Trial By Jury - Reception

Reception

Reviews of the first performance of Trial by Jury were uniformly glowing. Fun magazine declared the opera "extremely funny and admirably composed", while rival Punch magazine wrote that it "is the funniest bit of nonsense your representative has seen for a considerable time", only regretting that it was too short. The Daily News praised the author: "In whimsical invention and eccentric humour Mr. W. S. Gilbert has no living rival among our dramatic writers, and never has his peculiar vein of drollery and satire been more conspicuous than in a little piece entitled Trial by Jury". The Daily Telegraph concluded that the piece illustrated the composer's "great capacity for dramatic writing of the lighter class". Many critics emphasised the happy combination of Gilbert's words and Sullivan's music. One noted that "so completely is each imbued with the same spirit, that it would be as difficult to conceive the existence of Mr. Gilbert's verses without Mr. Sullivan's music, as of Mr. Sullivan's music without Mr. Gilbert's verses. Each gives each a double charm." Another agreed that "it seems, as in the great Wagnerian operas, as though poem and music had proceeded simultaneously from one and the same brain."

The opening night audience was also delighted by the piece, preferring it even to the Offenbach work: "To judge by the unceasing and almost boisterous hilarity which formed a sort of running commentary on the part of the audience, Trial by Jury suffered nothing whatever from so dangerous a juxtaposition . On the contrary, it may fairly be said to have borne away the palm." A reviewer noted that "Laughter more frequent or more hearty was never heard in any theatre than that which more than once brought the action ... to a temporary standstill." Another paper summed up its popular appeal: "Trial by Jury is but a trifle – it pretends to be nothing more – but it is one of those merry bits of extravagance which a great many will go to see and hear, which they will laugh at, and which they will advise their friends to go and see, and therefore its success cannot be doubtful."

Among the actors, special critical praise was reserved for the composer's brother, Fred Sullivan, in the role of the Learned Judge: "The greatest 'hit' was made by Mr. F. Sullivan, whose blending of official dignity, condescension, and, at the right moment, extravagant humour, made the character of the Judge stand out with all requisite prominence, and added much to the interest of the piece." The Times concurred that his portrayal deserved "a special word of praise for its quiet and natural humour." Nelly Bromley (the Plaintiff), Walter H. Fisher (the Defendant), John Hollingsworth (the Counsel) and others were also praised for their acting.

Later assessments of the work have been no less positive. In 1907, Gilbert's first biographer, Edith A. Browne, concluded: "In Trial by Jury we find author and composer looking at the humorous side of life from exactly the same point of view, and we at once realise how Gilbert and Sullivan have been able to do for Comic Opera what Wagner has done for Grand Opera by combining words and music so as to make them one." H. M. Walbrook similarly wrote in 1922:

Trial by Jury ... satirizes the procedure in an average breach of promise, and also the insincerity which may sometimes underlie the pose of "respectability." Everything done or sung is ludicrous, and yet beneath it all lies a recognisable substratum of truth. The piece is a riot of laughter. The Judge's ditty, "When first, my friends, I was called to the Bar," is the best-known comic song in the English language. In none of the operas is the genius of Gilbert as an inventor of "comic business" more daringly and irresistibly exhibited. One can see the piece again and again and discover fresh strokes of comicality. Its place in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory is as secure as ever; and whatever reforms may be hereafter effected in this particular department of the King's Bench Division, Trial by Jury will probably long continue to be one of the English-speaking world's refreshments.

Gilbert and Sullivan biographer Michael Ainger, writing in 2002, 127 years after the premiere of the opera, explained its enduring appeal: "Nothing could be more serious than a court of law ... and now the world had been turned upside down. The court of law had become the scene of humor and frivolity; the learned judge had shown himself to be as fickle as the defendant, and the justice system turned out to be flawed by human frailty. And Sullivan had grasped the joke.... From the first chords ... Sullivan’s music sets the scene of mock-seriousness and proceeds to dance its way through the whole piece."