by CKR
I've loved Gilbert and Sullivan since I performed in The Mikado and The Gondoliers in high school. As I've gotten older, the political satire brings a song to mind every now and then. It may be that Gilbert and Sullivan were prescient, or it may be that power continues to do the same sorts of things.
Musically, Gilbert and Sullivan are a lot of fun. Each operetta is similar to all the others, with similar characters (tenor/hero, soprano/heroine, baritone/loser, bass/pompous bureaucrat, and others) and a similar range of musical forms. Processionals and fanfares in which the human voices may be co-opted into the roles of trumpets and drums as obsequious expressions of admiration. (Tantantara!) I also like the madrigals, usually an expression of that confusion of one person with another that is a plot requirement.
Recently I picked up a cd of the most popular songs at a rummage sale. It's by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, who have been performing Gilbert and Sullivan for over 130 years. The style of singing is mannered, so that the cd's John Reed sounds very much like Martyn Green, with whom I grew up. I've always preferred the hapless baritones to the overly wonderful tenors.
So here is a sort of quiz for the G&S fans out there. Just a few of the songs that remind me of current events. Click for the answers.
For Karl Rove (or Patrick Fitzgerald?)
For all those military talking heads on tv (although we're down to colonel--rank inflation?)
[Many thanks to Paul Howarth and the others at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive for making these wonderful words and music available on the web.]