Maj.-Gen. Stanley.
Pirate King.
Samuel, his lieutenant.
Frederic, the pirate apprentice.
Sergeant of Police.
Mabel, }
Edith, }
Kate, }
Isabel, } Gen. Stanley's daughters.
Ruth, a pirate maid of all work.
[Pirates, police, etc.]
The scene is laid on the coast of Cornwall; time, the present.
"The Pirates of Penzance" has a local interest from the fact that it was
first produced in New York on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1879, under
the immediate supervision of both Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert. When the
composer left England he had only finished the second act, and that was
without orchestration. After his arrival here he wrote the first act and
scored the entire opera. By this performance the profits of the
representations in this country were secured. The work was not published
until after their return to England.
At the opening of the opera it is disclosed that Frederic, when a boy, in
pursuance of his father's orders, was to have been apprenticed to a pilot
until his twenty-first year, but by the mistake of his nurse-maid, Ruth,
he was bound out to one of the pirates of Penzance, who were celebrated
for their gentleness and never molested orphans because they were orphans
themselves. In the first scene the pirates are making merry, as Frederic
has reached his majority and is about to leave them and seek some other
occupation. Upon the eve of departure Ruth requests him to marry her, and
he consents, as he has never seen any other woman, but shortly afterwards
he encounters the daughters of General Stanley, falls in love with Mabel,
the youngest, and denounces Ruth as a deceiver. The pirates encounter the
girls about the same time, and propose to marry them, but when the
General arrives and announces that he is an orphan, they relent and allow
the girls to go.
The second act opens in the General's ancient baronial hall, and reveals
him surrounded by his daughters, lamenting that he has deceived the
pirates by calling himself an orphan. Frederic appears, and bids Mabel
farewell, as he is about to lead an expedition for the extermination of
the pirates. While he is alone, the Pirate King and Ruth visit him and
show him the papers which bound him to them. It is stated in them that he
is bound "until his twenty-first birthday," but as his birthday is the
29th of February, he has had but five. Led by his strong sense of duty,
he decides that he will go back to his old associates. Then he tells them
of the General's orphan story, which so enrages them that they swear
vengeance. They come by night to carry off the General, but are
overpowered by the police and sent to prison, where they confess they are
English noblemen. Upon promising to give up their piratical career, they
are pardoned, and this releases Frederic.
The principal numbers in the first act are Ruth's song, "When Frederic
was a Little Lad"; the Pirate King's song, "Oh! better far to live and
die"; Frederic's sentimental song, "Oh! is there not one Maiden Breast";
Mabel's reply, "Poor Wandering One"; and the descriptive song of the
General, "I am the very Pattern of a Modern Major-General," which reminds
one of Sir Joseph's song, "When I was a Lad I served a Term," in
"Pinafore," and Wells' song, "Oh! my Name is John Wellington Wells," in
"The Sorcerer." The second act opens with a chorus of the daughters and
solo by Mabel, "Dear Father, why leave your Bed." The remaining most
popular numbers are the Tarantara of the Sergeant; the Pirate King's
humorous chant, "For some Ridiculous Reason"; Mabel's ballad, "Oh, leave
me not to pine," and the Sergeant's irresistible song, "When a Fellow's
not engaged in his Employment," which has become familiar as a household
word by frequent quotation.
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride.
[Comic opera, in two acts; text by Gilbert. First produced at the Opéra
Comique, London, April 23, 1881.]