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''The Palace of Truth'' is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 19 November 1870, partly adapted from Madame de Genlis's fairy story, ''Le Palais de Vérite''. The play ran for approximately 140 performances and then toured the British provinces and enjoyed various revivals even well into the 20th century.〔(Information about a 1941 production of the play )〕 There was also a New York production in 1910.〔(Information about the 1910 Broadway production )〕 After more than a century of inquiry, researchers in 2012 concluded that the three genera of Lemurs were named after characters in ''The Palace of Truth'' in 1870 by British zoologist John Edward Gray.〔The etymology of the genus ''Phaner'' puzzled researchers after Gray's work was published. In 1904, American zoologist Theodore Sherman Palmer could state only that ''Phaner'' derived from the Greek φανερός (''phaneros'') meaning "visible, evident". In 2012, researchers searched the general literature published around 1870. ''The Palace of Truth'' had premiered only 12 days prior to the date written on the preface of Gray's manuscript assigning the genera, and they saw that three character names in the play, King Phanor, Mirza and Azema, corresponded to the genera ''Phaner'' (Fork-marked lemur), ''Mirza'' (Giant mouse lemur) and ''Azema'' (Mouse lemur), all described by Gray in the same publication and equally enigmatic. The researchers concluded that Gray saw Gilbert's comedy and named the three lemur genera after its characters. Dunkel, A. R., J. S. Zijlstra and C. P. Groves. ("Giant rabbits, marmosets, and British comedies: etymology of lemur names, part 1" ), ''Lemur News'', vol. 16, 2012, pp. 66–67 issn 1608-1439〕 ==Background== Gilbert created several blank verse "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre for actor-manager John Baldwin Buckstone and starring William Hunter Kendal and his wife Madge Robertson Kendal (sister of the playwright Tom Robertson) in the early 1870s. These plays, influenced by the fairy work of James Planché, are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or supernatural interference.〔(''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes'' (1907–21). Volume XIII. "The Victorian Age", Part One. VIII. Nineteenth-Century Drama, § 15. W. S. Gilbert. )〕 ''The Palace of Truth'' was the first of these, followed by ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1871), a satire of sentimental, romantic attitudes toward myth, ''The Wicked World'' (1873), and ''Broken Hearts'' (1875). At the same time, Gilbert wrote some interesting drams, including ''Sweethearts'' (1874) and ''Charity'' (1874). These plays did for Gilbert on the dramatic stage what the German Reed Entertainments had done for him on the musical stage. They established that his capabilities extended far beyond burlesque and won him artistic credentials as a writer of wide range, who was as comfortable with human drama as with farcical humour.〔Stedman, chapter 8〕 Although the play has substantial comic elements, it has the structure and feel of a drama.〔("Gilbert before Sullivan", a chapter of Gayden Wren's ''A Most Ingenious Paradox'' ) ISBN 0-19-530172-2〕 The play was one of Gilbert's most successful works prior to his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan. The play ran for approximately 140 performances at the Haymarket,〔An advertisement in ''The Times'', 22 April 1871, p. 8, states that the 135th performance would be the "last but five" and that a new piece would open at the theatre on 29 April. ''The Times'', 2 May 1871, p. 12, confirms that ''The Palace of Truth'' had been replaced by other works at the Haymarket and that ''An English Gentleman'' by H. J. Byron, starring Edward Sothern, would open on 6 May.〕 a long run at the time, and then toured. Gilbert was paid 4 guineas per night until February 1871 and 2 guineas thereafter. On tour, Gilbert's royalty was 3 guineas a night.〔(G&S Potted History 3 webpage )〕 Some of Gilbert's later works drew on ''The Palace of Truth'' for plot elements or their logical development, including his hit play, ''Engaged'' (1877), where characters say openly what would ordinarily be hidden and admit what, in Victorian society, would be inadmissible.〔(G&S Potted History 4 webpage )〕 Gilbert and Edward German discussed making ''The Palace of Truth'' into an opera, but after the failure of ''Fallen Fairies'', the idea was abandoned.〔(Edward German Discography )〕 Some of the satire of the piece is aimed at musicians. An exchange in the piece, where the character of Zoram, the court composer and a poseur, makes the following complicated musical remark, was tried out by Gilbert on his future collaborator, Arthur Sullivan, some months before the play was produced (Gilbert had looked up the definition of "harmony" in the Encyclopædia Britannica and translated it into blank-verse, as follows):〔(How, Barry, in ''The Strand Magazine'', July–December 1891 )〕 :Believe me, the result would be the same, :Whether your lordship chose to play upon :The simple tetrachord of Mercury :That knew no diatonic intervals, :Or the elaborate dis‑diapason :(Four tetrachords, and one redundant note), :Embracing in its perfect consonance :All simple, double and inverted chords! 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「The Palace of Truth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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