Caldwell Fine Arts 2006-2007 Season

April 19
Thursday, 7:30 pm

$26 - $31 adult; $22 - $27 student
Upper level seats are listed first. Includes all fees.

Direct from England, the Carl Rosa Opera’s internationally acclaimed production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, will provide a stellar conclusion to the 45th Anniversary Season. The Royal Carl Rosa Opera is a unique national touring company of 65 musicians, singers and technicians producing high quality opera productions. Carl Rosa’s aim is to bridge the perceived gap between traditional grand opera and popular music, while pursuing new styles and openness in innovation and access to new and established audiences. The company has created an individual identity of ‘traditional style productions’ by returning to the original source material as laid down by the composer and librettist. The aim is to inspire, entertain and educate as many people as possible, combining the new younger generation and the established opera audience through artistic excellence in opera and operetta, irrespective of background.

The Pirates of Penzance is the only Gilbert and Sullivan operetta written, composed and officially premiered in the United States. The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty is the hilarious story of a young man who was apprenticed as a pirate, rather than a pilot, because of his nurse’s defective hearing. The madcap tale—rendered in catchy melodies and witty lyrics—has delighted audiences for over a century. The cast includes tenderhearted pirates and timid policemen caught by the demands of duty. Sullivan himself wrote shortly after the successful premiere: “The libretto is ingenious, clever, wonderfully funny in parts, and sometimes brilliant in dialogue.”

The Pirates was written to capitalize on the great success that H.M.S. Pinafore had in America in its early performances; however, the American copyright law of the time offered no protection whatsoever from unauthorized or ‘pirate’ productions. Once a vocal score or libretto was in print, anyone was free to perform the work without having to pay royalties. American ‘pirate’ producers commissioned orchestrations from the printed vocal score and often took many liberties. The authors and producer Richard D’Oyly Carte resolved to get three touring companies to the larger American cities--Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago almost immediately after the premier so that competing unauthorized “pirate” companies wouldn’t be able to gain a foothold as they had with Pinafore. For example there were seven companies alone producing that show in New York that competed with the “authorized” version.

The Pirates orchestration was not finished until 7:00 a.m. the day of the performance. It was difficult to finish because Sullivan was busy conducting the Pinafore also. The official premiere of The Pirates was on New Year’s Eve 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater. It was a great success with the audience and critics alike. Riding the wave of public acclaim, Gilbert and Sullivan returned to London to prepare the Pirates premiere at the Opera Comique on April 3, 1880 under the composer’s baton. With a highly successful initial run of 363 performances, the opera quickly gained a following throughout the English speaking world and has remained a favorite in the comic opera repertoire ever since. (information from the Dover Vocal Score, New Edition by Carl Simpson and Ephraim Hammett Jones, 2001 www.doverpublications.com )

The song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” is perhaps the original “rap song.” A sample of the very fast paced lyrics with absolutely even rhythmic syllables and occasional pauses for breaths follows:

I am the very model of a modern Major General, I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral, I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical, From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;

I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical, I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical, About binomial, theorem I’m teeming with a lot of news-With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

I’m very good at integral and differential calculus, I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major General. Etc.

www.GurtmanAndMurtha.com

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