Search results
Locals claim that the Murgatroyd ancestors in Ruddigore are based on the Murgatroyd family of East Riddlesden Hall, West Yorkshire. According to his biographers, Sidney Dark and Rowland Grey, Gilbert also drew on some of his earlier verse, the Bab Ballads , for some plot elements.
The Baronet of Ruddigore, Sir Despard Murgatroyd, has inherited a family curse which forces him to commit a crime every day — or die in agony. He hates the curse, doing his heinous misdeeds as early as possible and good works for the rest of the day to compensate! It’s a huge relief, therefore, when his long-lost elder brother and true heir ...
"Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse" was the 10th collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. The "supernatural opera" opened on January 21, 1887 at the Savoy Theatre and ran for 288 performances. It was not revived until 1920 when it was substantially cut and provided with a new overture arranged by Geoffrey Toye.
A point against Ruddigore, as originally produced, was the reanimation of all the ghosts of the dead Murgatroyds in Act II; this however, was altered and the ghosts were not brought back to life; the one exception being Sir Roderic who had committed suicide.
She tells the girls how his ancestor, Sir Rupert Murgatroyd, employed his time in persecuting witches, and that one of his victims, in mortal agony at the stake, laid this curse on him: "Each lord of Ruddigore, despite his best endeavor, shall do one crime, or more, once every day, for ever."
The brooding highlands of Scotland or the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors both would have been apt locations for such a story (Murgatroyd being a famous Yorkshire line of the gentry), but one imagines that Gilbert and Sullivan wished to evoke a truly otherworldly feeling for their ghost story.
People also ask
Is Ruddigore based on a true story?
What books based on Ruddigore?
Where can I read the synopsis of Ruddigore by Arthur Sullivan?
Is Ruddigore a comic opera?
Many years previously, she had been betrothed to "a god-like youth" who turned out to be Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, one of the bad baronets of Ruddigore. Only on her wedding day had she discovered his true identity.
8.0/10 (1522 reviews)
Browse new releases, best sellers or classics & find your next favourite book. Low prices on millions of books. Free UK delivery on eligible orders
