SWEETNESS AND LIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12853, 29 April 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT.

[by tohu.nga.]

It. must be confessed that the voice of " Patience" is now as the voice of one willy-wallying 111 the wilderness, and hat it has become possibly the least popular hecauso the least understood of all the Oilhcriiau comedies. Vet 111 it, as in no other »>! the series, there lingers the traces of that great. battle for "sweetness and light"' in which the great librettist ami his musician-ally executed those masterly thinking liiovemeuts which gave the victory to "the. ie-tlieties" in the veiy hour of their seeming defeat. When tliev tin.de the English world la'.mh at the av-llielle. and shake its sides ,it hi-, vagaries ami whimsies, and as v it- lmdy to the lilt en' saline melodies. and plca-o. :!v eyes with tin l stacinc and ballet ill:; by w hieli his tnllies were eiii|t!i<i-i.-c<l. they drew the sombre knchsii Mil l m 11..• middle eentnrv "lit ot its trenches. and it has never been since what it was lie fore.

The Britisher is not, yet, perhaps will never be, an altogether cheeiful individual. He still takes himself too seriously, lie still imagines that the universe is a solemn place because he is in it, and that too much laughter sounds badlv under the stars because ho stars may think it foolish for him to do what they can't do themselves. Hut the Britisher is vastly better company than he was before Moody and iSankev, I'ilbert and Sullivan, Mark Twain mid General Booth began to work upon Ilin). liny at least have taught him that the Creator does not- feel happier when man looks miserable, and that a harmless laugh sounds better in the Temple of the Universe than a harmful groan.

One lias only to ike up a book, a picture. a dress, a song. a play'of the Early \ ietorian period to realise how our grandparents groaned ami moaned under that awful spiritual tyranny exercised by the delusion that- God hated the beautiful and' loved the ugly. In "Jane Evre" we have the hypocritical parson who' cuts off the hair of the dependent schoolgirls in order to preserve them from the temptations. I lie weird drone of ancient hymns reminds us of what was considered speciallv pleasing to the Almighty. Ami the blank gap of nearly half a centurv in the still living creations of the British drama tells us how dead was (lie spirit that ■ inspired Sheridan and Goldsmith, and that revived again with Gilbert and Sullivan. Our grandmothers—how did they dress? Our grandfathers—with what sail air did they not carry themselves? Even our political economic soared to no higher flight than to buy in dm cheapest and sell in (ho dearest market, regardless of all other considerations—surely the most pathetically uglv philosophy ever adopted by a nation." .' ho " hole Early Victorian period was sad, unted, cram pod. Of course, we know now what was the matter—it was suffering a lccoyoiy from the wild (it of Baresarkism which carried it safelv through the fearful Napoleonic wars. Jii'jt no matter what the reason, it was a melancholy period, and we. owe .more than words can tell to those who introduced us again to glimpses of "sweetness and light." 3 _ Ami these were Gilbert and Sullivan. Now, do not laugh when one places Moody and Nankey and General booth in the same legion, for Wisdom is justified of all her children, and all these and others worked according to their lights and means to bring back laughter intent he world. Moody and Sankey squared the Nonconformist- conscience, persuading even the sourest that a song 'which went with a swing and choruses that set the Methodist blood tlirobbiu" and jovial harmonies that caught the ear of children and crept into their hearts were not necessarily pavings of the broad way that leads to destruction. So General Booth, with his big, banging drums and his gaudy coats and his jubi-lantly-martial marches that storm heaven to the tune of the music-halls. . And so Gilbert and. Sullivan, annealing to the cultured, the real marshals and leaders of the ie.ithetie movement, masters alike of music and of libietto, who never coined .111 ugly sound or shaped an ti"'- thought, and moved to all the world that purity and beauty, wit and virtue, song and'truth and harmony, can blossom, on the same stem. *

We ran sit and listen to Gilbert and Sullivan, and watch the wonderful colour movement of.the staging, and follow the dainty, delicate plot that threads song and show as a thin golden chain threads precious nearls, listening and watching wholly with pleasure and wholly at peace! But thirlv rears ago Gilbert was a crusader and Sullivan a I roubadour-knight, fii'hring for the recognition of the Beautiful. as we cannot now conceive it possible to have to fight for what w e all now consider rightful and desirable. In front of them was stolid, stupid England, wedded to its ugliness, almost persuaded that no good woman would he proud of her fairness. almost convinced that Satan laid snares for Ihe elect in everv beautiful thought and every beautiful thing. The cesthetisfs. that forlorn hope, had attacked the public mind in velvet knickerbockers and flowing robes, passion-flower in hand, and had failed. At lead, thev seemed to have failed, for England laughed at them. Gilbert and Sullivan showed England how 10 laii'-h. with merrv lips not bitter, with a gay heart not a cynical, without malice and without, uiicharifableness—for tliev knew that loving laughter is the key to all good and the open door to the due appreciation of the Beautiful.

.A•> an illustration of (ho amazing power of Hie Drama, to influence public thought and mould public opinion, when (lie presentations appeal to the public consciousness bv arguments that will bear the test of time, il would h;irdlv lie possible to better the work of Cilbert and Sullivan. I liev wrought on the right m<| ( . in a profound social movement, and helped to make it the winning side. They wrought with the cleanest, and finest, weapons, the sight of which must be an everlasting joy to all who appreciate sociological curios. Thev were good citizens in the highest sense as well a.-: great artists in the, highest sense. Their • music, their wording, their rnelodv. their colour, are a source of as great artistic satisfaction to-day as when the whole English world first laughed' with softened heart and sometimes moistened eve at the matchless string of creations that poured from their workshops. For not, in one, opera but in all did thev fight the battle of the Bountiful, -if the Pure, of the True, of Life Worth Living. And in one— "The Yeomen of the Guaid"—they touched the very summit of operatic perfection without losing 'or a hair's-breadtli the marvellous simplicity* and purity that is the essential atmosphere of their allied genius. ("filbert ami Sullivan are great because they did a noble thing in a magnificent way thev are famous because they succeeded. But, let. us say a good word for the men and women who ate thought of as failures, the aesthetic crew satirised in " Patience" and tenderly laughed at in every Oilbertiau comedy. The aesthetics failed, wo say, but to-day a man can walk knickerbockered down Qucpn-street and not be laughed at, and a woman wear a picture hat on a trnmcar and only he envied. Our picnic parties are gay with colour, our rooms cheerful with colour and brightness, our popular music is bright and swinging, our popula* authors write of the human emotions with meaningful woids that twang our nerves. No longer do we glory to dwell in "the brick box with the slate lid.' that roused the scorn of John. Huskin ; in our every Auckland suburb, mansion and cottage alike are commonly pleasant for the eye to gaze upon: our jlayoral candidates do not scorn to toll us that city should be fair to see and not merely useful. If we look around, those of lis who have passed the Rubicon of age, we can see on every hand, in every phase of human activity, a conscious recognition of the Beautiful, a universal agreement the "sweetness and light" are a necessary part, of civilised living, utterly and altogether lacking in our juvenile years. And to all who worked this reform for us be our gratitude, to the- aesthetics with the wild fancies that made men think none the loss than to the (Jilbeits and Sullivans who wove the master-spell that entranced their . generation and is wonderful to us jet.