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The Pirate Publisher – An International Burlesque that has the Longest Run on Record, from Puck, 1886: Gilbert is seen as one of the British authors whose works are stolen by the pirate publisher. The Pirates of Penzance was the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have its official premiere in the United States.
- Overview
- Background and context
- Main cast and vocal parts
- Setting and plot summary
- Act I
- Act II
The Pirates of Penzance, operetta in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and an English libretto by W.S. Gilbert. To secure an American copyright—so as to avoid pirated American productions, the like of those that had followed English production of H.M.S. Pinafore—the work premiered with a single performance in Paignton, England, on December 30,...
The Pirates of Penzance was written in haste but nonetheless was carefully crafted. The well-known, witty “Major-General’s Song,” with its rapid-fire delivery of preposterous rhymes, is but one example of its overall polish. The operetta’s characters too are thoughtfully drawn. Sullivan writes leading lady Mabel as a very light coloratura soprano, a characteristic that helps her stand out from the many other women in the cast. He also uses some Bach-style techniques with utterly different melodies sung and played simultaneously; though they sometimes have different metres (for example, three beats set against four), he manages to make everything fit.
Sullivan also spoofs operatic conventions, particularly one employed by many serious operas of the time that called for characters to sing onstage at the same time yet remain oblivious to each other’s presence. The trick is especially humorous in Act II, when the pirate-hunting policemen fail to notice those pirates who have just stalked onstage singing “With Cat-Like Tread,” for which Sullivan specified a fortissimo dynamic. Another opera insiders’ joke occurs in Mabel’s entrance aria, in which she and a solo flute engage in a highly ornamented duet that would have brought to many opera lovers’ minds the similar interchange in the mad scene of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
•Mabel (soprano)
•Pirate King (baritone)
•Ruth, Frederic’s nurse and pirate maid of all work (contralto)
•Police Sergeant (bass)
•Frederic, pirate apprentice (tenor)
•Major-General Stanley (baritone)
The Pirates of Penzance is set during the reign of Queen Victoria. Act I of the operetta occurs on a rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall, England. Act II is set in a ruined chapel by moonlight.
Now celebrating his 21st birthday, Frederic was in his youth indentured to a band of pirates. (His nurse, Ruth, who through his apprenticeship stayed with him as the pirates’ maid, had misheard the instruction that he was to be apprenticed to a pilot.) Having come of age, Frederic announces that he loathes piracy and, since his term of indenture is complete, he will be leaving. He hopes to find a suitable wife for himself, being skeptical of Ruth’s assertions that she herself is young and pretty enough for that role.
Almost as soon as Frederic goes ashore, he happens upon a group of young women, wards in chancery to Major-General Stanley. At first, the girls are cautious of Frederic, but one—Mabel—receives him more kindly, and romance is born.
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The Major-General, having admitted to the girls that, in fact, he is no orphan, is pleased to hear from Frederic that the young man wants to join a band of policemen against the pirates. Before Frederic can do so, however, Ruth and the Pirate King come to inform him of a new discovery. Frederic, it seems, was born on Leap Day (February 29), a day that occurs every four years, and so, though he has lived 21 years, he has had far fewer birthdays. His indenture papers commit him to remain a pirate until his “21st birthday,” not his “21st year.” This will not occur for more than half a century. Frederic—a “slave of duty,” as the operetta’s subtitle has it—acknowledges his duty and returns to the pirates, first extracting Mabel’s promise to wait for him until he officially comes of age.
The policemen hide as the pirates approach. Having learned that Major-General Stanley diverted them with a lie, the pirates assault his house and pounce upon the Major-General and his daughters. A melee ensues, brought to a close only when the Police Sergeant demands that the pirates yield “in Queen Victoria’s name.” Declaring themselves to be loyal to their queen, the pirates give in and are nearly led away to prison. Ruth, however, saves them by declaring that all are “noblemen gone wrong,” a class of people whom the English admire. The Major-General gives the girls in marriage to the various pirates, though Mabel is reserved for Frederic.
- Betsy Schwarm
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Arriving at a definitive version of the libretto for this opera is particularly difficult, as the piece exists in three identifiable versions - the first ‘copyright’ performance at Paignton, Devon - the official ‘world première’ in New York - and the official British première in London. Of the
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Oct 3, 2022 · As mentioned before, Pirates of Penzance first premiered in London and because of the lack of copyright protection to foreigners in the United States, Gilbert and Sullivan were hoping to avoid the same problems they had had with Pinafore.
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, or The Slave of Duty, was first produced at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York on 31 December, 1879, and, also, for copyright purposes one performance was given in England on the previous day at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton. The first performance in London, however, was not until 3 April, 1880, when it was ...
Transcript of a discussion of The Pirates of Penzance by members of the Savoynet distribution list. This extensive discussion provides substantial background information on this opera, and is a must for anyone wanting to understand it better, produce it, or perform in it.
Part of the reasoning for this was the staggering number of illegal productions being mounted in the United States of Pinafore in the days before copyright laws protected British authors in America. The pair decided that they would need more of a physical presence stateside.
