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''Robert the Devil, or The Nun, the Dun, and the Son of a Gun'' is an operatic parody by W. S. Gilbert of Giacomo Meyerbeer's grand opera ''Robert le diable'', which was named after, but bears little resemblance to, the medieval French legend of the same name. Gilbert set new lyrics to tunes by Meyerbeer, Bellini, Offenbach and others. The piece premiered at the opening of the newly rebuilt Gaiety Theatre in London on 21 December 1868. An extravaganza played on a very large scale, it ran for over 120 performances and played continuously in the British provinces for three years thereafter. It also enjoyed several revivals. The original production starred Nellie Farren in the title role – she became the company's leading "principal boy". Several of the other male roles were played by women, as was common in burlesques of the day. ==History== ''Robert the Devil'' was part of a series of five operatic burlesques written early in Gilbert's career. The first was ''Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack'' an 1866 musical spoof of Donizetti's ''L'elisir d'amore''. The second was ''La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps!'', a parody of Donizetti's ''La fille du régiment'' (1867). The others were ''The Merry Zingara; or, the Tipsy Gipsy and the Pipsy Wipsy'' (Royalty Theatre, 1868), a burlesque of Balfe's ''The Bohemian Girl'' and ''The Pretty Druidess; or, the Mother, the Maid, and the Mistletoe Bough'' (Charing Cross Theatre, 1869), a burlesque of Bellini's ''Norma''.〔Stedman, pp. 34–62〕 The libretto of ''Robert the Devil'' is set in rhyming couplets, as are the other Gilbert burlesques. The opening night performance was under-rehearsed, partly because the new Gaiety Theatre was not finished until the last moment, leaving no time for rehearsal on its stage. Therefore, the evening's entertainments received mixed reviews, except for the uniformly enthusiastic reviews of Nellie Farren. However, ''The Times'' noted that "Like the other extravaganzas from the same pen, ''Robert the Devil'' shows an endeavour to avoid the ordinary vulgarities of grotesque drama, and bring its most elegant contingencies into the foreground.... The burlesque has been received with a storm of approbation."〔Ainger, p. 80〕 The success of ''Robert'' and ''Dulcamara'' showed that Gilbert could write entertainingly in this form and, together with his early pantomimes and farces, full of awful puns (traditional in burlesques of the period), though they do, at times, show signs of the satire that would later be a defining part of his work.〔(See ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature'', Volume XIII, Chapter VIII, Section 15 (1907–21) ) and (Crowther, Andrew, ''The Life of W. S. Gilbert'' ).〕 These led to Gilbert's more mature "fairy comedies", such as ''The Palace of Truth'' (1870) and ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1871),〔(Article by Andrew Crowther ).〕 which in turn led to the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Although Gilbert gave up direct parodies of opera soon after ''Robert'', his parodic pokes at grand opera continued to be seen in the Savoy operas.〔 The title character, a breeches role, was played as an insouciant "swell" by Nellie Farren, who became famous as the theatre's "principal boy".〔(Crowther, p. 20 )〕 Gilbert later renounced ''travesti'' roles and revealing dresses on his actresses, and made publicly known his disapproval of them. In January 1885 Hollingshead crossed swords him on the subject, writing to the ''Pall Mall Gazette'', "Mr. Gilbert is somewhat severe on a style of burlesque which he did much to popularise in the old days before he invented what I may call burlesque in long clothes. … Mr Gilbert never objected to the dresses in ''Robert the Devil'' nor to the dresses in ''Thespis''."〔Correspondence, ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', 26 January 1885, p. 4〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert the Devil (Gilbert)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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