Introduction

Act I:

	"Hush! not a step"	Sancho, José, and Chorus
	"My parents were of great gentility"	Inez and Chorus
	"Wanted a Chieftain"	Inez, Juanita, Sancho, José, and Chorus
	"The Law and Tradition of the Ladrones"	Pedro Gomez and Chorus
	"'Tis very hard to choose"	Inez, Sancho, and José
	Angelus	Sentinel and Chorus
	"Only the night wind sighs"	Rita
	"Hand of fate"	Rita, Inez, Vasquez, José, Sancho, and Chorus
	"A guard by night"	Rita and Vasquez
	"From rock to rock"	Grigg
	"Hullo! What's that?"	Grigg, José, and Sancho
	"Let others seek the peaceful plain"	Inez and Chorus
	"The Sacred Hat" (finale)	Ensemble

Act II:

	"Wake, then, awake"	Vasquez
	"The River! the River!"	Maraquita and Chorus
	"Two happy gods"	Rita and Chorus
	"Ah, oui, j'étais une pensionnaire"	Rita and Vasquez
	"Bustle! Bustle!"	Ferdinand and Chorus
	"'To Spain,' said my husband"	Dolly, Rita, Vasquez, Grigg, and Ferdinand
	"There are cases"	Rita, Vasquez, and Grigg, with Dolly and Ferdinand
	"La Criada"	Ferdinand
	"There's no one, I'm certain"	Juanita, Inez, Pedro Gomez, José, and Sancho
	"What is the matter, Peter?"	Dolly, Inez, and Grigg
	"We quite understand"	Juanita, Inez, Pedro Gomez, Grigg, José, Sancho
	"The Chieftain is found!" (finale)	Ensemble

As the first act begins, Sancho and José are threatening each other, but Inez enters, firing a pistol, and asserts her authority. It seems that Inez's husband, the chieftain of the Ladrones, has been missing for over a year (taking the band's cash-box), so, by the Law of the Ladrones, they must appoint a new chieftain. This chieftain is to be the first stranger who appears; he will either accept the position and marry Inez, or be shot instead. Sancho and José, each of whom wants to be the new chieftain, try to woo Inez, but she will have neither of them.

Rita, who has been captured by the band and is being held for ransom, waits for her beloved Count Vasquez to come and rescue her. A shepherd arrives and announces that a stranger is approaching. José wants to rob this stranger, but the others determine to make him their new chieftain. All depart except for Rita and the shepherd, who reveals himself to be none other than Count Vasquez in disguise; they try to go off together, but are spotted.

Peter Grigg, a traveling Englishman and amateur photographer, enters with his camera; he is disillusioned with tourism and would like to retire to a farm and raise a family. But the Ladrones have other plans; they seize him and offer him the choice between the chieftaincy and death.

Inez informs the captured Vasquez that, by the law of the Ladrones, the new chieftain must decide what to do with him. Grigg tells Vasquez and Rita that they may go, but Inez invites them to stay long enough to join in their wedding party. Grigg, learning that he is obliged as chieftain to marry Inez, becomes more reluctant than ever. The brigands photograph the "happy pair" with Grigg's confiscated camera. The act ends with a joyful celebration--joyful, that is, for all except the groom.

By the time Act II begins, Vasquez and Rita have married, Grigg has been ransomed by Vasquez (on condition that he return when Inez summons him), and Grigg's original wife, Dolly, has come from England to Spain in search of him. A "Polish courier"--actually Ferdinand de Roxas, the former chieftain of the Ladrones and Inez's missing husband (remember him?)--conducts the Griggs to Count Vasquez and his Countess. Mrs. Grigg is suspicious of her husband's reticence about his activities in Spain. Vasquez and Rita help out their friend by claiming that Grigg heroically rescued them from a band of brigands, who all perished in the ensuing battle. Grigg is relieved that now his wife can never learn the truth; Ferdinand is relieved that the wife and band he has deserted can never expose him. The audience, of course, knows better.

Sure enough, at this point Inez, Sancho, and the other Ladrones enter in disguise. By some fortunate twists of plot--which we won't reveal yet--both Grigg and Ferdinand are restored to their original wives and positions, and the opera ends happily for everyone, including the audience.

-- Arthur Robinson (adapted by Kurtiss Gordon)

Over the years the Valley Light Opera has used its winter production to do a variety of things. Originally the winter show was entertainment for the Annual Meeting. As time passed, however, it changed to grander formats, including a fully staged production of Thespis. Sometimes the winter production tries out a new work before committing to a full fall production. The Sorcerer and The Grand Duke were examples. We have also used it to do more obscure Sullivan works like The Prodigal Son, Cox and Box, The Rose of Persia and last year's All At Sea.

Tonight's performance is another Sullivan-without-Gilbert. As far as I can determine, The Chieftain has not been performed in the United States with orchestra before tonight. There were any number of problems involved, including a vocal score that does not match the orchestra parts, and orchestra parts that do not match the orchestra score! Making them work has been a challenge. In the end, however, the work stands on its own musical merits, which I find to be considerable.

As a final note, I can not close without recognizing the absolutely enormous contribution made by Andi Stryker-Roda, New York/New Jersey accompanist extraordinaire and frequent contributor to SavoyNet, the on line G&S listserv. Andi found and printed the vocal score for me the first time, and subsequently volunteered to make enough copies for the entire cast--at no charge! Words to express my thanks are bound to be totally insufficient, but thank you, Andi.

-- Bill Venman

Sullivan's first comic opera Cox and Box was written to a libretto by Francis Cowley Burnand, an exact contemporary of W. S. Gilbert but a contributor to PUNCH rather than FUN. When the one-act "triumviretta," first performed privately and then for charity, finally reached a wider public at German Reed's Gallery of Illustration in May of 1867, the reviewer W. S. Gilbert wrote: "Mr. Sullivan's music is, in many places, of too high a class for the grotesquely absurd plot to which it is wedded," thus striking a note that would echo through Sullivan's entire career.

Cox and Box was soon followed by another Burnand & Sullivan work, this one in two short acts and called The Contrabandista. German Reed, in a pre-D'Oyly-Carte attempt to establish (despite a Spanish setting) a native comic opera tradition, produced it at St. George's Hall on December 18, 1867. Gilbert's earlier criticism may be as justly applied to both its dramatic absurdities and the refined quality of its score, as anyone can attest who hears the recent Hyperion CD (CDA67486).

Cox and Box proved a real hit when revived at the Gallery of Illustration on March 29, 1869, on a bill with Gilbert's musical play No Cards. And then at a rehearsal for Ages Ago (by Gilbert and Frederic Clay, Sullivan's dear friend) the future Savoyards finally met face to face.

Some twenty-five years later, after Utopia, Limited closed, Burnand suggested to Sullivan that they expand their little Spanish opera to full length. Re-titled The Chieftain, it opened at the Savoy on December 12, 1894, with a cast of D'Oyly Carte's finest, among them Florence St. John, Rosina Brandram, Florence Perry, Emmie Owen, Courtice Pounds, Walter Passmore, Scott Fishe, and Richard Temple.

Early in 1895, hoping to revive flagging attendance, Sullivan introduced several new numbers: some recitatives, a habanera for Inez and a ballad for Rita (to replace their original entrance numbers from The Contrabandista), and a comic dance for Mr. Grigg instead of the fandango in the Act I finale. Rita's new song ("A lady peers from a tower") was quickly jettisoned in favor of the more effective original, but Inez's habanera was a hit. (We have used it but have interpolated her original song later in the act.)

The Chieftain ran for only ninety-five performances, the fault lying perhaps in Burnand's libretto but also surely the result of changing tastes; an 1867 conception dressed up for 1894 (after what Gilbert had taught audiences to expect) could hardly be taken for the latest thing! No one, however, would place the blame on Sullivan's score, which has all the tuneful and rhythmic sparkle of The Gondoliers. Much of The Contrabandista's first act has been retained, to which have been added several new numbers and an extended finale. The second act is entirely new, and it is a tribute to Sullivan's unfailing ear that the opera feels very much of a piece, as though the composer had retrieved his youthful mood while utilizing all he had since learned in writing sixteen intervening operas.

It is unfortunate that Burnand had not learned as much! He was still an inveterate punster with no more sense of dramatic development than before. But we must not be too hard on him. If we can, for a moment, disregard the perfected libretti of W. S. Gilbert and not mind (as we hardly should) the differences between 1867 and 1894, we may find a good deal of fun in Burnand's silly confection. After all, Sullivan's genius carries the show, and we can only be thankful to the man from PUNCH that such a delightful score came to be composed.

-- Jonathan Strong

Valley Light Opera thanks the following sponsors for generously underwriting some of the costs of this production, so that all of the ticket proceeds can benefit the American Red Cross: Wingate at South Hadley, which has a long tradition of quality health care, community and compassion, North Amherst Motors/Potter's Auto & Truck Rental, Jones Town & Country Realty, and Kamins Real Estate.

The orchestra music used tonight is published by R. Clyde, Music Publisher, 6 Whitelands Avenue, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 5RD, England.

We express our gratitude and appreciation to BerkshireNet for hosting the VLO Web site www.vlo.org. BerkshireNet (www.berkshire.net) provides Internet service to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Valley Light Opera, Inc., is a nonprofit Massachusetts corporation founded in 1975 by a group of Gilbert and Sullivan devotees. Over the years, VLO has been guided by two principles--to promote broad community participation and to produce fine entertainment. The company has produced all fourteen of the G&S operas as well as Cox and Box, The Zoo, The Rose of Persia, and Sullivan's oratorio The Prodigal Son. In addition, VLO has performed Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, Warren Martin's The True Story of Cinderella, and several of Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach works.

The affairs of VLO are in the hands of a Board of Directors elected by the membership at the Annual Meeting in February or March. Officers of the Board for the year just ended are Glen Gordon (President), Connie Cappelli (President Elect), Kurtiss Gordon (Clerk), and Jim Walker (Treasurer). Members of the Board are Richard Asebrook, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Barbara Davis, Erin Freed, Bob Graham, Phyllis Jordan, Elysse Link, Paul E. Peelle, Lee Pershyn, and Nina Pollard.

Donations to Valley Light Opera are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

The American Red Cross is a volunteer-led organization that provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. It is part of the International Red Cross Movement, which was created in 1863 by Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman who saw the need for a politically neutral international relief organization guided by its mission.

The Hampshire County Chapter came into existence on October 7, 1915, 34 years after Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. In addition to local support services, the Hampshire County Red Cross has always served as a conduit to national and international relief efforts. Whether it's flooding here in the Connecticut River Valley or global famine relief efforts, the local Red Cross Chapter is connected to an effective and well-organized international relief organization.

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