Music 2701A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: W. S. Gilbert, Jerome Kern, Comic Opera
11 Dec 2016
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Lecture 6
Back to the Beginning: Early Musical Theatre
Europea Opretta ad the ifluee o Aeria Opretta, ad Gilert ad “ullia’s The
Pirates of Penzance
Jeroe Ker’s “ho Boat
Legit oie tpes
From Lowest to Highest:
• Bass
• Baritone
• Tenor
• Alto (aka Contralto)
• Mezzo Soprano
• Soprano
Book Musicals vs. Revues
• Book musicals tell a narrative while Revues are a collection of acts – sometimes with a
theme, sometimes completely disparate
• Book musicals go by many names: comic operas, operettas, musical comedy, etc.
• Revues have their roots in variety, vaudeville, music halls and minstrel shows
Comic Opretta in France
• Oprettas developed from the opera comique – which came from a desire for short, light
works to contrast with opera tragique
• Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) is usually credited with having written the first
operettas.
• First big success: a two act operetta Orpheus in the Underworld or Orphee aux enfers
(1858) in the Theatre des Varietes
Orpheus in the Underworld
• Takes a traditional myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and turns its upside down:
• Characters of Orpheus and Eurydice are not sympathetic
• Jupiter wants Eurydice for himself
Act Two Finale
• Jupiter causes a lightening bolt to fall near Orpheus, making him look around, losing
Eurydice forever
• Everyone is happy to go to Hades to party; champagne and can-can dance
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Viennese and Viennese-style Opretta
• John Strauss Jr. (1825-1899): First major composer of Viennese operetta. His third
operetta Die Fledermaus (1874) most popular in his time
• Still most performed operetta in the world
English Comic Opera
• Dominated by the teak of Gilbert and Sullivan:
• William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
• Produed Rihard D’Ol Carte at the “ao Theatre
• Team produced 14 comic operas
• Huge success then, and still produced now.
• Major hits include: H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado
(1885)
• Gilbert wrote the libretto (lyrics and the spoken dialogue):
• Implausible characters and plots: pirates turn out to be noblemen who have gone
wrong, fairies marry British lords, gondoliers turn out to be kings, and flirting in Japan is
an offence punishable by death
• Sullivan composed the music:
o Memorable melodies that convey both humour and pathos
• Stock Characters:
o Heroic tenor lover (sometimes a little slow)
o Beautiful (but ditzy and slightly vain) young soprano
o Elderly woman who holds a valuable secret or a sharp tongue – usually in love
with the young tenor
o The bass-baritone villain, in a position of power
o The coi or patter aritoe- ofte the heroie’s father or guardia
• Used stock characters because they used the same acting company – fit the characters
to the personnel they had
The Pirates of Penzance
• Music: Arthur Sullivan
• Libretto: William Gilbert
• Only G&S show no to premiere in London
• Opened 1879 at Fifth Avenue Theatre in NY; had London premier following year
Songs:
Better Far to Live and Die:
• Sung: Pirate King, Frederic and the pirates
• Talks about how great it is to be the pirate king
• Very upbeat and joyous
• Sounds sort of like a marching band
• You can hear the pirates laughing and talking in the background
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
