The Pirates of Penzance Vocal Score

W. S. Gilbert, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Carl Simpson, Ephraim Hammett Jones

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486418933
• eBook ISBN: 9780486171470
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Classical Music

This exemplary new edition of the vocal score of an enchanting operetta — which has delighted audiences for over a century with its catchy melodies, its witty lyrics, and its madcap tale of tender-hearted pirates, timid policemen, and the demands of duty — was prepared by musicologists Carl Simpson and Ephraim Hammett Jones, who returned to original manuscripts and early sources to produce handsome, newly engraved plates closest to Gilbert and Sullivan's original intentions. All of the voice parts appear here, in addition to a piano reduction of the full score and the complete libretto. Introduction by the editors. Contents. Instrumentation.

Act One

Scene: A rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall. In the distance is a calm sea, on which a schooner is lying at anchor. As the curtain rises, groups of pirates are discovered-some drinking, some playing cards. Samuel, the pirate lieutenant, is going from one group to another, filling the cups from a flask. Frederic is seated in a despondent attitude at the back of the scene. Ruth kneels at his feet.

N° 1. Opening Chorus and Solo: “Pour, Oh Pour the Pirate Sherry”

Pirates and Samuel

Pir. King: Yes, Frederic, from to-day you rank as a full-blown member of our band.

All: Hurrah!

Frederic: My friends, I thank you all, from my heart, for your kindly wishes. Would that I could repay them as they deserve!

Pir. King: What do you mean?

Frederic: To-day I am out of my indentures, and to-day I leave you for ever.

Pir. King: But this is quite unaccountable; a keener hand at scuttling a Cunarder or cutting out a P. & O . never shipped a handspike.

Frederic: Yes, I have done my best for you. And why? It was my duty under my indentures, and I am the slave of duty. As a child I was regularly apprenticed to your band. It was through an error—no matter, the mistake was ours, not yours, and I was in honour bound by it.

Samuel: An error? What error? (Ruth rises and comes forward.)

Frederic: I may not tell you; it would reflect upon my well-loved Ruth.

Ruth: Nay, dear master, my mind has long been gnawed by the cankering tooth of mystery. Better have it out at once.

N° 2. Song: “When Frederic Was a Little Lad”

Ruth

Ruth: Oh, pardon! Frederic, pardon! (Kneels)

Frederic: Rise, sweet one, I have long pardoned you.

Ruth: (ris...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Also by
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• PREFACE
• DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
• ORIGINAL CAST - [December 31st, 1879 – New York]
• SYNOPSIS
• THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
• Act One
• Act Two