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that she is living in a convent. Even
Iolanthe does not understand that she is blind because no one is allowed to speak of it to her. Nor does she know she is a princess. She was blinded in an accident in infancy and has been attended ever since by the Moorish physician Ebn Jahia, who each day places her in an enchanted sleep and attends to her eyes while she is unconscious. He has predicted that, with a combination of medication, magic and astrology, she will be cured when she is 16. This is also when she is due to marry Tristan, Count of Vaudémont, who is unaware of her condition. Iolanthe has just passed her 16th birthday. Bertrand's wife Martha says that Iolanthe has grown up happy, spending her time in song and poetry, and that she will not be able to understand what sight is. Sir Almerick informs Bertrand that Count Tristan is on his way to Provence to marry Iolanthe.
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amulet and prepares to leave, but
Iolanthe wakes, calling for Bertrand and Martha. Geoffrey and Tristan introduce themselves, and Iolanthe makes them a drink. The three young people sing troubadour songs to each other. Tristan sends Geoffrey to bring their troops to guard the pass leading to the valley. Iolanthe and Tristan talk together. He discovers she is blind when she fails to distinguish a white from a red rose. He tries to explain light and colour to her, but she cannot understand him. He declares his love for her and says he will find her father and ask him for her hand in marriage.
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Iolanthe away. Sir
Almerick arrives with a letter from Tristan stating that he can no longer marry Iolanthe as he has found his true love. René is astounded. Tristan and Geoffrey arrive wearing armour. They say their army has taken control of the valley and demand to know who René is. He tells them he is the king. Tristan states that he loves the girl who lives in the garden. René explains that she is Iolanthe, his own daughter and Tristan's fiancée. Ebn Jahia returns with Iolanthe, who has been cured, and everyone rejoices.
385:
398:, written by Tchaikovsky to a libretto by his brother, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It received its premiere on 18 December 1892 in St. Petersburg. In this version much of the magical material in the original is eliminated, making Ebn Jahia more of a scientist than sorcerer. A new character, Robert, Duke of Burgundy, is introduced to replace Geoffrey. Robert becomes Iolanthe's original unwilling fiancé, who happily relinquishes Iolanthe to his friend Vaudémont.
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King René and Ebn Jahia arrive. The physician says that
Iolanthe should soon be able to see, but first she must be told that she is blind and made to understand what sight is. René does not want his daughter's happiness and innocence to be broken. Ebn Jahia explains that the body and the spirit are
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Iolanthe tells
Bertrand and Martha that a mysterious stranger has awakened in her confusing new ideas and feelings. René and Ebn Jahia arrive, and the king tries to explain to Iolanthe what blindness is. She is perplexed, but Ebn Jahia says that the cure can now be successfully completed and leads
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At the entrance to a hidden garden in a beautiful Provençal valley, Bertrand, guardian of the garden, explains to Sir
Almerick that no one may enter because the king's daughter Iolanthe lives there in seclusion. Her blindness has been kept secret from all but a few confidants; it has been put out
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Tristan enters the garden telling his friend
Geoffrey that he does not want to marry a woman he has never seen and is only willing to do so from a sense of duty. Tristan sees the sleeping Iolanthe and immediately falls in love with her. Geoffrey thinks he has been enchanted. Tristan picks up the
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Subjects related to the court of René were familiar in the
Romantic and Victorian period. René had been idealised in the Romantic era as a poet-king, whose court in Provence was a genteel haven of literature, architecture and art in a violent era. This image was first popularised in
163:, in which she is depicted as a beautiful blind sixteen-year-old princess who lives in a protected garden paradise. The play was highly popular in the 19th century. It was translated into many languages, copied, parodied and adapted. The Russian adaptation by
290:, regarding the succession to the Duchy of Lorraine. Beyond these facts, the play is fictional. The Count of Vaudémont's given name is altered to "Tristan". The central conceit of Iolanthe's blindness is entirely invented.
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The portrayal of
Yolande in Hertz's play as a saintly dreaming beauty (regularly placed in an entranced sleep by the physician) was immensely popular. The play was translated into other languages.
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intertwined, insisting that
Iolanthe must be psychologically prepared for sight. King René agonises over his decision, while Ebn Jahia puts Iolanthe to sleep using a magical amulet. The two leave.
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The Russian translation was by Fyodor Miller. An adaptation by Vladimir Zotov expanded the plot. This version was used as the basis for the opera
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323:(1850). The heroine's name was retained from the original as "Iolanthe". The piece was produced in London several times, including at the
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in 1445. The marriage was a dynastic alliance, arranged to end the dispute which existed between René of Anjou and Frederick's father,
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by Caroline S. Brooks of "The Dreaming Iolanthe", depicting the blind Iolanthe, as portrayed in
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was performed by Irving's company at the Lyceum in 1880 under the title "Iolanthe", starring
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There were several English translations, including by Jane Frances Chapman (1845),
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in the title role and Irving as Count Tristan. A version of the play adapted by
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in the title role and Irving as Count Tristan. An unrelated 1882
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as Iolanthe. It was also adapted in 1990 as the German film
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495:, Volume 8; Volume 43, 1847, p. 460; and Lohrli, Anne.
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In Troubadour-land: A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc
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In 1913 a silent film of Hertz's play was made by the
499:, Dickens Journal Online, accessed 18 September 2021
401:In 1893 a new musical version of the drama, by the
388:Front page of the score for Edwards' 1893 musical
381:, setting a verse adaptation by Frederick Enoch.
188:" in the original and in early English versions.
155:. It is a fictional account of the early life of
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567:, Echo, 2010 (reprint of 1888 edition), p. 193.
184:The name of the central character is given as "
546:, Oxford University Press (2002), p. 212; and
544:Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography
485:King René's daughter: a Danish lyrical drama
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552:The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan
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449:. www.classicalsource.com. Archived from
343:'s company in Martin's version, starring
167:was used as the basis for the 1892 opera
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233:Bertrand, guardian of Iolanthe's garden
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447:"Dicapo Opera – Tchaikovsky's Iolanta"
223:Sir Almerick, a knight in René's court
487:, W. Crosby and H.P. Nichols, 1850;
578:King René's Daughter, a lyric drama
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151:verse drama written in 1845 by
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508:"Miss Ellen Terry's Benefit",
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675:Plays based on real people
632:Das Licht der Liebe (1990)
650:19th-century Danish plays
593:, 30 October 1896, p. 23.
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179:Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky
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565:The Standard Cantatas
470:Sabine Baring-Gould,
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335:; and in 1876 at the
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608:, Thanhouser films "
580:, John Church, 1893.
371:Richard D'Oyly Carte
369:asked his producer,
357:Gilbert and Sullivan
345:Helena Faucit Martin
288:Antoine of Vaudémont
145:King René’s Daughter
39:King René's Daughter
22:King René's Daughter
665:Plays set in France
533:, 23 May 1880, p. 6
422:Das Licht der Liebe
278:, daughter of King
157:Yolande of Lorraine
493:Christian Examiner
483:Martin, Theodore.
414:Thanhouser Company
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327:in 1849; later by
301:Anne of Geierstein
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220:, Tristan's friend
210:Tristan, Count of
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542:Ainger, Michael.
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319:(1848), and
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50:Henrik Hertz
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418:Maude Fealy
416:, starring
403:light opera
379:Henry Smart
353:Ellen Terry
201:, Count of
175:Tchaikovsky
660:1845 plays
644:Categories
618:2012-01-08
457:2011-12-18
349:W.G. Wills
262:Background
192:Characters
56:Characters
46:Written by
405:composer
230:physician
212:Vaudémont
77:Bertrand
75:Ebn Jahia
71:Geoffrey
362:Iolanthe
203:Provence
186:Iolanthe
73:Almerick
60:Iolanthe
33:An 1876
530:The Era
511:The Era
395:Iolanta
375:cantata
331:at the
276:Yolande
228:Moorish
170:Iolanta
147:) is a
127:Setting
121:romance
102:Subject
365:after
218:Orange
199:Naples
149:Danish
96:Danish
79:Martha
432:Notes
117:Genre
241:Plot
109:and
87:1845
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377:by
339:by
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