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@shimyereh / shimyereh.tumblr.com

Mostly Gilbert & Sullivan, Shakespeare, 19th-century Russian literature. Other things that sometimes show up here: language/linguistics stuff, translations from various languages, metered verse, music discussion, photos of my knitting.

Tagged by @vera-dauriac to share favorite opera duets/trios/etc. I decided to go with Gilbert and Sullivan this time, because there are so many delightful small ensemble pieces in the G&S canon! Here are 5 duets and 5 trios. Tagging anyone who sees this and wants to do the meme!

DUETS “If the light of love’s lingering ember…” [The Grand Duke] (text) “Prithee, pretty maiden…” [Patience] (text) “You understand?” “I think I do…” [Ruddigore] (text) “I once was a very abandoned person…” [Ruddigore] (text) “Welcome joy, adieu to sadness!…” [The Sorcerer] (text)

TRIOS “Never mind the why and wherefore…” [HMS Pinafore] (text) “If you go in…” [Iolanthe] (text) “When you had left our pirate fold…” [The Pirates of Penzance] (text) “My eyes are fully open to my awful situation…” [Ruddigore] (text) “How say you, maiden, will you wed…” [The Yeomen of the Guard] (text)

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #patience #ruddigore #the sorcerer #hms pinafore #iolanthe #the pirates of penzance #the yeomen of the guard #opera tag #…well sort of #(some of these renditions I've linked are more operatic than others)#and the 'Pinafore' clip I've linked is from a Star-Trek-themed production #fun fact: I was in that production! (but not in that scene)#I was a Vulcan science officer in the chorus of ship's crew

[Today, in crossovers nobody asked for… an excerpt from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Grand Duke, retold in Onegin stanzas. I’ve mostly adapted the Notary’s song from Act I, plus a bit of context from Ludwig and Rudolph’s duel at the top of the Act I finale.]

I. “It seems we’ve hit on our solution: A statutory duel, agreed?” “Agreed, indeed.” “The execution Is key, of course. So now we need A devil of a confrontation!” “A most convincing altercation!” “The ace is hidden in my sleeve, The king in yours — we mustn’t leave A bit of this to chance. We’ll play it With care…” Hang on, I hear, not cool! What is a “statutory duel”? You need me to explain? Just say it! I have a speech prepared, no less: I’m all too happy to digress.

II. A century ago, this action Was taken by a local prince: All foes demanding satisfaction Draw cards to settle; ever since, That’s how it’s done. Who draws the lowest Is “dead” by law — a legal ghoest! (Ahem.) To briefly sum the case, The winner takes the loser’s place, Takes on the life his rival loses: Must handle all his debts and bets And kith and kin — in short, he gets To step into the dead man’s shoeses. (Forgive me, I can’t help it — I’m A sucker for a stupid rhyme.)

III. This variant of the Code Duello Is much less bloody, you’ll agree. Of course the loser is, poor fellow, Quite dead — but only legally. A simple set of limitations, Though not without its complications: When everything is done and said, Where do you put the “legal dead”? They’re all too prone to go on haunting Familiar places, friends and foes, Unsuited to serene repose… Forget it — this is far too daunting; No clever plan’s without some flaw. Three cheers for this ingenious law!

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #pushkin #eugene onegin #shimyereh writes silly poetry #this is very niche and also very stupid but I had to get it out of my system

This production of The Grand Duke reimagines the theater troupe as a G&S troupe in the middle of a run of Patience! The new lyrics to Ludwig’s song here (starting ~3:05) are very clever.

At the outset I may mention it's my sovereign intention To extoll the operettas widely known as "G and S." I am very fond of Friml and Lehar, but—Gott in Himmel!— They just lack a certain something these two Englishmen possess.

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #patience #(the video description on Youtube includes the full lyrics!)

shimyereh reblogged

operasuggestion

hear the voice of someone who is supposed to be dead

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #'I do wish I could make you girls understand that I'm only *technically* dead!'

shimyereh reblogged

For the ultimate G+S in-joke, may I suggest a production of Grand Duke but instead of Troilus and Cressida, Ludwig’s troupe is performing Thespis?

It would only require a few minor changes in dialogue, and the costumes stay the same but with more in-jokes.

Oh, that would be amazing!

Semi-relatedly, are you aware of this production where the troupe are doing Patience instead? Turns out, that also works surprisingly well.

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #thespis #patience

shimyereh reblogged

socialshakespeare

Read-through of Troilus & Cressida.

This survey will be open until Saturday, June 9th at 11:59pm EDT

docs.google.com

Get your Greek on! Sign-ups are open through June 9th at midnight.

Come read with us!

Side note to G&S fans: This is the play Ernest’s troupe have been performing in The Grand Duke. (That is, when they’re not plotting to depose Grand Duke Rudolph.)

#shakespeare #troilus and cressida #social shakespeare #gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #…well sort of #unfortunately I have to sit this one out #(because busy weekends next month)#but I'll be helping a bit in the background as usual

shimyereh reblogged

dukeofstratford

i keep wanting to call gilbert and sullivan rosencrantz and guildenstern

fuckyeahgilbertandsullivan

yes good

1. Are you familiar with W. S. Gilbert’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? It’s a thing of beauty.

2. What if the pirates who captured Hamlet were the Pirates of Penzance?

3. Hamlet, IV.ii-iii + this scene from The Grand Duke [music recording]:

ROS. & GUIL. Your Highness, tell us where you’ve put the body — Your Highness, kindly tell us where you’ve stashed it — It’s imperative we find it, So we really wouldn’t mind it If you’d tell us. Your behavior’s rather shoddy.

Your relation with your family’s a mess — We fear that you have well and truly trashed it — Your uncle’s on his way now, And if you do not obey now, What will happen next is anybody’s guess! (We’d rather not be here for that, oh yes!)

[Enter Claudius, in a fury.]

CLAUDIUS With fury indescribable I burn! With rage I’m nearly ready to explode! There’ll be grief and tribulation ‘til I learn Where Polonius’s body has been stowed!

For whatever may be due I’ll pay it double — There’ll be terror indescribable and trouble! With a hurly-burly and a hubble-bubble I’ll pay you for this pretty episode!

ROS. & GUIL. Oh, whatever may be due he’ll pay it double! — It’s very good of him to take the trouble — But we don’t know what he means by “hubble-bubble” — No doubt it’s an expression à la mode.

CLAUDIUS [to Hamlet] Do you know what you’ve done?

HAMLET I don’t; Please tell me, that I may know, good sir.

CLAUDIUS Stop playing the fool, my son.

HAMLET I won’t; (And you’re not my dad.) I’ll go, good sir.

CLAUDIUS Express your grief profound!

HAMLET I shan’t! This tone I never allow, my love!

CLAUDIUS Polonius at once produce!

HAMLET I can’t; He isn’t at home just now, my love.

CLAUDIUS He isn’t at home just now?!

HAMLET He isn’t at home just now! He has an appointment for supper; you’ll meet him Not where he eats, but where others eat him; A convoy of worms have been sent forth to greet him, And he isn’t at home just now! He isn’t at home just now!

CLAUDIUS But bless my heart and soul alive, it’s impudence personified! Just tell me WHERE HE IS. I will not let myself be so defied!

HAMLET Worms feed alike upon a king or beggar. Consequentially: If you don’t find him in this month, you’ll nose him out eventually. Tol the riddle lol, lol lol lay! (etc.)

[Hamlet dances around wildly, to Claudius’s continued irritation.]

#shakespeare #hamlet #gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #the pirates of penzance #shimyereh writes silly poetry

shimyereh reblogged

miss-stealyourgirl-lister

shimyereh asked:

Re: G&S drawing ask -- I'd love to see your interpretation of one or more of the following: (1) Ernest "haunting" Julia, (2) Bunthorne and Grosvenor's ridiculous confrontation ("You had a mother once!" "NEVER."), (3) Iolanthe and the Lord Chancellor meeting for the first time (I still don't have specific headcanons about this, and I'd be curious to see what you come up with). :)

miss-stealyourgirl-lister answered:

Thanks for asking!! I haven’t seen The Grand Duke unfortunately, but I’ll definitely do the others!

Hooray! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for any of those!

(By the way, if you’re looking for an introduction to Grand Duke, this production is excellent:

If I remember correctly, there are some cuts, and Rudolph’s big song gets moved to Act II. But then again, it seems like everybody who does Grand Duke trims and/or rearranges it a bit.)

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke

A Monarch who boasts intellectual graces...

I was listening to The Grand Duke for the first time in a while, and then this suddenly popped into my head. So… continuing my series of G&S parodies of Shakespeare’s histories, here’s a partial rewrite of a scene (II.i) from Richard II. (Original version here, for reference.)

NORTHUMBERLAND My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your Majesty.

KING RICHARD What says he?

NORTHUMBERLAND Nay, nothing; all is said. His tongue is now a stringless instrument; Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent.

YORK Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.

KING RICHARD The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he; His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be. …So much for that! Now for our Irish wars:

[Music starts: this tune from the Act I finale of The Grand Duke]

KING RICHARD [singing] Oh, a Monarch who boasts intellectual graces Will find ways to fund a successful campaign! When waging war in inhospitable places Where the foe is as treacherous as the terrain, The cost of it all rather quickly outpaces Our funding. We worried about the disgraces Of losing the wars, to retreat with grimaces… But now Gaunt’s sad loss is our fortunate gain! Our fortunate gain – our fortunate gain –

BUSHY, BAGOT, and GREEN [singing] A fortunate, fortunate, fortunate, fortunate gain!

KING RICHARD [singing] Oh, forget about rules! We’re the King, so we’re seizing All plate, coin, and movables Gaunt did possess. This new source of revenue’s welcome and pleasing – Our Irish campaign should be quite the success!

BUSHY, BAGOT, and GREEN [singing] Oh, forget about rules! He’s the King, so he’s seizing All plate, coin, and movables Gaunt did possess. This new source of revenue’s welcome and pleasing – His Irish campaign should be quite the success!

[They dance around for a while. FINALLY, York manages to confiscate the conductor’s baton and the orchestra stops playing.]

#shakespeare #richard ii #gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #if g&s wrote shakespeare's histories #shimyereh writes silly poetry

Also relevant: Ernest and Julia’s “duet from beyond the grave”. Even if Ernest is only legally dead, and therefore only a “technical bogie”. I like this version a lot, too.

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke

shimyereh reblogged

The Complete Works of Filbert & Sullivanilla

Thespeas Trial by Jujubery The Sorrelcerer HMS Spinach-fore The Pineapplerates of Penzance Peartience Pistachiolanthe Princess Idaikon The Mikavocado Ruddigourd The Yeomen of the Chard The Gondoleeks U-snow-pea-a, Limited The Grand Cuke

(…I’m so, so sorry. Once I got going, I couldn’t stop.)

Thinking about this some more, Ruddigourd totally sounds like it would be a version of Ruddigore where the Murgatroyd ancestors are represented by a collection of jack-o’-lanterns that suddenly flare up and start singing in the ghost scene.

Go radish, get you hence, to your cabin with celery. This is the consequence of ill-advised asparagus!

For I hold that on the seas The expression, “if you please”, a particularly gentlemanly tone implants.

And so do his spinach, cress, and avocado plants!

---

Rrrrrrapscallions!! In penitential fires, You’ll rrrue the rrribaldry that from you falls! Tomorrow afternoon, the law expires! And then! Look out for shall… ots.

#gilbert and sullivan #hms pinafore #the grand duke #puntastic silliness

The Complete Works of Filbert & Sullivanilla

Thespeas Trial by Jujubery The Sorrelcerer HMS Spinach-fore The Pineapplerates of Penzance Peartience Pistachiolanthe Princess Idaikon The Mikavocado Ruddigourd The Yeomen of the Chard The Gondoleeks U-snow-pea-a, Limited The Grand Cuke

(…I’m so, so sorry. Once I got going, I couldn’t stop.)

#gilbert and sullivan #thespis #trial by jury #the sorcerer #hms pinafore #the pirates of penzance #patience #iolanthe #princess ida #the mikado #ruddigore #the yeomen of the guard #the gondoliers #utopia limited #the grand duke #puntastic silliness

shimyereh reblogged

miss-stealyourgirl-lister

Idk why but this Australian Opera production of Patience I’m watching is super cute and it’s making me smile like an idiot.

I find it almost impossible to watch/listen to any production of Patience without grinning. It’s such a charmingly goofy show.

Come to think of it, I have the same reaction to Trial by Jury, and aren’t these two the only G&S shows where nobody’s ever in any kind of mortal danger?

Weeeelllllll, for Grand Duke no one is in any PHYSICAL mortal danger, does that count?

I don’t recall much peril in Gondoliers, either, unless you count seasickness.

In Grand Duke, don’t the conspirators think they’ll be executed after Ludwig spills the beans to the detective? There’s at least a threat of serious consequences. (*Admits to not really considering Gondoliers, since I’m still not as familiar with that show.* I thought I remembered something about Don Alhambra treating Inez violently, but maybe that was just a particular production?)

But yeah, it’s easy to forget about the potential danger in Grand Duke because statutory duels are hilarious and who uses sausage rolls as a secret handshake? and Julia is a scenery-chewing diva and Ludwig is a doofus and Ernest sings a duet from beyond the grave in spite of still being alive and the Baroness is a force to be reckoned with and THEN the Monte Carlos show up with their, um, retinue. (This show deserves so much more love.)

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #the gondoliers

shimyereh reblogged

Two’s company and three’s a crowd, but it takes seven for a Company Limited.

Seven is also the number of named chorus ghosts in Ruddigore, the number of chamberlains who attend Rudolph in Act I of Grand Duke, and the size of the Monte Carlos’ entourage (six supernumeraries plus Ben Hashbaz). Makes me wonder if any version of the original company could have designated seven particular chorus guys to do all these things, and if those guys might have had any in-jokes across other shows, too.

...But these are a little different from your example, since the seven in Utopia (Paramount and the Flowers of Progress) include some major leads.

#gilbert and sullivan #utopia limited #ruddigore #the grand duke

A few more thoughts on Thespis. I couldn’t help noticing a number of parallels between this show and The Grand Duke. Interesting how that works, since these are the first and last operettas in the canon.

1. Both of these shows feature a theatrical troupe taking control of a government. The title character in Thespis has things in common with both Ernest and Ludwig from Grand Duke. Thespis is a manager like Ernest, but since his troupe wasn’t planning to seize power, he handles his new role only a little better than Ludwig does. Thespis takes his role as king of the gods seriously (instead of just partying), but he has some ill-conceived ideas that turn the world topsy-turvy.

2. While they’re in power, the troupe members dress like they’re from classical antiquity. The troupe in Grand Duke are specifically trying to evoke “the dead old days of Athens in her glory” – because they had the costumes for it, so why not? In Thespis, it’s more justified because the troupe members are taking on the roles of specific Greco-Roman gods.

3. One of the troupe members finds that his new role requires him to be married to someone other than his wife. Each show starts on the wedding day of a new couple: Ludwig and Lisa in Grand Duke, Sparkeion and Nicemis in Thespis. When Ludwig becomes Grand Duke, he also becomes Julia’s husband since she’s the leading lady and therefore the new Grand Duchess. In Thespis, it’s a little more complicated. Sparkeion becomes Apollo, Nicemis becomes Diana, and they continue to act like a couple until Daphne points out that (1) Apollo and Diana are siblings, and (2) as Calliope she is now Sparkeion’s wife. The difference here is the motivation. Julia despises Ludwig, but claims him because she wants the Grand Duchess role. Daphne is Sparkeion’s old flame and uses her new role as an excuse to claim him.

#gilbert and sullivan #thespis #the grand duke

shimyereh reblogged

One day, while sitting around waiting for the tech crew to finish focusing lights, myself and a few fellow Tower Warders started to plan a Gilbert-and-Sullivan themed game of Clue. Who committed the crime? Was it John Wellington Wells on the Pinafore with the snickersnee? Or perhaps The Fairy Queen in the Portait Gallery with a sausage roll?

Perhaps someday I’ll get around to fully designing the game. But here’s a sketch of what the character cards might look like, featuring that innovative entrepreneur, the Prince of Monte Carlo.

Sir Conrad and Sir Mervyn, with Evil Time Travel and mad science, somewhere associated with an operetta that isn’t Ruddigore!

I would totally play this game. What crime gets committed?

#gilbert and sullivan #ruddigore #the grand duke #bad baronets of ruddigore in the wrong operetta

shimyereh reblogged

Making a moussaka and singing along shamelessly to The Grand Duke.

——–

DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?

I… don’t. Your countenance I can’t fix, my dear.

THIS *flourishes eggplant* PROVES I’M NOT A SHAM!!

It won’t. It only says… *inspects label on eggplant* …“Krakenfeldt, Six”, my dear?

on this note: imagine ludwig running through the choreography of a sword-fighting scene (any sword fight choose your swordfight) while making a salad and waving a cucumber around

I can picture him doing that in the background during the opening scene, when everybody’s trying to get ready for the wedding. And then somebody else confiscates the cucumber, shoos him off, and finishes preparing the salad.

#gilbert and sullivan #the grand duke #background shenanigans

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