The Pirates of Penzance

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The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two rounds, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W.Ã, S.Ã, Gilbert. The premiere of the opera was held at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York City on December 31, 1879, where the show was well received by spectators and critics. His debut in London was on April 3, 1880, at Opera Comique, where he ran for 363 shows, having been playing successfully for over three months in New York.

The story is about Frederic, who, after finishing 21 years, was freed from his apprenticeship to a group of soft-hearted pirates. He met Mabel, daughter of Major General Stanley, and the two youngsters fell in love immediately. Frederic soon learned, however, that he was born on February 29, and technically, he has birthdays only once every leap year. His indenture determined that he remained an apprentice to the pirates until his "20th birthday", meaning that he had to serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of responsibility, Frederic's only consolation was that Mabel agreed to wait for him faithfully.

Pirates is Gilbert's and Sullivan's fifth collaboration and introduces the most parodied "Lagu Major General". This Opera was performed for over a century by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the United Kingdom and by many other opera companies and corporate treasuries around the world. Modernized production includes the 1981 Broadway Joseph Papp, which ran for 787 performances, won the Tony Award for the Best Awakening and Drama Desk Award for Extraordinary Music, and produced many replicas and adaptations of the 1983 film. Pirates remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and HMS Pinafore as one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most played operas.

Video The Pirates of Penzance

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The Pirates of Penzance is the only opera of Gilbert and Sullivan that has its first appearance in the United States. At that time, American law did not offer copyright protection to foreigners. After the pair's previous opera, H.M.S. Pinafore , succeeded in London in 1878, about 150 American companies rapidly increased unauthorized production that often took a lot of freedom with the text and did not pay royalties to the creators. Gilbert and Sullivan hope to prevent further "copyright piracy" by upgrading their first opera production in America, before others can copy it, and by delaying the publication of scores and libretto. They managed to keep themselves a direct advantage of the first American production of The Pirates of Penzance by opening their own production on Broadway, before London production, and they also operated a profitable US tour company of Pirates and Pinafore . However, Gilbert, Sullivan, and their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, failed in their efforts, over the next decade, to control the copyright of American performance for their Pirates and other operas.

Fiction and drama about pirates were everywhere in the 19th century. Walter Scott's (1822) and James Fenimore Cooper's are the main sources for the romantic and dashing pirate images and the idea of ​​a converted pirate. Gilbert and Sullivan have parodied these ideas early in their careers. Sullivan had written an operatic comic called The Contrabandista, in 1867, of a poor British tourist captured by bandits and forced to become their chief. Gilbert has written several comic works involving pirates or bandits. In Gilbert's 1876 opera Princess Toto , the title character was anxious to be captured by a brigand chief. Gilbert had translated Jacques Offenbach's opera Les brigands , in 1871. As in the Les brigands , The Pirates of Penzance nonsensically treats stealing as lanes professional careers, with apprentices and trading tools such as crowbars and life keepers.

Genesis

While Pinafore ran very strongly at Opera Comique in London, Gilbert was eager to start the next opera and Sullivan, and he began working on libretto in December 1878. He reused some of his first action movie elements in 1870, Our Island Home , which has introduced the "head" of pirates, Captain Bang. Bang mistakenly apprenticed to the band of pirates as a child by a deaf caregiver. Also, Bang, like Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, has never seen a woman before and felt a keen sense of responsibility, as an apprentice pirate, until her first 21st birthday trip freed her from her article about indenture. Bernard Shaw believes that Gilbert drew ideas in Les Brigands for his new libretto, including business clerks and a clumsy police officer. Gilbert and Sullivan were also incorporated into Act II an idea they first considered for a one-action opera paris in 1876 about robbers who met police, while their conflicts escaped notice of an unconscious father of a large family of girls. As in Pinafore, there is a self-descriptive set-piece for Stanley ["The Major-General's Song"], introducing himself as did Sir Joseph Porter... a shabby comic strip. for Police Sergeant... a recognition song for Ruth, the successor of Little Buttercup ", romantic material for Frederic and Mabel, and" ensemble and chorus music in a beautiful turn, parody and atmosphere. "

Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte met April 24, 1879 to create a production plan of Pinafore and a new opera in America. Carte went to New York in the summer of 1879 and made arrangements with theater manager John T. Ford to attend, at the Fifth Avenue Theater, the official production. He then returned to London. Meanwhile, after Pinafore became a hit in London, writers, composers and producers had financial resources to produce their own future performances, and they ran a plan to break free from their financial supporters in the "Company Comedy Opera". Carte formed a new partnership with Gilbert and Sullivan to split the profit equally among themselves after spending each of their events.

In November 1879, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte sailed to America with a powerful singing company, to play both Pinafore and new operas, including JH Ryley as Sir Joseph Blanche Roosevelt as Josephine, Alice Barnett as Little Buttercup, Furneaux Cook as Dick Deadeye, Hugh Talbot as Ralph Rackstraw and Jessie Bond as Cousin Hebe, some of whom once played Pinafore in London. For this, he added several American singers, including Signor Brocolini as Captain Corcoran. Alfred Cellier came to help Sullivan, while his brother FranÃÆ'§ois remained in London to perform Pinafore there. Gilbert and Sullivan chose talented actors who were not famous stars, and therefore they did not charge high fees. They then adjust their opera with the special abilities of these players. The skill used by Gilbert and Sullivan for his performers influences the audience: as criticized by Herman Klein, "we secretly admire the naturalness and ease that [gucci and absurdity Gilbertian] say and do." Until then no living soul has seen in on a stage that is so strange, eccentric, yet very intense human... [They] conjure into a comic world that until now is not known from mere pleasure. "Gilbert acts as a stage director for his own drama and opera. He sought naturalism in acting, which was unusual at the time, just as he sought for a realistic visual element. He stops self-conscious interaction with the audience and insists on a style of depiction in which characters are never conscious of their own absurdity but are a coherent internal part. Sullivan does musical exercises.

The musical composition for Pirate is unusual, in which Sullivan wrote music for action in reverse, intending to bring the completed Act II to New York, with Act I only in the sketch. When he arrived in New York, he discovered that he had left his sketches behind, and he had to reconstruct the first act of memory. Gilbert told a correspondent a few years later that Sullivan could not recall his arrangement from the entrance of the women's choir, so they changed the choir "Rock climbing" from the previous opera, Thespis . The Sullivan script for Pirates contains deleted pages from the Thespis score, with the vocal part of the chorus changed from their original setting as a four-piece choir. Some scholars (eg Tillett and Spencer, 2000) have suggested that Gilbert and Sullivan had planned to reuse "Rock climbing," and possibly other parts of Thespis. They argue that Sullivan had an unpublished Thespis score in New York, when there was no plan to revive Thespis , perhaps unintentionally. However, on December 10, 1879, Sullivan wrote a letter to his mother about a new opera, on which he worked hard in New York. "I think it will be a great success, because it's very funny, and the music is very melodious and interesting." As is commonly done in later operas, Sullivan left the opening for the last moment, sketched and entrusted his composition to the company's music director, in this case Alfred Cellier.

Pinafore opened in New York on 1 December 1879 and lasts for the remainder of December. After a strong first week, audiences quickly fell, as most New Yorkers have seen local production of Pinafore. It was unexpected and forced Gilbert and Sullivan to race to finish and train their new opera, The Pirates of Penzance . The title of the work is a multi-layered joke. On the one hand, Penzance is a benign seaside resort in 1879, and not a place where people will meet pirates. On the other hand, the title is also a jab on the "pirate" theater who has made the production without permission of HM.S. Pinafore in America. To secure UK copyright, the tour company D'Oyly Carte gave pirates pirates a pirate performance right before the premiere in New York, at the Royal Bijou Theater in Paignton, Devon, hosted by Helen Lenoir will later marry Richard D'Oyly Carte. The cast, who was doing Pinafore at night in Torquay, received some music for Pirates just two days earlier. Having just one rehearsal, they travel to nearby Paignton for a matinee, where they read their parts of the script brought to the stage, with whatever costume they have in hand.

Original production and after

Pirates opened on 31 December 1879 in New York and was a direct hit. On January 2, 1880, Sullivan wrote, in another letter to his mother from New York, "The ingenious, clever libretto, very funny in some parts, and sometimes brilliant in dialogue - beautifully written for music, like all Gilbert does.. "The music is far superior in all respects to Pinafore - 'tunier' and more developed, from the higher classes. I think in time it will be very popular. "Shortly after, Carte sent three touring companies around the East Coast of the United States and Midwest, playing Pirates and Pinafore. Sullivan's predictions were correct After a strong run in New York and several American tours, Pirates opened in London on April 3, 1880, walked for 363 performances there.It remains one of the most popular G & amp works. London was designed by John O'Connor.

The critics' announcements are generally good in New York and London. The character of Major General Stanley is widely regarded as the caricature of General Sir Garnet Wolseley. The biographer Michael Ainger, however, doubts that Gilbert intended the Wolseley caricature, identifying instead General Henry Turner, uncle of Gilbert's wife, as a pattern for the modern "Major General". Gilbert did not like Turner, who, unlike the progressive Wolseley, was an old school of officers. Nevertheless, in original London production, George Grossmith mimicked the behavior and appearance of Wolseley, especially his large mustache, and the audience acknowledged the metaphor. Wolseley himself, according to his biographer, does not mention caricatures and sometimes sings "I am a modern Major General model" for the personal entertainment of his family and friends.

Maps The Pirates of Penzance

Roles

• Major General Stanley (baritone comics)
• Pirate King (bas-baritone)
• Samuel, Lieutenant (baritone)
• Frederic, the Pirate Apprentice (tenor)
• Police Sergeant (bass)
• General Stanley's children:

• Mabel (soprano)
• Edith (mezzo-soprano)
• Kate (mezzo-soprano)
• Isabel (speaking role)

• Ruth, Pyramid Maid of all work (contralto)
• Choir Pirates, Police and General Stanley's Daughters

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Synopsis

Act Me

On the coast of Cornwall, during the reign of Queen Victoria, Frederic celebrated the completion of twenty-one years and ended his apprenticeship with a group of polite pirates ("Pour, oh pour sherry pirates"). The pirate maids of all jobs, Ruth, appear and reveal that, as Frederic's caretaker for a long time, he made the mistake of "overhearing": Fouling Frederic's father's instructions, he apprenticed him to the pirates instead of the pilot ("When Frederic was a kid").

Frederic had never seen a woman other than Ruth, and she believed she was beautiful. The pirates knew better and suggested that Frederic take Ruth with him when he returned to civilization. Frederic announced that, although it was painful, so strong was his sense of responsibility that, once free of his apprenticeship, he would be forced to devote himself to the extermination of pirates. He also points out that they are not successful pirates: because they are all orphans, they allow their prey to be free if they are also orphans. Frederic notes that this word already exists, so the captured company of the vessel routinely claims to be an orphan. Frederic invited the pirates to hand over piracy and go with him, so he did not have to destroy them, but the Pirate King said that, compared to honor, hijacking is relatively honest ("Oh! Better to live and die" ). The pirates left, leaving Frederic and Ruth. Frederic sees a group of beautiful young girls approaching the pirate's nest, and realizes that Ruth misleads him about his appearance ("Oh, wrong! You've tricked me!"). Pushing Ruth away, Frederic hid before the girls arrived.

The girls exploded happily in a remote place ("Ascend the rocky mountains"). Frederic reveals himself ("Stop, ladies, pray!"), To their surprise. She begs them to help her reform ("Oh! Is not there one breast girl?"). The girls were fascinated by her, but all rejected her, except one: Mabel, responding to her request, rebuking her sister for lack of charity ("Oh, deaf sister to pity name in shame!"). He offered Frederic pity to her ("Poor wand'ring one"), and both quickly fell in love. Other girls discuss whether to eavesdrop or leave a new spouse alone ("What should we do?"), Deciding to "talk about the weather," even though they steal a gaze on a loving couple ("how beautiful is the blue sky") ).

Frederic warned young women that their old friends would soon return ("Stay, we can not lose our common sense"), but before they can escape, the pirates arrive and arrest the girls, intending to marry them (" This is a first-rate opportunity "). Mabel warned the pirates that her father was Major General ("Hold, monster!"), Who soon arrived and introduced himself ("I am a model of a modern Major General"). She begged the pirates not to take her daughter, leaving her to face her old age alone. After hearing about the famous Pirates of Penzance, he pretended that he was an orphan to get their sympathy ("Oh, those who are unlucky and depressing"). The soft-hearted pirates release the girls ("Greetings, Poems!"), Making Major General Stanley and her daughters become members of their band's honor ("Pray for observing generosity").

Round II

The Major General sits in a ruined chapel on his property, surrounded by his daughters. His conscience was tormented by the lies he told the pirates, and the girls tried to comfort him ("Oh dry the sparkling tears"). Sgt Police and his corps arrived to announce their readiness to arrest the pirates ("When a smith hit his shirt"). The girls loudly expressed their admiration for the police for facing the possibility of slaughter in the hands of fierce and merciless enemies. The police were impressed with this but eventually left.

Left alone, Frederic, who will lead the police, reflects on his chance to redeem piracy life ("Now for the pirate nest"), at which point he meets Ruth and the Pirate King. They have realized that Frederic's apprenticeship is a word that ties it to them until their twenty-first birthday - and, since the birthday takes place on February 29 (in a leap year), technically only five birthday has passed ("When you have left our pirate folds"), and he will not reach his twenty-first birthday until he is in his eighties. Frederic believes in this logic and agrees to rejoin the pirates. He then sees it as his duty to inform the Pirate King of Major General's cheating. The angry criminals declare that "the pirate's revenge will be quick and terrible" ("Far away, go, my heart burns").

Frederic met Mabel ("All ready"), and he begged her to stay ("Stay Frederic, anyway"), but he felt attached to his duties to the pirates until his 21st birthday - in 1940. They agreed to one faithful until Mabel "seems so long" ("Oh this is love and this is the truth"); Frederic departs. Mabel comes into contact with herself ("No, I'll be brave") and tells the police they have to go alone to confront the pirates. They contemplate that a criminal may be just like everyone else, and it is shameful to deprive him of "the freedom that everyone loves" ("When a principal is not involved in his work"). The police hid while hearing the approach of the pirates ("A group of our tortuous pirates"), who had stolen the land, with a view to taking revenge on the lies of Major General ("With cat-like tread").

At that time, Major General Stanley appeared, sleepless with guilt, and the pirates also hid ("Hush, hush! Not a word"), while the Major-General listened to the soothing breeze of wind ("Gently sighs into the river"). The girls came looking for her ("Now what is this and what is it"). The pirates jumped into the attack, and the police rushed to the defense; but the police were easily defeated, and the Pirate King urged the captured Major General to prepare for death. The sergeant had one tactic left: he demanded that the pirates produce "in the name of Queen Victoria"; the pirates, overcome with loyalty to their Queen, do it. Ruth appears and reveals that the pirates are "all the wrong nobles". The Major General was impressed with this and everything was forgiven. Frederic and Mabel reunited, and Major gladly married his daughters with the noble pirates.

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Music number

• Overture (including "With cat-like footprints", "Ah, do not leave me for pine", "Pray to observe generosity", "When you leave our pirate folds", "Ascend the rocky mountains" , and "how beautiful is the blue sky")

Act Me

• 1. "Pour, oh pour, pirate sherry" (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates)
• 2. "When Fred'ric was a kid" (Ruth)
• 3. "Oh, better to live and die" (Pirate King and Pirate Choir)
• 4. "Oh! False, you've deceived me" (Frederic and Ruth)
• 5. "Rock climbing" (Chorus of Girls)
• 6. "Stop, ladies, pray" (Edith, Kate, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)
• 7. "Oh, is not there a girl's breast?" (Frederic and Chorus of Girls)
• 8. "Poor wand'ring one" (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)
• 9. "What should we do?" (Edith, Kate, and Chorus of Girls)
• 10. "How beautiful the blue sky" (Mabel, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)
• 11. "Still, we should not lose our senses"... "This is the first level of opportunity to marry impunity" (Frederic and Chorus of Girls and Pirates)
• 12. "Hold, monster" (Mabel, Major General, Samuel, and Choir)
• 13. "I am a model of a modern Major General" (Major General and Choir)
• 14. Finale Act I (Mabel, Kate, Edith, Ruth, Frederic, Samuel, King, Major General, and Chorus)
  • "Oh, people are lucky and dreary"
  • "I told a terrible story"
  • "Greetings, Poems"
  • "Oh, good day, happy happy"
  • "Pray for generosity" (repeat "Here is the first level opportunity")

Round II

• 15. "Oh, dry the tears glist'ning" (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)
• 16. "Then, Frederic, let your companion be a lion heart" (Frederic and Major-General)
• 17. "When his steel bare foeman" (Mabel, Edith, Sergeant, and Police and Girl Choir)
• 18. "Now for the pirate's nest!" (Frederic, Ruth, and King)
• 19. "When you leave our pirates" [Trio "paradox"] (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
• 20. "Away, go! My heart is on fire!" (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
• 21. "Everything is ready: your handsome crew is waiting for you" (Mabel and Frederic)
• 22. "Stay, Fred'ric, stay"... "Ah, do not bother me."... "Oh, this is love, and this is the truth" (Mabel and Frederic)
23. "No, I will be brave"... "Though in body and in mind" (Reprise of "When his steel bares foeman") (Mabel, Sergeant, and Chorus of Police)
• 23a. "Sergeant, come closer!" (Mabel, Police Sergeant, and Police Choir)
• 24. "When a felon is not involved in his work" (Sergeant and Chorus of Police)
• 25. "The band rolls out of our pirates" (Sergeant and Pirate and Police Choir)
• 26. "With cat-like treads, our prey, we steal" (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates and Police)
• 27. "Hush, be quiet, not a word!" (Frederic, King, Major General, and Police and Pirates Choir)
• 28. Finale, Act II (Ensemble)
  • "Gently sigh into the river"
  • "Now what is this, and what is it?"
  • "You/We win now"
  • "Go with them, and put them in the bar!"
  • "Poor poor thing!"

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Critical reception

Notices from critics were generally very good in New York and London in 1880. In New York, Herald and Tribune both dedicated most of the space to their review. The Herald takes the view that "new work in all things is superior to Pinafore , the text is more funny, the music is more elegant and more complicated." The Tribune calls it "a brilliant and complete success," commenting, "Humor from Pirates is richer, but more reconciliation, which demands closer attention to the words [but] there are great stores of intelligence and rubbish... which will pay off exploration... The music is fresh, bright, elegant and cheerful, and most of the art belongs to the higher than the most popular of Pinafore songs The New York Times also praised the work, writing, "it is impossible for the wrong person to confirm to refrain from excitement on it", even though the newspaper doubts if the Pirates can repeat the tremendous success of Pinafore .

After the London premiere, the critical consensus, led by the theater newspaper , is that the new work marks a different progress on previous works of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Pall Mall Gazette says, "From Mr. Sullivan's music we have to speak in detail on several other occasions.It's enough for now to say that in the new style he has marked himself, the best he has written. " The Graphic writes:

That no composer can meet Mr.'s requirements. Gilbert is like Mr. Sullivan, and otherwise , is a universally recognized fact. Some might think that the verses and music are simultaneous growth, so tightly and firmly they are intertwined. Far from this consideration, the The Pirates of Penzance score is one where Mr. Sullivan must have given serious consideration, because apart from the constant flow of melody, it was written for sounds and instruments with unlimited care, and the problem was a miniature cabinet with clearly defined proportions.... That Pirates is a clear advance on its predecessor, from Trial by Jury to H.M.S. Pinafore , can not be rejected; contains more variety, marked characters, careful workmanship, and in fact a more complete artistic accomplishment... brilliant success.

There are some disagreeing comments: The Manchester Guardian thought both writers and composers had been interested in his predecessor's work: "Mr. Gilbert... seems to have borrowed an idea from Sheridan's The Criticism Mr Sullivan's music is swift, melodious and full of 'go away', although it certainly does not have originality. "The Sporting Times says," There seems to be no criticism that the central idea in The Pirates of Penzance taken from Our Island Home , played by Reed Germany about ten years ago. " The Times thought Gilbert's intelligence came out of his dramatic discovery, and Sullivan's music for the new work is not as good as its score for The Sorcerer, which critics call the masterpiece.

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Music analysis

The overture to The Pirates of Penzance was composed by Sullivan and his music assistant, Alfred Cellier. This follows the pattern of most of the Savoy opera: a live opening (melody "With cat-like tread"), a slow middle part ("Ah, do not bother me pine alone"), and allegro cover in sonata compression form, where the theme "How beautiful blue sky "and" Paradox, a paradox "combined.

Parody

Parody scores some composers, most notably Verdi. "Come on, friends, who pirate" and "You win now" are the tortures of Il trovatore, and one of the most famous choir parts of the end to Act I, "Hail Poetry" is, according to Sullivan scholar, Arthur Jacobs, a mockery of the prayer scene, "La Vergine degli Angeli", in Verdi La forza del destino . However, another music expert, Nicholas Temperley, wrote, "The chorus blast" Salam, Poetry "in The Pirates of Penzance will require a slight change to turn it into a Mozart string quartet. "Another notable parody of this work is the coloratura song," Poor wand'ring one, "which is generally regarded as Gounod waltz songs, although music critics from The Times call it" mock-donizetti " In a scene in Act II, Mabel speaks to the police, who chant their response in the way the Anglican ministry serves.

Sullivan even managed to parody two composers at once. Critics Rodney Milnes describes the song Major-General Act II, "Gentle breath into the river", "as inspired by - and indeed worthy - hero Sullivan Schubert", and Amanda Holden talks about the song "Schubertian water-ripple watering", but adds that it simultaneously spoofs Verdi's Il trovatore , with the soloist unaware of the hidden male chorus singing behind him.

Patter, counterpoint, and vowel writing

Writing about the ringer, Shaw, in his capacity as a music critic, praised the "lilt time honored Sir Arthur Sullivan, following the example of Mozart and Rossini, opting for the Major-General's list of achievements at The Pirates or Colonel in Patience."

This Opera contains two examples of Sullivan's famous combination of two seemingly different melodies. Jacobs suggests that Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, a great favorite in the years of Sullivan's formation, may well be a model for his controversial contribution to the quick-blend of a female choir in Act I ("how beautiful is the sky blue") within 2/4 with a lover duet at waltz time. Jacobs writes that "the whole number [shifts] with Schubertian lighten from B to G and back again." In Round II, the double choir combines police-guarded notes, "When the foemens bake their shirts" and a rising line for women, "Go, you heroes, go to victory." In adapting the four-part chorus of "climbing the rocky mountains" of Thespis to reuse in Pirates , Sullivan had fewer problems: he wrote only one vowel line, perfect for soprano sounds. Nevertheless, the figure ends with another example of a Sullivan counterpoint, with the choir singing the second melody of the song ("Let's feel its size") while the orchestra plays the first one ("Ascent of rocky mountains").

Sullivan sets a special vocal challenge for the soprano singer who portrays Mabel. Sullivan scientist Gervase Hughes wrote, "Mabel... must be a coloratura because of 'Poor wand'ring one!', But 'Daddy dear, why leave your bed' demands the beauty of a steady tone throughout the octave F to F, and 'Ah, leave me do not go to the pine tree' and hold a third lower again. "In The Music of Arthur Sullivan (1959), Hughes quotes four extracts from Pirates , saying that if he heard any out of context someone might relate it to Schubert, Mendelssohn, Gounod or Bizet, "have not learned the truth, someone will kick yourself for not recognizing Sullivan's touch in all four." Hughes concludes by quoting the introductory words about "When a principal is not involved in his work", adds, "There will never be any doubt as to who wrote that , and that is English like our outside police ordinary self. "

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Version

Since this work is shown in three different places (Paignton's performance and full production in New York and London), there is more variation in the early libretto and the Pirates of Penzance score than in the other Gilbert. and Sullivan works. The songs that were sent from New York to the tour company D'Oyly Carte in England for the premiere of Paignton were then changed or omitted during the rehearsals on Broadway. Gilbert and Sullivan slashed jobs for the London premiere, and Gilbert made further changes up to and including the revival of Savoy 1908. For example, the early versions depict the Pirate King as a pirate band maid, and the words of the opening choir are, "Pour, O King, sherry pirate ". In the original production of New York, Ruth's revelation that the pirates were "all the nobles who made mistakes" prompted the following exchange (given a famous passage in H. Pinafore:

In original London production, this exchange was shortened to the following:

Gilbert removed the exchange in 1900 revivals, and Chappell's vocal score was revised accordingly. For the 1908 revival, Gilbert ordered the pirates to produce "the name of the good King Edward". Despite repeated pleas of Helen Carte, Gilbert does not prepare an official version of the Savoy opera libretti.

In production in 1989, the Opera Company D'Oyly Carte restored one of the original versions of the final, which ended with a variation of "I am the main model of modern generals", rather than with the usual reaper "Poor one stick", but in later revival, back to a more familiar text.

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Production history

The Pirates of Penzance has become one of the most popular comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. After the opening of three unique in 1879-80, it was revived in London at the Savoy Theater in 1888 and in 1900, and for the Savoy treasury season of 1908-09. In the English provinces, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company toured almost continuously from 1880-1884, and again in 1888. It re-entered the do'Olyly Carte treasury in 1893 and was never again absent until the company's closure in 1982 The new costume was designed by Percy Anderson in 1919 and George Sheringham in 1929 (who also executed the new Act I set). Peter Goffin created a new tour set in 1957.

In America, after the opening of New York on New Year's Eve, 1879, Richard D'Oyly Carte launched four companies covering the United States on a tour that took place during the following summer. Gilbert and Sullivan personally trained each tour company until January and early February 1880, and the company's first performance - whether in Philadelphia, Newark or Buffalo - was done by composers. In Australia, his first official appearance was on March 19, 1881 at Theater Royal, Sydney, produced by J. C. Williamson. There was still no international copyright law in 1880, and the first invalid New York production was given by the Boston Ideal Opera Company at Booth's Theater in September of that year. The Opera was aired in the German translation by Richard GenÃÆ'Â © e and Camillo Walzel ( Die Piraten ) in Austria in Theater an der Wien on March 1, 1889, and in DÃÆ'¼sseldorf, Germany, on December 1, 1936.

The first professional non-D'Oyly Carte production in Gilbert-authorized country (other than Williamson's official production) was in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in September 1961. In 1979, Torbay's branch of Gilbert and Sullivan Society presented a hundred awards year-old to the Pirates world show in Paignton, with production at the Palace Avenue Theater (located a few meters from the former Bijou Theater).

New York has seen over forty major revivals since the premiere. One of them, produced and directed by Winthrop Ames in 1926 at the Plymouth Theater, ran for 128 shows and got good notices. The 1952 Broadway performance, starring Martyn Green, earned Lehman Engel a Tony Award as a conductor. Repertory companies that have mounted Pirates Off-Broadway many times and tours in the US have included American Savoyards (1953-67), Light Opera of Manhattan (1968-89) and New York Gilbert and Players Sullivan (1976-present).

As discussed below, Joseph Papp's 1980-83 Pirates ran for almost two years each on Broadway and in the West End, increasing the popularity of the opera. Professional production and operatic amateurs continue with the frequency. For example, the Chicago Lyric Opera and the British National Opera each performed their work in 2004, and in 2007, the New York City Opera and Opera Australia both installed new productions. In 2013, the Scottish Opera produced a British production tour of The Pirates of Penzance produced by trustees of the Opera Company D'Oyly Carte. Richard Suart plays Major General Stanley and Nicholas Sharratt plays Frederic.

The following table shows the production history of D'Oyly Carte in Gilbert's life (excluding tours):

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Historical casting

The following table shows the cast of the original main productions and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company toured the treasury at various times until the 1982 company closure:

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Pirates of Joseph Papp

In 1980, Joseph Papp and the General Theater of New York City produced a new version of Pirates, directed by Wilford Leach and choreographer by Graciela Daniele, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, one of the annual Shakespeare series on a summer event National Parks. The direction and direction of music by William Elliott. The show is played for 10 previews and 35 shows. It was then transferred to Broadway, opened on January 8, 1981 to run 20 previews and 787 regular performances at the Uris Theater and Minskoff. It took the Pirates got enthusiastic reviews and seven Tony Award nominations, winning three, including awards for Best Awakening and for Leach as a director. It was also nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning five, including Outstanding Musical and director.

Compared to traditional opera productions, Papp's Pirates features more pirated King of Pirates and Frederic, and a wider and more musical comedy and comedy style. It does not change libretto significantly, but uses new orchestrations and settings that change some keys, extra repetitions, extended dance music and make other small changes in scores. The "Matter Patter" trio of Ruddigore and "Sorry its lot" from H.M.S. Pinafore , two other Gilbert and Sullivan operas, were interpolated into the show. Production also returned the original end of New York by Gilbert and Sullivan, with a reprise of Major-General's song in Act II's final round. Linda Ronstadt starred as Mabel, Rex Smith as Frederic, Kevin Kline as Pirate King, Patricia Routledge as Ruth (replaced by Estelle Parsons for Broadway transfers), George Rose as Major General, and Tony Azito as Police Sergeant. Kline won the Tony Award for his performance. Smith won the World Theater Award, and Kline and Azito won the Drama Desk Awards. Important replacements during the Broadway run include Karla DeVito, Maureen McGovern and Pam Dawber as Mabel; Robby Benson, Patrick Cassidy, and Peter Noone as Frederic; Treat Williams, Gary Sandy, James Belushi, and Wally Kurth as Pirate King; David Garrison as Sergeant; George S. Irving as Major General; and Kaye Ballard as Ruth. Los Angeles production showcases Barry Bostwick as Pirate King, Jo Anne Worley as Ruth, Clive Revill as Major General, Dawber as Mabel, Paxton Whitehead as Sergeant, and Andy Gibb as Frederic. Production opened at Theater Royal, Drury Lane, London, on May 26, 1982, for generally warm reviews, to run 601 shows. Notable amongst the players were George Cole and Ronald Fraser as Major Generals; Pamela Stephenson as Mabel; Michael Praed and Peter Noone as Frederic; Tim Curry, Timothy Bentinck, Oliver Tobias and Paul Nicholas as Pirate King; Chris Langham as a Police Sergeant; Annie Ross as Ruth; Bonnie Langford as Kate; and Louise Gold as Isabel.

Australian production opened in Melbourne in January 1984, opening a new Victoria Art Center, directed by John Feraro. It stars Jon English as Pirate King, Simon Gallaher as Frederic, June Bronhill as Ruth, David Atkins as Police Sergeant and Marina Prior as Mabel. The limited six-week season was followed by Australia's national tour from 1984 to 1986 and toured back together with the same players in the mid-1990s. In 1985, Pirates opened a new Queensland Performing Arts Center in Brisbane, making a record of attendance not exceeded until years later by The Phantom of the Opera. The Papp version also inspires the production of foreign languages ​​in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

Papp's production was transformed into a film in 1983, with original Broadway actors repeating their roles, except that Angela Lansbury replaced Estelle Parsons as Ruth. The small role that British actors use to imitate their colleagues on Broadway. The film is sometimes shown on television. Another opera-based film and inspired by the success of the Papp version, The Pirate Movie , was released during the Broadway run.

Papp's production designs have been widely imitated in modern production of Pirates, even where traditional orchestras and standard scores are used. Music design and arrangements created for the production of Papps are protected by copyright; an unlicensed 1982 production installed in Dublin before the Papp production in London itself was ordered to be moved to London by a successful lawsuit. Some modern production is also influenced by the Disney movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean, incorporating aspects of Papp's production with the Disney design concept. Not all of these revivals produced the same enthusiasm as Papp's 1980s production. British touring production in 1999 received this criticism: "No doubt when Papp first staged this show in New York and London, it had some quality cheeks or chutzpah or pizzazz or irony or something that contributed to his success, but all that remains now.. is a rough Broadway-style musical composition worked by a seven-piece band, and the rudest kind of historic art collection. "

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Recordings

The Pirates of Penzance have been recorded many times, and the critical consensus is that it has fared well in the record. The first complete recording of the score was in 1921, under the direction of Rupert D'Oyly Carte, but with a well-established recorder than the company D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. In 1929, The Gramophone said a new set with the main character D'Oyly Carte, "This new record represents a high water mark as far as the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan are concerned.In each of Savoy's previous albums the occasional deviation that prevents a person from giving unqualified compliments but with the Pirates is gladly the opposite: from start to finish, and in every bar, the production is quite fun. "From a later recording by D 'Oyly Carte Opera Company, recording 1968 (with full dialogue) is greatly appreciated: The online Gilbert and Sullivan Discography says, "This recording is one of the best D'Oyly Carte sets of all time, and of course the best Pirates ", and Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Disc also recommend it. Likewise with Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music , along with 1993 Mackerras recording. The opera critic Alan Blyth recommends recording D'Oyly Carte in 1990: "a show full of life types that can only come from stage performances". The online Discography website also mentions the 1981 Papp recording as "extraordinary", apart from an unauthentic 1980 orchestration that "changes some of the tone colors that appeal to a stone-oriented public."

From available commercial videos, the site Discography considers Brent Walker better than the Papp version. More professional production has been recorded in the video by International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Selected record

• 1929 D'Oyly Carte - Conductor: Malcolm Sargent
• 1957 D'Oyly Carte - New Symphony Orchestra of London; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
• 1961 Sargent/Glyndebourne - Pro Arte Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus; Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent
• 1968 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
• 1981; 1983 Papp's Pirates (with dialogue) - Director: Wilford Leach; Music Director: William Elliott; Choreographer: Graciela Daniele
• 1982 Brent Walker Productions (with dialogue) - Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra; Conductor: Alexander Faris; Stage Director: Michael Geliot
• 1990 New D'Oyly Carte - Conductor: John Pryce-Jones
• 1993 Mackerras/Telarc - Orchestra and Welsh National Opera Choir; Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras
• 1994 Essgee Entertainment (video adaptation) - Director and Choreographer: Craig Schaefer; Orchestrators and Conductors: Kevin Hocking; Additional Lyrics: Melvyn Morrow

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Cultural impact

Major-General Song

Pirates is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most frequently referenced works. Major-General songs, in particular, are often parodied, inserted and used in advertisements. Parody versions have been used in political commentary and entertainment media. The challenging lines have proven to be attractive to comedians; notable examples include Tom Lehrer's song "The Elements" and monologue David Hyde Pierce, as host of Saturday Night Live . In 2010, comedian Ron Butler released YouTube pastiche from a song in character as President Obama who, in May 2012, has amassed over 1,750,000 total views.

Pastiche examples include the version Animaniacs , "I am a model of a cartoon character", in the episode "H.M.S. Yakko"; the Doctor Who audio "I'm a model of a Gallifreyan buccaneer" at Doctor Who and the Pirates ; version of Studio 60 at Sunset Strip in the episode "The Cold Open" (2006), where players perform "We are going to be the model of a modern network TV show"; and the video game version Mass Effect 2 , where Mordin Solus character sang: "I am a model of a Ph.D.

The song is often used in movies and on television, unchanged in many ways, as part of a character audition, or seen in a "play school" scene. Examples include the episode of VeggieTales entitled "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!"; episode Frasier "Father and Son"; The Simpsons episode "Deep Space Homer"; and "Mad About You" episode "Moody Blues", in which Paul directs the charity production Penzance starring his father, Burt, as Major General. In the Muppet Show (guest 3, episode 4) guest host, comedian Gilda Radner, sings the song with a 7 foot-tall carrot (2.1 m) (Awe-inspiring pilot/pirate confusion on Pirate , Radner has asked for a 6-foot-high (1.8 m) parrot, but hears it). In an episode of Home Improvement , Al Borland started singing songs when tricked into thinking he was in soundproof. In the episode of "Babylon 5" Atonement, Marcus Cole used the song to make Dr. Stephen Franklin crazy on a long trip to Mars.

Examples of the use of songs in advertisements include Martyn Green keywords from play lists of all varieties of Campbell's Soup and Geico 2011 ads where couples who want to save money, but still listen to musicals, find roommates, dressed as Major Generals, who awkwardly start the song while dancing on the coffee table. Gimbels department stores held a campaign that was sung for Major-General's song that began, "We're the model of a big modern department store." George Washington, in Lin Manuel Miranda's 2015 "Right Hand Man" musical number called himself by the irony of a "great modern general model", which he rhymes with "all men" and "pedestal". Miranda commented: "I always feel like 'mineral' is not the best rhyme."

Movies and TV

Other movie references to Pirates include Kate & amp; Leopold , where there are many references, including scenes in which Leopold sings "I Am The Very Model of Modern Major-General" while accompanying him on the piano; and in Pretty Woman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) covered a social error by prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), who commented that the opera La traviata was so so he almost "peeks [his] pants", saying he has said he likes it better than The Pirates of Penzance. "In Walt Disney cartoons Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), there is the appearance of the Pirates setting the climactic battle between Musketeers and Captain Pete. Pirates sung in cartoons is "With a footprint like the cat "," The poor wand "," Ascend the rocky mountains "and the Major General's song," The Bad Wand "is used in the movie The American Rock Sound The 1992 Soundtrack The Hand That Rocks the Cradle includes "Poor Wand'ring One" and "Oh Dry the Glistening Tear".

Television references, other than those mentioned above, include the West Wing series, where Pirates and other Gilbert and Sullivan operas are mentioned in several episodes, mainly by Deputy Director of Communications, Sam Seaborn, who recorded the secretary of Gilbert and Sullivan's school community. In Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , posters from Pirates hang on the wall of Matt Albie's office. Both TV series were created by Aaron Sorkin. In a pilot episode of the CBS 2008 Flashpoint series, a police officer and his colleague sang a police song. In the episode of Assy McGee titled "Pegfinger", Detective Sanchez's wife is a member of the community theater performing the opera. In a 1986 episode of the animated television adaptation of The Wind in the Willows titled Lot Producer, some characters use the production of Pirates. In the 2005 Peter Guy Got Woods episode "Family Guy", Brian Griffin sang "Sighing Softly", with the help of Peter Griffin. In an episode of 2012, "Killer Queen", Peter gave the rendering of Major-General's song. In the 2009 Criminal Minds episode "The Slave of Duty", Hotch quotes "Oh dry glist'ning tear". In the 1992 episode "The Understudy" of Clarissa Explains it All, the title character was chosen to mean Mabel in the production of the Pirates school and was not ready when he had to continue; a scene from The Mikado is also heard.

More references

Other notable examples of references to the Pirates include the New York Times article on February 29, 1940, which memorializes that Frederic finally got out of his indent. Six years earlier, the weapons given to the Penzance town district in 1934 contain pirates dressed in original Gilbert costumes, and Penzance has a rugby team called the Penzance Pirates, now called the Cornish Pirate. In 1980, Isaac Asimov wrote a short story titled "The Year of the Action", as to whether the Pirates action occurred on March 1, 1873, or March 1, 1877 (depending on whether Gilbert took into account the fact that 1900 was not leap year). The novel plot of Laurie R. King 2011 Pirate King centered on the 1924 silent film adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance.

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