert & Sullivan

Last nite I went to a performance of the Dbq Chorale. Their program was entitled A Celebration of Gilbert & Sullivan. That alone should give you a clue as to what they performed. The 1st half of the program was a selection from various Gilbert & Sullivan Comic Operas. They included some pieces from the lesser known works of the duo. The main part of the 2nd half of the program was a performance of their 2nd work Trial By Jury. This is a short 1 act comic opera that they wrote in 1875. (With the requisite topical references added in.)

The Chorale gave an excellent performance of the selected works. Gilbert & Sullivan's pieces aren't always the easiest to perform because of the complex lyrics/music combinations used (The Major-General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance is a prime example.). The members of the Chorale aquited themselves well. & while the entire performance was enjoyable I want to comment a bit on Trial by Jury.

The sponsor of the night's performance was the DBQ Co. Bar Association in celabration of National Law Day on 1 May. That is why the 2nd half of the show consisted mainly of the 1 work.

Trial by Jury is a satirical look at the state of the British legal system in the latter half of Victorian era Great Britain. The plot involves a young lady who had been engaged to be married & her intended breaks off the engagement. She brings a breach of promise of marriage suit against him. The usher sets the tone by his song declaring the plantiff to be clearly the victim & the defendant all but guilty while protesting that "From bias free, of every kind, This trial must be tried. The judge & jury are anything but unbiased. & the judge would definitely be in the running for playing a 1st class twit in a Monty Python sketch. Despite all this, within a half hour there is a happy ending for everyone.

I couldn't help but thinking how little has changed in the 125 + yrs since this work was 1st performed. Breech of promise of marriage suits may no longer exist. But clearly there have been some divorce, murder, etc trials involving famous persons in recent yrs that would serve to inspire the authors if they were arround today & just creating the opera. Some of the antics in the opera could be taken from the antics of judges, juries, lawyers, defendents, etc. The only thing that G & S might have added was a paparazzi or 2. In other words, the opera is just as fresh & topical today as it was back then.

Again, my kudos to the DBQ Chorale on an excellent ending to their 2006-2007 concert season.

(Please pardon the legal puns including the 1 included here asking your pardon.)