Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin
Caryll's career encompassed three eras of the musical theatre, and unlike some of his contemporaries, he adapted readily to each new development. After composing a few
Life and career
Caryll was born in
The dashing, moustachioed Caryll was known as one of the best dressed men in London. He was an extravagant spender and a popular and lavish host, entertaining his theatrical friends in princely style. Caryll's free spending ways caused him trouble occasionally, and he had a few narrow escapes from his creditors.[4]
Early career
At first, Caryll earned a poor living by giving music lessons to women in the suburbs.
Caryll's first theatre piece was Lily of Léoville in 1886. He sent the score to
Caryll's first big success at the Gaiety was
Caryll composed the music for almost all the Gaiety musical comedies over the next decade, in collaboration with Lionel Monckton, and also established himself as the most famous conductor of light music in England. Edwardes apparently liked to have the word 'girl' in the titles of the shows, so The Shop Girl was followed by My Girl, The Circus Girl (with over 500 performances in 1896 and 1897) and A Runaway Girl (1898). The Lucky Star was a less successful three-act comic opera (1899, produced by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, based on L'Etoile, an opéra-bouffe by Emmanuel Chabrier). It may have been too risqué for the Savoy Theatre audiences.
Caryll was said to compose very quickly in intense bouts. His scores were noted for swirling waltzes and semi-operatic finales. He often took trips to Paris and elsewhere in search of new musical plays that he could adapt into English. Caryll's output also included songs, dances and salon pieces for his own light orchestra, for which Edward Elgar composed his shapely Serenade Lyrique in 1899.[11]
20th century London pieces
After the turn of the century, Caryll wrote more successful scores, including
Despite these successes, Caryll began to grow jealous of Monckton, who often wrote the most popular numbers in the shows.[4] Still, they continued to work together, producing several successes: The Spring Chicken (1905), The New Aladdin (1906), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), and the even more popular Our Miss Gibbs (1909), which ran for 636 performances. Typical of the plots of these shows, Our Miss Gibbs concerns a shop girl, courted by an earl in disguise. During this period, Caryll also wrote the less successful The Little Cherub (1906).
Many of Caryll's musicals were given in Paris, Vienna, and Budapest at a time when the English-language musicals were largely ignored on the continent, and he composed original scores for Paris (S.A.R., or Son altesse royale, 1908) and Vienna (Die Reise nach Cuba, 1901).[2]
Broadway musicals
Caryll relocated to New York City in 1910, where he became an American citizen and composed more than a dozen
Caryll died of a haemorrhage in New York at age 60 while rehearsing the musical Little Miss Raffles, which, contrary to the title of his New York Times obituary,[17] he had not finished composing.[18] It was completed atter his death, with a score mostly by Armand Vecsey, and produced under the title The Hotel Mouse on Broadway in 1922.[19]
Notes
- ISBN 0-02-864970-2.
- ^ a b c Gänzl, Kurt, "Caryll, Ivan (1861–1921)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 12 January 2011 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e "A Chat with Mr. Ivan Caryll", Musical Opinion and Music Trade Review, August 1897, p. 756
- ^ a b "Ivan Caryll" Archived 2006-09-06 at the Wayback Machine at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive's British Musical Theatre pages, 24 December 2003, accessed 11 January 2011
- ^ Lily of Leoville at the Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed 29 October 2009
- ^ Traubner, pp. 89–90
- ^ Walker, Raymond J. "Alfred Cellier (1844-1891): The Mountebanks, comic opera (1892); and Suite Symphonique (1878)", Music Web International, 2018
- ^ Moss, Simon. Programmes and descriptions of 1892 productions of Ma mie Rosette, Gilbert & Sullivan, a selling exhibition of memorabilia, Archive: Other items
- ^ "The Theatres", The Times, 27 December 1892, p. 6
- ^ Adams, William Davenport. A Dictionary of the Drama: a Guide to the Plays, Playwrights, Vol. 1, pp. 374–75, Chatto & Windus, 1904
- ^ Profile of Caryll from Musicweb International
- ^ a b Lamb, Andrew, "Caryll, Ivan", Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 12 January 2011 (subscription required); the piece closed quickly and controversially there, with the cast unpaid. See: "The Ladies' Paradise Ends". The New York Times, 29 September 1901
- ^ Information from the Guide to Musical Theatre
- ^ Vocal score of Chin-Chin
- ^ Temple Bells sheet music. The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music, accessed 2 March 2011
- ^ Wodehouse, p. 103
- ^ "Ivan Caryll Dies as he Finishes Play", 30 November 1921, The New York Times, p. 14, accessed 8 August 2008
- ISBN 1538112825
- ^ The New York Times, March 14, 1922, p. 20
References
- Hyman, Alan (1978). Sullivan and His Satellites. London: Chappell.
- ISBN 978-0-415-96641-2.
- Wodehouse, P.G.; Guy Bolton (1980). Wodehouse on Wodehouse. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-143210-3.
External links
- Works by or about Ivan Caryll at Internet Archive
- Ivan Caryll at the Internet Broadway Database
- Edwardian light opera and musicals site including midi files, lyrics and cast lists for almost 20 Caryll shows
- "'American Chorus Girls Better than English Ones'". New York Times. 10 July 1910. p. SM4. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
- Listing of Caryll shows - The Guide to Musical Theatre
- Chicago Theater of the Air broadcast of The Pink Lady
- Ivan Caryll discography from Victor
- Free scores by Ivan Caryll at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)