One of the most melodious and perennially popular of the G & S operettas, Patience (or Bunthorne’s Bride) was first performed at the Operea Comique, London on 23rd April, 1881, under the baton of the composer. Having previously satirised various British institutions, most notably the Navy in HMS Pinafore and the judicial system in Trial by Jury, in his ‘New and Original Aesthetic Opera’ Patience, Gilbert set out next to parody the archetypal English “flower power” group known as the Aesthetic Movement.