A D'Oyly Carte Opera company poster, circa 1879.

Drawing on several of his earlier "Bab Ballad" poems, Gilbert imbued H.M.S. Pinafore with mirth and silliness to spare.^[1] The opera's gentle satire reprises and builds on a theme introduced in The Sorcerer – love between members of different social classes. The opera also pokes good-natured fun at the Royal Navy and, in themes to be repeated in the later operas, parliamentary politics and the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority. The title of the work itself is humorous, as it juxtaposes the name of a little girl's garment, pinafore (which sounds like "semaphore"), with the symbol of a naval war ship.

The plot revolves around a naval captain's daughter who is in love with a lower-class foremast hand (a common sailor, well below officer rank), even though her father intends her to marry the First Lord of the Admiralty, the cabinet minister in charge of the Royal Navy. As with most of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, a surprise twist changes everything dramatically near the end of the story.

Background

In 1875, Richard D'Oyly Carte, then the manager of the Royalty Theatre for Selena Delaro, brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to write a one-act opera, Trial by Jury. This proved a smash hit, and in 1876 Carte assembled a group of financial backers to establish his own Comedy Opera Company, devoted to the production and promotion of English opera. With this theatre company, Carte finally had the financial resources, after many failed attempts, to back another Gilbert and Sullivan opera.^[2] This next piece was The Sorcerer, and it proved a success,^[3] running for 178 performances.^[4] With this new company, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte were able to choose their own cast of performers, rather than being obligated to use the actors already engaged at the theatre in which they produced their opera, which was the usual system in Victorian theatres. They chose talented actors, most of whom were not well-known stars, and so did not command high fees, and whom they felt they could mould to their own style. Then, they tailored their work to the particular abilities of these performers.^[5]

Genesis of H.M.S. Pinafore

The success of The Sorcerer made another collaboration by Gilbert and Sullivan inevitable. Carte agreed on terms for a new opera with his Comedy Opera Company financial backers, and Gilbert began work on a new opera, H.M.S. Pinafore, before the end of 1877, sending Sullivan a plot sketch on December 27. Gilbert's draft reached Sullivan while he was on holiday on the Riviera, accompanied by the following note from Gilbert:^[6]

1878 illustration

Production

Despite Gilbert's disclaimer, everyone identified W. H. Smith with Sir Joseph Porter, but in general, Gilbert's intentions in this early sketch were turned into reality.^[7] Following the example of his mentor, T. W. Robertson, Gilbert strived to ensure that the costumes and sets were made as realistic as possible.^[8] This attention to detail was typical of Gilbert's stage management and would be repeated in all of the Savoy Operas.^[9] When preparing the sets for H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), Gilbert and Sullivan visited Portsmouth in April 1878 to inspect ships. Gilbert made sketches of the H.M.S. Victory and the H.M.S. St Vincent and created a model set for the carpenters to work from.^[10] This was far from standard procedure in Victorian drama, where naturalism was still a relatively new concept, and where most authors had very little influence on how their plays and libretti were staged.^[11]

Pinafore, after a strong opening night, had a shaky start. It suffered initially from weak ticket sales, generally ascribed to a heat wave that emptied theatres that summer,^[12] but the "grudging welcome" by the press could not have helped.^[13] Richard D'Oyly Carte's four producing partners of The Comedy Opera Company lost confidence in the opera's viability and posted closing notices. Carte persuaded the author and composer that a business partnership among the three of them would be profitable. He used the enforced closure of the Opera Comique for repairs to evoke a contract clause reverting the rights of Pinafore and Sorcerer to Gilbert and Sullivan, who entrusted them to him. Soon, business at the theatre picked up, and Pinafore gained an enthusiastic following. In August, Sullivan used some of the Pinafore music during a successful Promenade Concert at Covent Garden.

Cast of a (probably unlicensed) American production of H.M.S. Pinafore starring children

1880 programme for Carte's children's Pinafore

Pinafore became a source of popular quotations, such as the exchange:

"What, never?"

"No, never!"

"What, never?"

"Well, hardly ever!"^[15]

Also popular was the verse, "For in spite of all temptations / To belong to other nations / He remains an Englishman." Some of the most popular songs from the opera include "I'm called Little Buttercup", the solo introducing the round, rosy, but mysterious bumboat woman;^[16] "A British tar" (a glee for three men describing the ideal sailor, composed by Sir Joseph "to encourage independent thought and action in the lower branches of the service, and to teach the principle that a British sailor is any man's equal, excepting mine"); "Never mind the why and wherefore" (a trio for the Captain, Josephine, and Sir Joseph); and Sir Joseph's patter song "When I was a lad" (like the judge's song in Trial by Jury, a satire on the meteoric career of an incompetent man to high office ? in this case, the story bears similarities to the career of William Henry Smith, the newsagent who had risen to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty in 1877).

Pinafore remains one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular works, perhaps because of its infectious tunes and generally well-constructed libretto.

In the U.S.

Pinafore was pirated so much in the United States (over a hundred unauthorised productions sprang up in America)^[17] that Gilbert and Sullivan made a special effort to claim American rights for their next work, The Pirates of Penzance, by giving the official premiere in New York at the Fifth Avenue Theatre under the management of John T. Ford. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte tried for many years to control the American performance copyrights over their operas, without much success.^[18] The pirated versions took many forms, including burlesques and juvenile productions, starring a cast of children. These were so popular that Carte mounted his own children's version.^[19]

Children's Productions

Captain Corcoran's curse "Damme!" was uncensored in early children's productions of Pinafore, shocking such prominent audience members as Lewis Carroll, who wrote, "...a bevy of sweet innocent-looking girls sing, with bright and happy looks, the chorus 'He said, Damn me! He said, Damn me!' I cannot find words to convey to the reader the pain I felt in seeing these dear children taught to utter such words to amuse ears grown callous to their ghastly meaning. Put the two ideas side by side ? Hell (no matter whether you believe in it or not; millions do) and those pure young lips thus sporting with its horrors ? and then find what fun in it you can! How Mr Gilbert could have stooped to write, or Arthur Sullivan could have prostituted his noble art to set to music, such vile trash, it passes my skill to understand."^[20]

Roles

• The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, KCB, First Lord of the Admiralty (comic baritone)
• Captain Corcoran, Commander of H.M.S. Pinafore (lyric baritone)
• Ralph Rackstraw,^[21] Able Seaman (tenor)
• Dick Deadeye, Able Seaman (bass-baritone)
• Bill Bobstay, Boatswain's Mate (first mate) (baritone)
• Bob Becket, Carpenter's Mate (bass)
• Josephine, The Captain's Daughter (soprano)
• Cousin Hebe, Sir Joseph's First Cousin (mezzo-soprano)
• Mrs. Cripps (Little Buttercup), A Portsmouth Bumboat Woman (contralto)
• Chorus of First Lord's Sisters, His Cousins, His Aunts, Sailors, Marines, etc.

Synopsis

Act I

The British warship H.M.S. Pinafore is in port at Portsmouth. It is noontime, and the sailors are on the quarterdeck, "cleaning brasswork, splicing rope, etc."

Poster from a (probably unauthorised) early American production

The Captain greets his crew and compliments them on their politeness, saying that he returns the compliment by never ("well, hardly ever") using bad language, such as "a big, big D." After the sailors have left, the Captain complains to Little Buttercup that Josephine has not taken kindly to a marriage proposal from Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Buttercup says that she knows how it feels to love in vain. As she leaves, the Captain remarks that she is "a plump and pleasing person." Josephine enters and confesses to her father that she loves a common sailor, but she is a dutiful daughter and will marry Sir Joseph as her father wishes.

Punch cartoon from 1878, satirising First Lord of the Admiralty W. H. Smith. In Pinafore, Sir Joseph sings: "When the breezes blow / I generally go below".

Elated by Sir Joseph's views on equality, Ralph decides that he will confess his love to Josephine to the delight of his shipmates, except Dick, who explains that equality is incompatible with the giving and obeying of orders. In horror at his words, the sailors force Dick to listen to Sir Joseph's song before all exit, leaving Ralph alone. Josephine now enters, and Ralph confesses his love. Although she finds Sir Joseph's attentions nauseating, she knows she is obligated to marry him. Keeping her feelings to herself, she haughtily rejects Ralph's advances.

Ralph summons his shipmates, and tells them he is bent on suicide. He puts a pistol to his head, but as he is about to pull the trigger, Josephine enters, proclaiming she loves him after all. Ralph and Josephine plan to sneak ashore to get married that night. Dick Deadeye warns them that their actions will lead to trouble, but he is ignored by the joyous ensemble.

Act II

Later that night, under a full moon, Captain Corcoran confesses his concerns: all his friends are deserting him, and Sir Joseph has threatened a court-martial. Little Buttercup offers sympathy. He tells her that, if it were not for the difference in their social standing, he would have returned her affections. She prophesies that things are not all as they seem, and that a change is in store, but he does not understand her.

"She is my ship of life."

Dick Deadeye intercepts the Captain, and tells him of the lovers' plans to elope. The Captain confronts Ralph and Josephine as they try to leave the ship. The pair declare their love, adding that "I am (He is) an Englishman!" The furious Captain is unmoved, and says, "Why, damme, it's too bad!" Sir Joseph and his relatives, who have overheard, are shocked to hear swearing on board a ship, and Sir Joseph orders the Captain to his cabin.

When Sir Joseph asks what had provoked this outburst, Ralph replies that it was his declaration of love for Josephine. Furious in his turn at this revelation, Sir Joseph has Ralph put in chains and taken to the ship's dungeon. Little Buttercup now reveals her secret. Years before, when she was a nursemaid, she had cared for two babies, one "of low condition," the other "a regular patrician." She confesses that she "mixed those children up and not a creature knew it.... The wellborn babe was Ralph; your Captain was the other."

Sir Joseph now realizes that Ralph should have been the Captain, and the Captain should have been Ralph. He summons both, and they emerge wearing one another's uniforms: Ralph is now middle-class, and in command of the Pinafore, while the former Captain is now a common sailor. Sir Joseph's marriage with Josephine is now impossible. As he explains it, "love levels all ranks... to a considerable extent, but it does not level them as much as that." He gives her to now-Captain Rackstraw. The former Captain, with his rank reduced, is free to marry Buttercup. Sir Joseph settles for his cousin Hebe, and all ends in general rejoicing.

Musical numbers

Gilbert's Illustration to "A British tar" in Songs of a Savoyard (1906 omnibus with the Bab Ballads)

Ruth Vincent as Josephine in 1899

Rutland Barrington as Captain Corcoran in the first London revival, 1887

• Overture

Act I

• 1. "We sail the ocean blue" (Sailors)
• 2. "Hail! men-o'-war's men" ... "I'm called Little Buttercup" (Buttercup)
• 2a. "But tell me who's the youth" (Buttercup and Boatswain)
• 3. "The nightingale" (Ralph and Chorus of Sailors)
• 3a. "A maiden fair to see" (Ralph and Chorus of Sailors)
• 4. "My gallant crew, good morning" (Captain Corcoran and Chorus of Sailors)
• 4a. "Sir, you are sad" (Buttercup and Captain Corcoran)
• 5. "Sorry her lot who loves too well" (Josephine)
• 5a. Cut song: "Reflect, my child" (Captain Corcoran and Josephine)
• 6. "Over the bright blue sea" (Chorus of Female Relatives)
• 7. "Sir Joseph's barge is seen" (Chorus of Sailors and Female Relatives)
• 8. "Now give three cheers" (Captain Corcoran, Sir Joseph, Cousin Hebe, and Chorus)
• 9. "When I was a lad" (Sir Joseph and Chorus)
• 9a. "For I hold that on the sea" (Sir Joseph, Cousin Hebe, and Chorus)
• 10. "A British tar" (Ralph, Boatswain, Carpenter's Mate, and Chorus of Sailors)
• 11. "Refrain, audacious tar" (Josephine and Ralph)
• 12. Finale, Act I: "Can I survive this overbearing?"

Act II

(Entr'acte)

• 13. "Fair moon, to thee I sing" (Captain Corcoran)
• 14. "Things are seldom what they seem" (Buttercup and Captain Corcoran)
• 15. "The hours creep on apace" (Josephine)
• 16. "Never mind the why and wherefore" (Josephine, Captain, and Sir Joseph)
• 17. "Kind Captain, I've important information" (Captain and Dick Deadeye)
• 18. "Carefully on tiptoe stealing" (Soli and Chorus)
• 18a."Pretty daughter of mine" (Captain and Ensemble) and "He is an Englishman" (Boatswain and Ensemble)
• 19. "Farewell, my own" (Ralph, Josephine, Sir Joseph Porter, Buttercup, and Chorus)
• 20. "A many years ago" (Buttercup and Chorus)
• 20a. "Here, take her, sir" (Sir Joseph, Josephine, Ralph, Cousin Hebe, and Chorus)¹
• 21. Finale: "Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen" (Ensemble) ²

¹See discussion, below.

²Includes reprises of several songs, concluding with "For he is an Englishman".

Versions

Ballad for Captain Corcoran, "Reflect, my child"

During rehearsals for the original production, Gilbert added a ballad for Captain Corcoran in which he urged his daughter to forget the common sailor she is in love with, who "at every step...would commit solecisms that society would never pardon." The ballad was meant to be sung between No. 5 and No. 6 of the current score, but was cut before opening night. The words survive in the libretto that was deposited with the Lord Chamberlain for licensing. Before 1999, all that was known to survive of Sullivan's setting was a copy of the leader violin part.

In April 1999, Sullivan scholars Bruce I. Miller and Helga J. Perry announced that they had discovered a nearly complete orchestration – lacking only the second violin part – in a private collection of early band parts. These materials, with a conjectural reconstruction of the lost vocal lines and second violin part, were later published and professionally recorded.^[22] This piece has now been performed a number of times by amateur and professional companies, although it has not become a standard addition to the traditional scores.

Dialogue for Cousin Hebe

In the licensing copy of the libretto, Sir Joseph's cousin Hebe had lines of dialogue in several scenes in Act II. In the scene that follows No. 14 ("Things are seldom what they seem"), she accompanied Sir Joseph onstage and echoed the First Lord's dissatisfaction with Josephine. After several interruptions, Sir Joseph urged her to be quiet, eliciting the response "Crushed again!" Gilbert would later re-use this passage for Lady Jane in Patience. Hebe was also assigned several lines of dialogue after No. 18 ("Carefully on tiptoe stealing"), and again after No. 19 ("Farewell, my own.")

Original programme cover

Recitative preceding the Act II finale

The dialogue preceding the Act II finale, starting with "Here, take her sir, and mind you treat her kindly," was originally recitative. The music for this passage was printed in the first edition of the vocal score as No. 20a. Shortly after opening night, the recitative was dropped, and the lines thereafter were performed as spoken dialogue. The recitative is rarely performed.

Productions

From the beginning, H.M.S. Pinafore has been one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic operas. Its initial run of 571 performances only begins to explain its popularity.^[25] After its initial success in London became clear, Richard D'Oyly Carte dispatched touring companies into the British provinces. There was a company playing Pinafore under his aegis close to continuously between 1878 and 1888. The opera was then given a rest, returning to the touring repertory again between 1894–1900, and then most of the time between 1903–1940.^[26]

In the winter of 1940–41, the scenery and costumes for Pinafore and three other operas were destroyed in enemy action.^[27] The opera spent seven years out of the repertory before a London revival in the summer of 1947.^[28] It was then included in the D'Oyly Carte repertory in every season from then on, until the company's closure in 1982.^[29]

In America, Pinafore was an instant success. The first American production was given at the Boston Museum on November 25 1878. According to Reginald Allen (1979, p. 2), some 150 companies played the opera (all without royalties to the authors) before Gilbert, Sullivan, and D'Oyly Carte arrived to present the "authorised" version, which opened in New York on December 1, 1879. In Australia, its first authorized performance was on 15 November, 1879 at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, produced by the J. C. Williamson company.

The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime:

Historical casting

The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure:

¹ The Midshipmite, Tom Tucker, is traditionally played by a child. "Fitzaltamont" was likely a pseudonym used to protect the child's identity, as the same name appears on programs of several provincial touring companies.^[30]

Recordings

An early poster for a D'Oyly Carte production

On video, the 1973 D'Oyly Carte preserves the company's traditional style of the period, but some people find it dull.^[45] The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival offers various video recordings of the opera, including its 2003 professional G&S Opera Company video.^[46]

Selected recordings

• 1922 D'Oyly Carte ? Conductors: Harry Norris and G. W. Byng^[47]
• 1930 D'Oyly Carte ? London Symphony Orchestra; Conductor: Malcolm Sargent^[48]
• 1949 D'Oyly Carte ? Conductor: Isidore Godfrey^[49]
• 1958 Sargent/Glyndebourne ? Pro Arte Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus; Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent^[50]
• 1960 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) ? New Symphony Orchestra of London; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey^[51]
• 1972 G&S For All ? G&S Festival Chorus & Orchestra; Conductor: Peter Murray^[52]
• 1973 D'Oyly Carte (video) ? Conductor: Royston Nash^[53]
• 1981 Stratford Festival (video) ? Conductor: Berthold Carrière; Director: Leon Major^[54]
• 1987 New Sadler's Wells Opera ? Conductor: Simon Phipps^[55]
• 1994 Mackerras/Telarc ? Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera; Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras^[56]
• 1997 Essgee Entertainment (video; adapted) ? Conductor: Kevin Hocking^[57]
• 2000 New D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) ? Conductor: John Owen Edwards^[58]

Adaptations

• George S. Kaufman wrote a Broadway musical in 1945 called Hollywood Pinafore based on H.M.S. Pinafore and using Sullivan's music.
• Essgee Entertainment produced an adapted version of H.M.S. Pinafore in 1997 in Australia and New Zealand.^[59]
• Pinafore Swing, first performed at the Watermill Theatre in England in 2004, musically arranged by Sarah Travis and directed by John Doyle (the team responsible for the actor-orchestra staging of the 2006 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd). The adaptation assigns all the musical parts to a reduced-size acting cast, who also serve as the orchestra, playing the musical instruments, and the music is infused with swing rhythms.

Cultural impact

Rutland Barrington as A.B.S. Corcoran at the end of Pinafore

Film references

Songs from Pinafore have been sung in numerous films. Particularly notable examples include Star Trek: Insurrection, in which Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Worf sing lines from "A British Tar" to distract a malfunctioning Lt. Commander Data.^[61] The Good Shepherd (2006) includes scenes revolving around an all-male version of Pinafore at Yale University. The Matt Damon character plays Little Buttercup, singing falsetto.^[62] As well, characters sing various songs from it in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.^[63][64]

Television references

Similarly, songs from Pinafore are sung in many television shows. In the "Cape Feare" episode of The Simpsons, Bart stalls his would-be killer Sideshow Bob with a "final request" that Bob sing him the entire score of Pinafore.^[65] Similarly, one episode of Animaniacs consists of pastiches of songs from H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance.^[66]

Notes

References

• Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta: From H. M. S. Pinafore to Sweeney Todd Oxford University Press, 1981.
• Ganzl, Kurt. Ganzl's Book of the Broadway Musical: 75 Favorite Shows, from H.M.S. Pinafore to Sunset Boulevard, 1995 Schirmer/Simon & Schuster ISBN 0028708326
• Lamb, Andrew. "From Pinafore to Porter: United States-United Kingdom Interactions in Musical Theater, 1879-1929" in American Music, Vol. 4, No. 1, British-American Musical Interactions (Spring, 1986), pp. 34-49 University of Illinois Press.
• Also, five supplements, privately printed.
• This libretto is available online here.

External links

• ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' at The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive
• ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography
• Account of the "Fracas at the Opera Comique" in 1879
• Lost ''Pinafore'' Song Found
• Lyrics of the Animaniacs episode parodying H.M.S. Pinafore
• Site containing biographies of the people listed in the historical casting chart
• Numerous photos of ''Pinafore''
• Page linking to numerous ''Pinafore'' song parodies
• List of longest running London shows

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