Sunday Classics snapshots: Aren't the jolly boys and girls of "The Gondoliers" really somebodies after all?

"The Piazzetta in Venice, Looking East with the Doge's Palace, the Columns of Saint Mark and Saint Theodore, the Riva degli Schiavoni and the Bacino di San Marco," oil painting by Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780)

GILBERT and SULLIVAN: The Gondoliers: Act I, Francesco, Good morrow, pretty maids . . . Antonio, For the merriest fellows are we

During the previous chorus, in which the CONTADINE (peasant girls) have been discovered in the Piazzetta in Venice arranging floral bouquets, ANTONIO, FRANCESCO, GIORGIO, and other GONDOLIERS have entered unobserved by the girls -- at first two, then two more, then half a dozen, then the remainder.

FRANCESCO: Good morrow, pretty maids. For whom prepare ye
these floral tributes extraordinary?
FIAMETTA: For Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri,
the pink and flower of all the gondolieri.
GIULIA: They're coming here, as we have heard but lately,
to choose two brides from us who sit sedately.
ANTONIO: Do all you maidens love them?
CONTADINE: Passionately!
ANTONIO: These gondoliers are to be envied greatly.
GIORGIO: But what of us, who one and all adore you?
Have pity on our passion, we implore you!
FIAMETTA: These gentlemen must make their choice before you.
VITTORIA: In the meantime we tacitly ignore you.
GIULIA: When they have chosen two, that leaves you plenty.
Two dozen we, and ye are four and twenty!
FIAMETTA and VITTORIA : Till then, enjoy your dolce far niente!
ANTONIO : With pleasure, nobody contradicente!
Song, Antonio and Contadine
ANTONIO : For the merriest fellows are we, tra la.
CONTADINE: Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la-la-la, tra-la-la-la la.
ANTONIO : That ply on the emerald sea, tra la.
CONTADINE: Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la-la-la, tra-la-la-la la.
ANTONIO : With loving and laughing
and quipping and quaffing,
we're happy as happy can be, tra la.
With loving and laughing
and quipping and quaffing,
we're happy as happy can be, tra la.
ALL: Tra la-la-la-la, etc.
ANTONIO : With sorrow we've nothing to do, tra la.
CONTADINE: Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la-la-la, tra-la-la-la la.
ANTONIO : And care is a thing we pooh-pooh, tra la.
CONTADINE: Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra la-la-la, tra-la-la-la la.
ANTONIO : And jealousy yellow,
unfortunate fellow,
we drown in the shimmering blue, tra la.
And jealousy yellow,
unfortunate fellow,
we drown in the shimmering blue, tra la.
ALL: Tra la-la-la-la-la-la-la, etc.

Alexander Young (t), Francesco; Stella Hitchens (s), Fiametta; Helen Watts (c), Giulia; James Milligan (bs-b), Antonio; James Milligan (bs-b), Giorgio; Lavinia Renton (s), Vittoria; Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Pro Arte Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Mar. 11-15, 1957

Dawn Bradshaw (s), Fiametta; Joseph Riordan (t), Francesco; Daphne Gill (ms), Giulia; Michael Wakeham (b), Antonio; George Cook (b), Giorgio; Ceinwen Jones (s), Vittoria; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded September 1960

Enid Walsh (s), Fiametta; Thomas Hancock (t), Francesco; Joyce Wright (ms), Giulia; Geoffrey Sanders (b), Antonio; Radley Flynn (bs), Giorgio; Yvonne Dean (ms), Vittoria; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, New Promenade Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded Mar. 11, 1950

by Ken

This week's late-scheduled musical snapshot is kind of blurry, I'm afraid, but seems important nevertheless. I expected to be proceeding, finally, with Part 2 of the "Sound of Aging, Verdi-style" miniseries I began a few weeks ago with Giorgio Germont's calculatedly fatigue-ridden appeal to his wayward son Alfredo to abandon wicked Paris and come home to beautiful, sunny, wholesome Provence -- in the form of the celebrated baritone aria "Di Provenza il mar, il suol." But Friday night I attended a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers which went beyond good-or-bad (there were good things and there were bad things) to show me something about the piece I've never heard before, and that's always exciting.


THE PROBLEM IS . . .

Dance a cachucha! Returning to the "Gondoliers" Overture

APOLOGIES FOR THE LATE POSTING: I really wanted to do something more with this post, and I just wasn't getting it done. Finally I decided to go with what I had more or less ready, reserving the right to return to the subject.
MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: With time to reflect, I've revamped the post to include vocal texts. After all, if I'm inviting you to listen, really listen, to the various performances, and I am, I am, the texts could help, and even raise questions like: For which recordings are the printed texts most and least necessary? -- Ken

Dance a cachucha!

Dance a cachucha, fandango, bolero,
Xeres we’ll drink -- Manzanilla, Montero.
Wine, when it runs in abundance, enhances
the reckless delight of that wildest of dances!
To the pretty pitter-pitter-patter,
and the clitter-clitter-clitter-clatter --
clitter -- clitter -- clatter,
pitter -- pitter -- patter,
patter, patter, patter, patter, we’ll dance.
Old Xeres we’ll drink -- Manzanilla, Montero --
for wine, when it runs in abundance, enhances
the reckless delight of that wildest of dances!

D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded September 1960

New D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus and Orchestra, John Pryce-Jones, cond. TER-Sony, recorded June 23-27, 1991

Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Pro Arte Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Mar. 11-15, 1957

by Ken

No, this isn't the post I promised, or had in mind in Friday night's preview. Instead, I thought we'd just listen to some music. One thing that I did promise is that we were going to work back to the Gondoliers Overture, and that we are going to do.

We've started with the "Cachucha" from Act II, because it's the difference (or almost) between the original Overture imagined by Sir Arthur Sullivan, which ended -- most atypically for a Gilbert and Sullivan overture -- in a note of calm and poise and what I've called the "expanded D'Oyly Carte version," which basically tacked on . . . the "Cachucha"!

In a moment we're going to hear the Gondoliers Overture three ways, but first I want to invite you in listening to today's excerpts to really listen to what's going on. And I mean starting with the "Cachucha" (which, again, for the record, I'm told is more properly a fandango, which is also among the dances the revelers mention). On my scorecard what we've got above is a really good performance, an okay one (though it's "musical values" are often vouched for), and finally a performance that lifts the music, and the situation of the characters, into an unmistakably higher realm.


NOW LET'S GO GACK TO THE COMPLETE OVERTURE

Preview: Working back from the "Mikado" and "Yeomen of the Guard" Overtures to "The Gondoliers"

GILBERT and SULLIVAN: The Mikado (1885): Overture

GILBERT and SULLIVAN: The Yeomen of the Guard (1888): Overture

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, cond. Philips, recorded February 1992

by Ken

If you haven't been around Sunday Classics much, you may not be aware that I take my Gilbert and Sullivan right seriously. (See, for starters, the June 2010 post "The Mikado says, 'It's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.'") I don't think of their run of comic masterpieces, from Trial by Jury (1875) through The Gondoliers (1889), as frothy light entertainments of about a millimeter's depth. Oh, there's plenty of froth; I don't ever want to lose sight of how funny these pieces are, or can be. But even the humor seems to me to come from a very different place, and to work in a very different way, from that imagined by an awful lof ot fans.

I PLAN TO TRY TO EXPLAIN THIS BETTER SUNDAY . . .

Gilbert and Sullivan's gondoliers try to temper monarchy with republican equality

The Duke of Plaza-Toro and suite make their entrance in the Yale Gilbert and Sullivan Society's 2011 Gondoliers.

Flourish. A gondola arrives at the Piazzetta steps in Venice, from which enter the DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO, the DUCHESS, their daughter CASILDA, and their attendant LUIZ, who carries a drum. All are dressed in pompous but old and faded clothes.

DUKE: From the sunny Spanish shore,
the Duke of Plaza-Tor' --
DUCHESS: And His Grace's Duchess true --
CASILDA: And His Grace's daughter, too --
LUIZ: And His Grace's private drum
to Venetia's shores have come:
ALL: And, if ever, ever, ever
they get back to Spain,
they will never, never, never
cross the sea again!
DUKE: Neither that Grandee from the Spanish shore,
the noble Duke of Plaza Tor' --
DUCHESS: Nor His Grace's Duchess, staunch and true --
CASILDA: You may add, His Grace's daughter, too --
LUIZ: Nor His Grace's own particular drum
to Venetia's shores will come:
ALL: If ever, ever, ever
they get back to Spain,
they will never, never, never
cross the sea again!

John Reed (b), Duke of Plaza-Toro; Gillian Knight (c), Duchess of Plaza-Toro; Jennifer Toye (s), Casilda; Jeffrey Skitch (b), Luiz; New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded September 1960

John Reed (b), Duke of Plaza-Toro; Lyndsie Holland (c), Duchess of Plaza-Toro; Julia Goss (s), Casilda; Geoffrey Shovelton (t), Luiz; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royston Nash, cond. Decca, recorded Feb. 18-25, 1977

Kenneth Sandford (bs-b), Duke of Plaza-Toro; Jean Allister (c), Duchess of Plaza-Toro; Patricia Clarke (s), Casilda; Edgar Fleet (t), Luiz; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, James Walker, cond. Reader's Digest, recorded February 1963

Geraint Evans (b), Duke of Plaza-Toro; Monica Sinclair (c), Duchess of Plaza-Toro; Edna Graham (s), Casilda; Alexander Young (t), Luiz; Pro Arte Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded Mar. 11-15, 1957

by Ken

As promised in Friday night's preview, today we're going to poke around among the last of the unquestionably triumphant Gilbert and Sullivan creations, The Gondoliers. By this time the partnership was fraying seriously, and although the partners would come together twice more, to produce Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke, for many of us the serious creative line ends with The Gondoliers. Friday we made the acquaintance of the two gondoliers who are presumably the titular characters (rather than the entire ensemble of gondoliers, I mean).

The title, we might note, wasn't settled on by the creators until almost the day of the premiere, but I think they got it right. Unless the audience comes to like, enjoy, and care about Marco and Giuseppe, I don't think you've got a show.

But as I also mentioned Friday, there's a whole other strain of personages we hadn't touched on yet. Ergo, enter the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro, their daughter Casilda, "and suite" -- meaning their general factotum and drummer, Luiz.


SO WHO IS THIS DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO?

Well, he is a duke, but from there his stature shrinks -- to the stature of near-complete gutlessness. As he has to explain to his daughter, Casilda:

Preview: G&S's "republican" kings vow, "For everyone who feels inclined, some post we undertake to find"

Pittsburgh Savoyards

MARCO and GIUSEPPE (alternating bars):
Replying, we sing
as one individual.
As I find I'm a king,
to my kingdom I bid you all.
I'm aware you object
to pavilions and palaces,
but you'll find I'll respect
your republican fallacies.
You'll find I respect
your republican fallacies.
CONTADINE and GONDOLIERI:
They're aware we object
to pavilions and palaces.
How can they respect
our republican fallacies?
MARCO: For every one who feels inclined,
some post we undertake to find
congenial with his frame of mind --
and all shall equal be.
GIUSEPPE: The Chancellor in his peruke,
the Earl, the Marquis, and the Dook,
the Groom, the Butler, and the Cook --
they all shall equal be.
MARCO: The Aristocrat who banks with Coutts,
the Aristocrat who hunts and shoots,
the Aristocrat who cleans our boots --
they all shall equal be!
GIUSEPPE: The Noble Lord who rules the State,
the Noble Lord who cleans the plate.
MARCO: The Noble Lord who scrubs the grate --
they all shall equal be!
GIUSEPPE: The Lord High Bishop orthodox,
the Lord High Coachman on the box.
MARCO: The Lord High Vagabond in the stocks --
they all shall equal be!
MARCO and GIUSEPPE: For every one who feels inclined etc.
Sing high, sing low,
wherever they go,
they all shall equal be!
CONTADINE and GONDOLIERI: Sing high, sing low,
wherever they go,
they all shall equal be!
The Earl, the Marquis, and the Dook,
the Groom, the Butler, and the Cook,
the Aristocrat who banks with Coutts,
the Aristocrat who cleans the boots.
The Noble Lord who rules the State,
the Noble Lord who scrubs the grate,
the Lord High Bishop orthodox,
the Lord High Vagabond in the stocks.
Sing high, sing low,
wherever they go,
They all shall equal be!
Then hail! O King,
whichever you may be,
to you we sing,
but do not bend the knee.
It may be thou;
likewise it may be thee.
So hail! O King,
whichever you may be!

Leonard Osborn (t), Marco Palmieri; Alan Styler (b), Giuseppe Palmieri; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, New Promenade Orchestra, Isidore Godfrey, conductor. Decca, recorded Mar. 11, 1950 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

by Ken

I'm writing this post beforehand, obviously, but by the time it appears, I will have attended a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, and in pre-performance anticipation -- I don't remember the last time I saw The Gondoliers in the flesh -- I'm still able to feel excitement. (By, say, the 10-minute mark of the performance, I won't be surprised if I'm in a state of rage.) So I thought this we'd poke around this glorious piece.

In our opening excerpt above, from the Act I finale of The Gondoliers, with the brothers Palmieri now so closely joined that they take over for one another in mid-word (by the simple musical expedient of having the tenor and baritone swap out at each bar line), I've intentionally left out the question to which the brothers Marco and Giuseppe, are "replying . . . as one individual."

We're going to hear this chunk of the finale again with the question, from their Venetian friends, reinstated, but first I need to correct myself, because by this point Marco and Giuseppe have learned that they aren't actually brothers, that in fact one of them . . . well, let me not get ahead of myself. Let's go back to the opening scene, which we'll be talking about more and hearing in full on Sunday. For now we're going to skip to the brother's much-delayed entrance and their song of self-identification.