Summary: War Between Sexes
Music 730 - Assignment #1
Chapter Summary
Williams, Carolyn. “War Between the Sexes: Princess Ida.” Chapter 8 (pp. 222-252) in Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2008.
Having premiered in 1884, Princess Ida or Castle Adamant presents a view of gender norms that brings the figurative separation of men and women seen in Iolanthe into the literal realm. Where Iolanthe underscores the notion that men and women live in separate realities, Princess Ida takes this one step further by asking what would happen if men and women actually lived completely separate from one another.
Princess Ida is based on Tennyson’s poem of the same name as well as Gilbert’s foray into burlesque fourteen years prior, when he wrote The Princess (1870). Referred to by Williams as the “three princesses,” she contends that all three works need to be considered when sorting out themes in the most recent work.
In order to gain access to Ida’s women-only university, the Prince and his cohort cross-dress and soon find themselves an island of men in an all-female environment. In both the Savoy opera and Tennyson’s narrative, the reasoning for this is twofold; the men gain access to the women they love while at the same time strike a blow against the antifeminism espoused by the fathers in the story.
While attending a lecture by Lady Psyche, who is both professor and evolutionary savant, the disguised men start down the path of gradual and complete exposure, beginning with the dénouement as Psyche recognizes her brother as one of the ‘women’ and culminating with Princess Ida taking a tumble into the river and being rescued by the Prince, now fully exposed as the man he is. In the end, the need to ensure a legacy through procreation as well as ‘natural instinct,’ as is referenced in the book of this Savoy opera, guide the protagonists to make a return to conventional gender norms.
Princess Ida maintains a dichotomy, as we hear burlesque dialogue dressed in an operatic musical style. Adhering to the burlesque convention of the roles of young men being played by women, the plot-centric ‘cross-dressing’ runs several layers deep, as female actors are portraying men who then dress up as women. Williams also highlights several plot changes from poem to stage, including substituting ‘baby engagement’ for the concept of women behaving in a child-like manner, and bringing the cross-dressing theme to the forefront, an essential theme in the staged version’s plot.
Williams uses a variety of primary sources to support her commentary, including a musical review of a Princess Ida performance at the Savoy Theater published in the Athenaeum in 1884. Secondary sources include programs from modern day productions, scholarly commentary, and books focused exclusively on the music and opera of Gilbert and Sullivan.