Ivanhoe is a romantic opera in three acts based on the 1819 novel by Sir Walter Scott, with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Julian Sturgis. It premiered at the Royal English Opera House on 31 January 1891 for a consecutive run of 155 performances, a record for a grand opera. Later that year it was performed six more times, making a total of 161 performances. It was toured by Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1894–1895 but has rarely been performed since. The first complete, fully professional recording was released in 2010 on the Chandos Records label.
Illustration of scene from Ivanhoe in The Graphic, 1891
Standard programme cover
Hawes Craven's scenery for Ivanhoe
Souvenir of 100th performance
Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more recent past. It became one of Scott's best-known and most influential novels.
Title page of 1st edition (1820, but released in December 1819)
Ivanhoe on the Scott Monument, Edinburgh (sculpted by John Rhind)
Le Noir Faineant in the Hermit's Cell by J. Cooper, Sr. From an 1886 edition of Walter Scott's works
Rebecca on the parapet of Torquilstone castle, drawing by George Cruikshank (1837)