1983 Gilbert & Sullivan HMS Pinafore D'oyly Carte Vinyl 2-LP Record Gatefold NM

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1983 Gilbert & Sullivan HMS Pinafore or The Lass That Loved A Sailor D'oyly Carte Vinyl 2-LP Record Gatefold London NM
Record Grade per Goldmine Standard: NM
D’OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY and THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conductor: JAMES WALKER HMS. PINAFORE or The Lass that Loved a Sailor, pro- duced at the Opera Comique Theatre on Saturday, May 25th, 1878, was the first of the great Gilbert & Sullivan successes. It was also the first of what we now call the Savoy Operas to make a resounding success in the United States. The story of the numerous companies who enriched themselves by play- ing “pirated” versions of H.M.S. Pinafore (eight theatres in New York were playing it at the same time) is an historic one and from Gilbert and Sullivan’s point of view a bitter one, re- calling Charles Dickens’ earlier angry complaints about the lack of an international copy- right law. However, the furore that H.M.S. Pinafore created in America had, one ventures to think, a not unimportant part in building up a success for the opera in its home waters be- cause although the first perfor- mance at the Opera Comique made one of the greatest pre- mieres of the G & S partner- ship, strangely enough it was not an immediate success and for two months its fate hung in the balance. One of the gener- ally accepted explanations of the turn in the tide of its for- tunes is that Sullivan, who was the conductor of the Prom- enade Concerts at Covent Garden, played an orchestral selection of Pinafore that had been arranged by Hamilton Clarke. Sullivan may have done this in order to try out the effect of the music on a broad cross-section of the public; but whatever his reasons, the fact remains that the orchestral pot-pourri was an immediate hit and soon the public began flocking to the theatre to see the opera. By the end of August Pinafore was an established success, one of the biggest London had known for years, and what is still more wonder- ful it has maintained its popu- larity for over eighty years. It has, so to say, held even time in suspense. Gilbert was a Victorian — but what of that? His quips and cranks still appeal to our no- tion of humour without a sense of antiquity; and Sul- livan’s music sounds as fresh today as the day it was written. Taken as a whole, the Pinafore score is the most popular in style of all Sullivan’s operas; the good ship H.M.S. Pinafore carries a full cargo of tunes, and all of them good, solid, British ones. Since we shall hear the whole story as we listen to the recording I need only outline the plot and spotlight a few of the salient musical and dra- matic features of the opera as it “floats on the ocean blue” under its gallant captain — “and a right good Captain too.” The Overture. This is a bright and well-constructed pot- pourri of some of the best tunes in the opera. More than one writer has stated that it was put together by a musical assistant on the composer’s in- structions but this conjecture is only partially correct. An examination of the autograph score discloses the fact that Sullivan wrote about a third of it and then left the rest to be completed by someone else, so far unidentified. The opera opens with a longish introduction which is a skilful and elaborate one, judged by comic opera stan- dards, and it leads to a breezy chorus of sailors on the quar- ter-deck telling us that they not only sail the ocean blue but also that their saucy ship’s a beauty. This is followed at once by the arrival of Mrs. Cripps, the bumboat woman, known to the sailors as Little Buttercup. This “plump and pleasing per- son” has goods and trinkets to sell and a ditty to sing. The ditty is one of artless sim- plicity and like most tunes of this unaffected type, it gains by repetition. Able Seaman Dick Deadeye, an ugly and villain- ous fellow, enters and in the Shakespearian manner reveals his character in his opening speech. When Ralph Rackstraw makes his appearance Little Buttercup is obviously very perturbed; however, Ralph (or Rafe as his name is pro- nounced) is lost in his own love-lorn thoughts. He loves the Captain’s daughter, Josephine, but alas he is but “a lowly suitor.” Captain Corcoran comes on deck and wishing the crew an affable good-morning sings a lively and rather boastful song in which he discloses that he may, when the occasion de- mands it, say “bother” but he never uses “a big, big Dr “What, never?” “well — hardly ever? Corcoran is upset by the knowledge that his daughter is not interested in the offer of marriage from Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., First Lord of the Admiralty, and soon Josephine herself sings of her amorous plight, followed by a confes- sion to her father that she loves one of his crew — a common sailor. Events move fast and Sir Joseph Porter, with his rela- tives in train (Cousin Hebe leading the train) come on board. Sir Joseph sings his fa- mous autobiographical song detailing the various occupa- tional steps by which he rose to his present exalted station. There is a trio sung by Ralph, the Boatswain’s Mate, the Car- penter’s Mate and chorus; a duet for Josephine and Ralph — one of those typical lovers’ misunderstandings — and we then proceed to the Finale of Act I, where Ralph enlists the sympathy of his friends, which he readily gets. When in des- peration he threatens to com- mit suicide, Josephine rushes in and declares her love for him. There is general rejoicing, with one abstention, the men- acing Dick Deadeye, who utters baleful warnings against any attempts at a clandestine marriage. When the curtain rings up on Act II it is moonlight and we hear the Captain singing a charming song, accompanying himself on a mandolin, in which he tells his worries and troubles to the moon. However, Little Buttercup is at hand to offer him some comfort and a cryptic warning. Josephine sings an aria of grand opera dimensions in which she weighs up the respective mer- its of love and poverty and loveless social security. When Sir Joseph Porter, one of WS. Gilbert’s best delin- eations of a snob, informs Josephine that love levels all ranks he little knows that he is helping her to come to the final decision that love must and will find a way. All is now set for the clan- destine marriage, but Dick Deadeye, having informed the Captain of the conspiracy, the tiptoe proceedings are inter- rupted and roundly de- nounced; whereupon Ralph melodramatically declaims that he is an Englishman, and then we hear one of the proudest tunes Sullivan ever wrote. It is a patriotic tune that thrills us. The Captain, utterly confounded, says “Damme, it’s too bad? Sir Joseph Porter en- tering at that moment sends the Captain to his cabin for his breach of decorum. There is confusion all round and only Little Buttercup can untie the Gordian knot. She does it in the now familiar Gilbertian way. When she was young and charming, Buttercup practised baby-farming and she tells us that of the two babes she nursed one was of low con- dition, the other a regular pa- trician. She confesses that she mixed the children up and the well-born babe was Ralph, the Captain was the other. All social obstacles hav- ing been swept aside, Ralph, the reinstated aristocrat, can now marry Josephine. The demoted Captain of humble origin is happily content with his dear little Buttercup and Sir Joseph Porter consoles himself with Hebe. To the stirring strains of “He is an Englishman” the cur- tain descends to three rousing cheers. George Baker.




LP528