The Mikado
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Mikado |
| Original title: | The Mikado |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Arthur Sullivan |
| Libretto : | William Gilbert |
| Premiere: | 1885 |
| Place of premiere: | London |
| Place and time of the action: | Japan around 1450 |
| people | |
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The Mikado is an operetta in two acts by Gilbert and Sullivan (text: William Schwenck Gilbert , music: Arthur Sullivan ). It originated in Victorian London in the 1880s , where it premiered in 1885.
The operetta “Der Mikado” thrives on its numerous satirical elements. In contrast, the love story only serves as a framework. The second title is also “A great day in Titipu”.
orchestra
Two flutes, an oboe, two clarinets, a bassoon, two horns, a trumpet, two trombones, a harp, percussion and strings
The plot
The operetta is set in Titipu in Japan around 1450 , where the emperor , who was then entitled Mikado, forbade flirting on the penalty of death. This law claims so many victims that the colonels of the city decide simply to make the next to be executed the chief executioner. Because the exact order of the death sentences must be adhered to, it is ensured that there can be no further execution before the latter has beheaded himself (song No. 3: Who's next to be decapited / Cannot cut off another's head / Until he's cut his own off ). All other convicts are released on bail. So the kimono cutter Ko-Ko is pardoned and raised to the rank of chief executioner, who is now responsible for executions; his own first of all.
All ministers and holders of public offices have resigned in protest against this “upstart”. Pooh-Bah then took over all functions - including the associated salaries. As a result, he sometimes comes into conflict with himself.
Ko-Ko is engaged to the young and pretty Yum-Yum. But she fell in love with Nanki-Poo, the son of Mikado. He fled from his forced marriage with Katisha, an older lady-in-waiting, and has since been traveling incognito as a traveling musician through the country.
The real action begins when Nanki-Poo returns to Titipu to declare his love for Yum-Yum. When he learns that she is already engaged to Ko-Ko and that the wedding is imminent, he is heartbroken.
An imperial edict causes an uproar in the city. Since there have been no executions for some time, the city is to be demoted to a village. Ko-Ko panics as he has never executed anyone and is first on the convict list. Nanki-Poo, whose true identity he does not know, offers himself as a victim. In return, however, he demands to be allowed to marry Yum-Yum and to be allowed to live with her for a month. In the middle of the wedding preparations, however, it became known that, according to the law, the widow of someone who had been executed must be buried alive. Of course, Yum-Yum doesn't agree with that either. As a solution, the execution is only carried out in writing and confirmed by Puh-Bah.
The Mikado announces his visit (called by Katisha). When he learns that Ko-Ko has beheaded the heir to the throne of Japan, of all people, the chief executioner and his “accomplices” are sentenced to death themselves.
Nanki-Poo agrees to reappear and prove the innocence of the convicts - but only if he gets Yum-Yum and Ko-Ko marries the ugly Katisha so that her anger at her fiancé Nanki-Poo who ran away is appeased. Ko-Ko agrees to do this and everything dissolves into pleasure.
Costume design of the Ko-Ko by Charles Ricketts , 1926
Costume design of the Mikado by Charles Ricketts, 1926
reception
Favorite airs from The Mikado(1914)
The Mikado stands out for its black English humor ; this work is very far from the sweetness of a land of smiles . Rather, Gilbert uses the exotic decoration for a biting satire of Victorian society: a civil servant who unites almost all state offices and deceives himself in the process, an executioner who actually has to behead himself and a ruler who turns his lust for violence into draconian Hidden punishments. This becomes clear in his aria: A more humane Mikado , according to which his goal is to turn the punishment of the offender into a source of innocent merriment for himself. Corrupt politicians, over-excited officials and executions in such a way the object of laughter can only be found again with Monty Python . In 1986, Eric Idle was knocked out in a London production.
The first performance of the work in German translation took place on September 1, 1886 in Vienna's Carltheater .
Japan
In Japan, the work became a problematic topic early on, also in Japanese-British relations, because of its - in the opinion of many Japanese - superficial representation of Japan and caricatures of the emperor. When the work reached Japan in November 1885 with the Emele Melville Opera and Comedy Company, the British consul convinced them to take the play out of the program. In 1887, the Gaiety Theater in Yokohama included the play in the program, which even after the threat of punishment from the Japanese authorities did not delete it, but instead performed it under the title Three Little Maids from School , removing all references to the emperor . When Prince Komatsu Akihito stayed in London in 1886, he watched the play without being offended. In contrast, the British authorities arranged for Prince Fushimi Sadanarus' visit to London in 1907 to cancel all performances there. As of 1899, performances were generally no longer allowed in Japan, no matter how big the changes were. The work was only performed again during the Allied occupation of Japan (1945–1952) by a Japanese opera company in front of Allied soldiers. However, the performance of the work was banned by Allied headquarters in 1947 , officially due to copyright infringement.
The general public was introduced to the work by the Japanese essayist and songwriter Rokusuke Ei , who was convinced that Titipu meant the city of Chichibu - Titibu according to the Kunrei transcription - and Gilbert and Sullivan from this through the Chichibu incident , a peasant uprising of 1884 had heard. Another possibility is that both had heard of the Chichibu silk, a major export to the city at the time.
In 2000, a citizens' committee was founded in Chichibu with the aim of performing the operetta in Japanese. The first performance took place in March 2001 and was the first performance of the work for a general audience in Japan.
Individual evidence
- ^ Stan Czech: The operetta book. A guide through the operettas and singspiele of the German theaters . Muth, Stuttgart 1960, p. 388
- ↑ a b c d Sumiko Enbutsu: The Mikado in the Town of Chichibu. Tokyo Theater Company, accessed March 9, 2009 .
- ↑ Edward Gorey : Goreyography's East Wing :: Edward Gorey in Japan. In: Goreyography. Goreyography + WZP, accessed February 8, 2011 .
- ↑ Sean Curtin: The Chichibu Mikado. In: Japan Book Review Volume 1 No. 5. The Japan Society, September 5, 2006, p. 11 , accessed December 8, 2014 .
- ↑ No Mikado, Much Regret . In: TIME . June 16, 1947 ( time.com [accessed March 9, 2009]).
