Recordings of Patience
Background
 Contemporary Drawing of Scenes from Patience |
While The Pirates of Penzance ran successfully in London throughout most of 1880, W. S. Gilbert was hard at work on his next opera. His initial thought was a dramatization of his Bab Ballad, "The Rival Curates." As his plot developed, however, he began to worry about adverse reaction to a comic opera that appeared to be mocking the clergy. Luckily, he found that he could transform the opera into a story about rival poets (which apparently had been his original idea) without having to abandon much of what he had written. Thus was Patience born.
The opera makes fun of the so-called Aesthetic Movement that was the rage in 1880. Gilbert had his fears that the opera would seem dated when it was first revived in 1900, but it once again scored a brilliant triumph, and Patience has been a favorite of G&S fans ever since. Aestheticism may be a long-gone fad, but the characters' blind devotion to passing tastes will be recognized by audiences of any era.
Patience has fared well on records. The D'Oyly Carte recording, with dialogue complete, is an excellent choice and is available on CD. Two videos (Brent Walker (1982) and Opera Australia (1995) are both based on the respected English National Opera production first seen in the 1970s.
Recordings
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1921 HMV | Acou | 
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1930 D'Oyly Carte | Elec |
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1951 D'Oyly Carte | Mono | |
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1961 D'Oyly Carte | Ster Dial |
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1962 Sargent/EMI | Ster | |
| NR | 1965 D'Oyly Carte TV Broadcast | Dial |  |
| NR | 1966 BBC | Dial |  |
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1982 Brent Walker Productions | Dial |
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| NR | 1989 BBC | Ster Dial | |
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1994 New D'Oyly Carte | Dig Bonus | |
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1995 Opera Australia | Dig Video |
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