Here's Major-General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance on the Organ. A BMC Member Request.

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Audio exported and sequenced from Finale with Hauptwerk VIII via VST Link (played on the Casavant, opus 3742 (1995), Bellevue, Washington VPO sample set produced by Sonus Paradisi)

Audio mastered with Adobe Audition CC

A Public Domain Piece composed by Arthur Sullivan

Cover ©2024 Jonny Music

Major-General's Song (The Pirates Of Penzance) Organ Cover

American tenor David Portillo made his Seattle Opera debut as the dutiful Frederic in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. In the comic opera’s one “serious” number, he prepares to abandon his beloved Mabel, and so bids her a tearful farewell. With Vanessa Becerra as Mabel. The orchestra of Seattle Opera was conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

Ah, must I leave thee here 
In endless night to dream,
Where joy is dark and drear, 
And sorrow all supreme –
Where nature, day by day, 
Will sing, in altered tone,
This weary roundelay: 
“He loves thee – he is gone. 
Fa la la.”

DAVID PORTILLO as Frederic

This full-company chorale, sung as the Act One Finale of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE approaches its delirious conclusion, is a response to how General Stanley’s (false) claim of being an orphan has softened the stern hearts of the cruel pirates. Gilbert & Sullivan, who have just been mocking the Victorian propensity to sentimentalize orphanhood, mock British church singing in this impressive passage. An “emollient” is a softener. The cast, chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera were conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

Hail, Poetry, thou heav’n-born maid!
Thou gildest e’en the pirate’s trade.
Hail, flowing fount of sentiment!
All hail, divine emollient!


PIRATES: “Hail, Poetry”

Mezzo soprano Katharine Goeldner makes her Seattle Opera debut as Ruth in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. In her opening narrative this somewhat over-the-hill dimwit explains how she mistakenly apprenticed young Frederic to a ‘pirate’ instead of a ‘pilot’ (as his parents had requested) because she was hard of hearing. The chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera were conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

I soon found out, 
Beyond all doubt, 
The scope of this disaster,
But I hadn’t the face 
To return to my place, 
And break it to my master. 
A nurserymaid 
Is not afraid
Of what you people call work,
So I made up my mind 
To go as a kind 
Of piratical maid-of-all-work. 
And that is how 
You find me now, 
A member of your shy lot,
Which you wouldn’t have found, 
Had he been bound 
Apprentice to a pilot.

KATHARINE GOELDNER as Ruth

American bass-baritone Nathan Stark makes his Seattle Opera debut as the timid Sergeant of Police in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. When he enters, he and his fellows of the fearful force are trying to stiffen their spines by imitiating trumpets. Émeute is a French word meaning “riot.” The chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera were conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

SERGEANT: When the foeman bares his steel…
POLICE: Tarantara! Tarantara!
SERGEANT: We uncomfortable feel,
And we find the wisest thing,
Is to slap our chests and sing.
For when threatened with émeutes,
And your heart is in your boots,
There is nothing brings it round 
Like the trumpet’s martial sound!

NATHAN STARK as the Sergeant

American baritone Reginald Smith Jr makes his Seattle Opera debut as the Pirate King in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. In his big aria he defends his choice of profession, saying that “contrasted with respectability, it [piracy] is comparatively honest.” The chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera were conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

When I sally forth to seek my prey 
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it’s true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do; 
But many a king on a first-class throne, 
If he wants to call his crown his own, 
Must manage somehow to get through 
More dirty work than ever I do,
For I am a Pirate King!
And it is a glorious thing 
To be a Pirate King!

REGINALD SMITH JR as the Pirate King

American baritone Thomas Glass makes his Seattle Opera debut as Major-General Stanley in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. After singing the most famous patter song ever written in Act 1, Glass shows off his legato—and, in Séan Curran’s production, his clumsy dancing—in the Major-General’s Act 2 song, a saucy number about how the fickle breeze seduces and abandons both the brook/river and a chorus of poplar trees. He’s helped out by hidden choruses of pirates (tenors) and policemen (basses), none of whom he notices (even though they’re singing an ensemble with him). The chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera were conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

MAJOR-GENERAL: Yet, the breeze is but a rover, When he wings away,
Brook and poplar mourn a lover Sighing, “Well-a-day!”
MEN: Well-a-day!
MAJOR-GENERAL: Ah! the doing and undoing, That the rogue could tell!
When the breeze is out a-wooing, Who can woo so well?
MEN: Shocking tales the rogue could tell, Nobody can woo so well.
Pretty brook, thy dream is over, For thy love is but a rover;
Sad the lot of poplar trees, Courted by a fickle breeze!

THOMAS GLASS as Major-General Stanley

Gilbert and Sullivan mock the typical Italian opera “Vengeance ensemble” with this lively number in Act Two of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. The Pirate King (Reginald Smith Jr) is outraged to find that Major-General Stanley, in Act 1, had lied to him. He and Ruth (Katharine Goeldner) plot their revenge while Frederic (David Portillo), the Slave of Duty, isn’t quite sure where his duty lies—with his surrogate parents or with the father of his beloved. The orchestra of Seattle Opera was conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.

PIRATE KING: He is doomed!
PIRATE KING & RUTH: Away, away! my heart’s on fire;
I burn, this base deception to repay.
This very night my vengeance dire
Shall glut itself in gore. Away, away!
FREDERIC: Away, away! ere I expire!
I find my duty hard to do today! 
My heart is filled with anguish dire, 
It strikes me to the core. Away, away!
PIRATE KING: With falsehood foul
He tricked us of our brides.
Let vengeance howl; 
The Pirate so decides.
Our nature stern
He softened with his lies, 
And, in return,
Tonight the traitor dies.
ALL: Yes, yes! tonight the traitor dies!
RUTH: Tonight he dies?
KING: Yes, or early tomorrow. 
FRED: His girls likewise?
RUTH: They will welter in sorrow.
KING: The one soft spot –
RUTH: In their natures they cherish –
FRED: And all who plot –
KING: To abuse it shall perish!

PIRATES: Vengeance Trio

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Founded in 1963, Seattle Opera is a leading American opera company. The company presents the classics of the European repertoire as well as new works of American opera. Frequent productions of Wagner's RING, beginning in 1975, established the company's worldwide reputation. Seattle Opera usually presents five opera productions each year.

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