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    The Pirates of Penzance: or The Slave of Duty
    The Pirates of Penzance: or The Slave of Duty
    The Pirates of Penzance: or The Slave of Duty
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    The Pirates of Penzance: or The Slave of Duty

    By W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

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    About this ebook

    The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. Gilbert’s sharp, funny words and Sullivan’s deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience. Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time. However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That’s quite an achievement. To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible. The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre – The Savoy Theatre. Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateJun 1, 2016
    ISBN9781785437304
    The Pirates of Penzance: or The Slave of Duty
    Author

    W. S. Gilbert

    W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911) was an English librettist, dramatist, and poet. Born in London, Gilbert was raised by William, a surgeon and novelist, and Anne Mary, an apothecary’s daughter. As a child he lived with his parents in Italy and France before finally returning to London in 1847. Gilbert graduated from Kind’s College London in 1856 before joining the Civil Service and briefly working as a barrister. In 1861, he began publishing poems, stories, and theatre reviews in Fun, The Cornhill Magazine, and Temple Bar. His first play was Uncle Baby, which ran to moderate acclaim for seven weeks in 1863. He soon became one of London’s most popular writers of opera burlesques, but turned away from the form in 1869 to focus on prose comedies. In 1871, he began working with composer Arthur Sullivan, whose music provided the perfect melody to some of the most popular comic operas of all time, including H. M. S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), and The Mikado (1885). At London’s Savoy Theatre and around the world, The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company would perform Gilbert and Sullivan’s works for the next century. Gilbert, the author of more than 75 plays and countless more poems, stories, and articles, influenced such writers as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, as well as laid the foundation for the success of American musical theatre on Broadway and beyond.

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      Book preview

      The Pirates of Penzance - W. S. Gilbert

      The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan

      or, The Slave of Duty

      Libretto by William S. Gilbert

      Music by Arthur Sullivan

      The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. 

      Gilbert’s sharp, funny words and Sullivan’s deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience.

      Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time.  However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That’s quite an achievement.

      To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible.  The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre – The Savoy Theatre.

      Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

      Index of Contents

      DRAMATSIS PERSONAE

      SCENES

      MUSICAL NUMBERS

      ACT I

      ACT II

      GILBERT & SULLIVAN – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

      GILBERT & SULLIVAN – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

      To prevent unauthorized versions of this opera Gilbert & Sullivan decided to present official versions of this by opening simultaneously in England and America. It debuted on December 31, 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York with Sullivan himself conducting.  A single performance had been given on the previous day at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, England, to secure the British copyright.

      On April 3, 1880, the Pirates of Penzance began its long run of 363 performances at the Opéra Comique in London.

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY

      THE PIRATE KING

      SAMUEL (his Lieutenant)

      SERGEANT OF POLICE

      MABEL, EDITH, KATE, and ISABEL (General Stanley's Daughters)

      RUTH (a Pirate Maid of all Work)

      Chorus of Pirates, Police, and General Stanley's Daughters

      SCENES

      ACT I - A rocky sea-shore on the coast of Cornwall

      ACT II - A ruined chapel by moonlight

      MUSICAL NUMBERS

      Overture (includes With cat-like tread, Ah, leave me not to pine, Pray observe the magnanimity, When you had left our pirate fold, Climbing over rocky mountain, and How beautifully blue the sky)

      ACT I

      1. Pour, oh pour, the pirate sherry (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates)

      2. When Fred'ric was a little lad (Ruth)

      3. Oh, better far to live and die (Pirate King and Chorus of Pirates)

      4. Oh! false one, you have deceiv'd me (Frederic and Ruth)

      5. Climbing over rocky mountain (Chorus of Girls)

      6. Stop, ladies, pray (Edith, Kate, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)

      7. Oh, is there not one maiden breast? (Frederic and Chorus of Girls)

      8. Poor wand'ring one (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)

      9. What ought we to do? (Edith, Kate, and Chorus of Girls)

      10. How beautifully blue the sky (Mabel, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)

      11. Stay, we must not lose our senses ... Here's a first-rate opportunity to get married with impunity (Frederic and Chorus of Girls and Pirates)

      12. Hold, monsters (Mabel, Major-General, Samuel, and Chorus)

      13. I am the very model of a modern Major-General (Major-General and Chorus)

      14. Finale Act I (Mabel, Kate, Edith, Ruth, Frederic, Samuel, King, Major-General, and Chorus)

      Oh, men of dark and dismal fate

      I’m telling a terrible story

      Hail, Poetry

      Oh, happy day, with joyous glee

      Pray observe the magnanimity (reprise of Here's a first-rate opportunity)

      ACT II

      15. Oh, dry the glist'ning tear (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)

      16. Then, Frederic, let your escort lion-hearted (Frederic and Major-General)

      17. When the foeman bares his steel (Mabel, Edith, Sergeant, and Chorus of Policemen and Girls)

      18. Now for the pirates' lair! (Frederic, Ruth, and King)

      19. When you had left our pirate fold [The paradox trio] (Ruth, Frederic, and King)

      20. Away, away! My heart's on fire! (Ruth, Frederic, and King)

      21. All is prepar'd; your gallant crew await you (Mabel and Frederic)

      22. Stay, Fred'ric, stay ... Ah, leave me not to pine ... Oh, here is love, and here is truth (Mabel and Frederic)

      23. No, I'll be brave ... Though in body and in mind (Reprise of When the foeman bares his steel) (Mabel, Sergeant, and Chorus of Police)

      23a. Sergeant, approach! (Mabel, Sergeant of Police, and Chorus of Police)

      24. When a felon's not engaged in his employment (Sergeant and Chorus of Police)

      25. A rollicking band of pirates we (Sergeant and Chorus of Pirates and Police)

      26. With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates and Police)

      27. Hush, hush, not a word! (Frederic, King, Major-General, and Chorus of Police and Pirates)

      28. Finale, Act II (Ensemble)

      Sighing softly to the river

      Now what is this, and what is that?

      You/We triumph now

      Away with them, and place them at the bar!

      Poor wandering ones!

      ACT I

      (Scene.-A rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall.  In the distance is a calm sea, on which a schooner is lying at anchor. Rock L. sloping down to L.C. of stage.  Under these rocks is a cavern, the entrance to which is seen at first entrance L.  A natural arch of rock occupies the R.C. of the stage. 

      As the curtain rises groups of pirates are discovered — some drinking, some playing cards.  SAMUEL, the Pirate Lieutenant, is going from one group to another, filling the cups from a flask.  FREDERIC is seated in a despondent attitude at the back of the scene.  RUTH kneels at his feet.)

      OPENING CHORUS

      ALL     

      Pour, O pour the pirate sherry;

      Fill, O fill the pirate glass;

      And, to make us more than merry

      Let the pirate bumper pass.

      SAMUEL  

      For today our pirate 'prentice

      Rises from indentures freed;

      Strong his arm, and keen his scent is

      He's a pirate now indeed!

      ALL     

      Here's good luck to Fred'ric's ventures!

      Fred'ric's out of his indentures.

      SAMUEL  

      Two and twenty, now he's rising,

      And alone he's fit to fly,

      Which we're bent on signalizing

      With unusual revelry.

      ALL     

      Here's good luck to Fred'ric's ventures!

      Fred'ric's

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