Merrie England (opera)

Merrie England (opera)

Merrie England is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood. The patriotic story concerns love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, when a love letter sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to one of Queen Elizabeth’s Ladies in Waiting, Bessie Throckmorton, ends up in the hands of the queen. Well-known songs from the opera include "O Peaceful England", "The Yeomen of England" and "Dan Cupid hath a Garden".

It opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on 2 April 1902, under the management of William Greet, and ran for 120 performances, closing on 30 July 1902. The piece then toured while the Kitty Loftus Company played at the Savoy. The production reopened at the Savoy on 24 November 1902 for 56 additional performances, ending on 17 January 1903. It starred Henry Lytton, Louie Pounds, Rosina Brandram, Robert Evett and Walter Passmore, among other regulars of the Savoy.

The opera became popular in Britain and was often performed by amateur groups in the decades following its premiere. In Queen Elizabeth II's coronation year (1953), over five hundred amateur societies staged the piece. Merrie England was recorded complete with its composer conducting, issued by HMV in 1918 on ten double-faced 12-inch 78 rpm records (20 sides). A recording of selections from the piece was made in 1931 on the Columbia label, with Clarence Raybould conducting "Under the Supervision" of the composer. Since then, a few more complete recordings have been made, including an HMV set in 1960, and individual songs from Merrie England have been recorded many times.

Despite its lively and accessible music and libretto, the piece has fallen into relative obscurity in recent decades, although anniversaries such as that of the Armada in 1988 and the queen's silver (1977), golden (2002) and diamond (2012) jubilee years have seen many revivals. Opera South produced a revival in February 2012. Professional revivals in 2012, the year of the queen's diamond jubilee, included a production by the Finborough Theatre in London.