30th December - Pirates of Penzance; 6th Day of Christmas Weather: If the sun shines on the 6th day of Christmas, there will be much milk. I have always admired the English people’s command of elocution, assonance, and alliteration: Today in 1879, the first performance took place of William S. Gilbert’s and Arthur Sullivan’s opera, “Pirates of Penzance, or, The Slave of Duty”. While the actual premiere was on New Year’s Eve 1879 in New York, for copyright reasons a ‘performance’ of sorts was held in England the day before. In its honour(with a “U) I will be pouring the Pirate rum, and enjoying a marathon today of Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas. For your enjoyment, here is the Major-General’s song from “Pirates of Penzance” (sing along if you are so inclined): MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: I am the very model of a modern Major-General, Ive information vegetable, animal, and mineral, I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; Im very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical, I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical, About binomial theorem Im teeming with a lot o news, With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. ALL: With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: Im very good at integral and differential calculus; I know the scientific names of beings animalculous: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General. ALL: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, He is the very model of a modern Major-General. MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: I know our mythic history, King Arthurs and Sir Caradocs; I answer hard acrostics, Ive a pretty taste for paradox, I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus, In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous; I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies, I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes! Then I can hum a fugue of which Ive heard the musics din afore, And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore. ALL: And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore. And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore. And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore. MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform, And tell you evry detail of Caractacuss uniform: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General. ALL: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, He is the very model of a modern Major-General. MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: In fact, when I know what is meant by mamelon and ravelin, When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin, When such affairs as sorties and surprises Im more wary at, And when I know precisely what is meant by commissariat, When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery, When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery-- In short, when Ive a smattering of elemental strategy, Youll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee. ALL: Youll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee. Youll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee. Youll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee. MAJOR-GENERAL STANLEY: For my military knowledge, though Im plucky and adventury, Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century; But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General. ALL: But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, He is the very model of a modern Major-General. (And if you notice any similarities between me and the “Major-General”- it is merely assonance of coincidence that is accidence of my magnificence)
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:59:49 +0000
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