When it comes to rhyme, rap artists have nothing on Gilbert and Sullivan.
These masters of the comic opera wrote some of the wittiest songs in the English language. Arthur Sullivan wrote the music. William Gilbert wrote the lyrics, and his love for rhyming the unusual and arcane reached a peak in the Major General’s patter song from “The Pirates of Penzance.”
It begins – “I am the very model of a modern major general, I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral” – and continues in a tongue-twisting tour-de-force at breakneck speed.
“I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
“I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
“About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
“With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.”
“It’s all tied in with the speed,” said Rob Martin, who sings the song in the Northwest Savoyards’ production of “Pirates” that opens tonight in Everett.
“Patter singing is all about moving your mouth around at 100 miles per hour. It’s clearly best if you don’t breath at all.”
Martin, who plays the Major General, is a veteran of four Savoyard productions. He’s perfected the technique of singing patter songs – “It’s a flow that’s going on and your mouth is on automatic” – and even studied the lyrics to figure out what Gilbert was up to.
Gilbert, who had a keen ear for the language and mostly stuck to real instead of imaginary words, loaded his lyrics with cultural and historical references of the day.
“Pirates,” which premiered in 1879, is a rollicking story of swashbuckling pirates and lovesick ladies. The score is lilting and catchy, and its plot is improbable but fun, making it a perennial favorite that was even made into a movie starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Angela Lansbury.
Young Frederic is accidentally apprenticed to a gang of orphan-loving pirates. At 21 he is free, and turns his attention to eradicating the band of pirates who have raised him.
Along comes the winsome Mabel, daughter of the blundering Major General, and Frederic falls in love. To put a stop to this, a scheme is cooked up to hoodwink Frederic into returning to his indentured life with the pirates, with unexpected results.
Martin, who was raised and educated in England, has a facility with the language of these English composers and a historical understanding of the upper-class society that Gilbert and Sullivan lampooned.
Gilbert and Sullivan endure because of the music and the delightful stories. But the composers took dead aim at the British upper classes and their ways, and the results make modern audiences smile.
The Major General in “Pirates” was one such target.
“There was some kind of debate going on in Britain that if you were raised in the right schools and families, you could be a general. I think the patter song is all about how foolish that was notion was,” Martin said.
“It’s the idea that you have a row of these upper-class twits in charge and somehow they get special treatment. Somehow, these same figures are here today,” he added.
Janet Pope directs “The Pirates of Penzance” with musical direction by David Spring. Performances continuing weekends through Oct. 24.
“The Pirates of Penzance”
A Northwest Savoyards’ production tonight through Oct. 24 at the PUD Auditorium, 2320 California St., Everett. Performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, $10-$20, 425-303-8902 and at the door.
“The Pirates of Penzance”
A Northwest Savoyards’ production tonight through Oct. 24 at the PUD Auditorium, 2320 California St., Everett. Performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, $10-$20, 425-303-8902 and at the door.
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