The Window, or the Loves of the Wrens

This past week, I was informed of one of Sullivan's works that, previously, I had not known anything about.  The work is entitled "The Window, or the Loves of the Wrens" and it is a song cycle after the style of Die Schöne Müllerin by Schumann.  This cycle, with the words by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was initially suggested by none other than our old friend George Grove, of later Grove's Dictionary of Music fame.  The project was initially supposed to be a joint effort of Tennyson, Sullivan, and painter Sir John Millais.  Unfortunately, Millais was unable to complete the paintings for the work.  A later publication features a preface by Sullivan, in which he wrote:

"This Song-cycle was written by the late Lord Tennyson at my request and set to music by me in 1869-70. It was to be illustrated by the late Sir John Millais R.A. so that the work might form a combination of Poetry, Painting and Music: but for reasons unnecessary to enter into here, the drawings were never completed, and after various delays the words and music only were published as an Album in 1871."


The song cycle tells a love story of a youth who sees the glint of his love's window pane in the distance, traverses the distance, wins her love, and ends on the day of their wedding.  Songs tell of a letter her writes her, and depict his various moods throughout;  a dirge to tell of his longing for her while she is not there; a challenge to the coming winter, which may bite into the heart of the earth but not into his own heart; and the welcome coming of spring, are just some examples.

I intend to order the score and hopefully prepare the cycle for performance at some future date, perhaps as a Fringe event at either the Gettysburg or Buxton International Gilbert and Sullivan Festivals.  The Fringe events provide the perfect outlet for Gilbert and / or Sullivan works or discussions that are not full performances of the Savoy Operas themselves.  A Fringe event that I am likely participating in at this year's Gettysburg Festival is a Symposium on Gilbert and Sullivan scholarship, headed by America's leading G&S Scholar, Ralph MacPhail.