Yes we\u2019re talking the best Gilbert and Sullivan songs, moments and highlights \u2013 not just solo numbers \u2013 and you won\u2019t even find them all here. Why not? First, limiting the number to 25 forces one to really consider which are arguably the very<\/em> best to make the cut (believe me, a lot of personal favourites fell by the wayside with such a stringent limitation). <\/strong><\/p>\n

And then, quite simply, it\u2019s impossible to do justice to Gilbert and Sullivan and the shows without including some of the most glorious moments involving the chorus: they may be singing an anthem (\u2018For he is an Englishman\u2019 from HMS Pinafore <\/em>is just one of the most famous \u2013 check our list for some more), or one of Sullivan\u2019s cunningly crafted double choruses (in which two apparently distinct choruses are then performed simultaneously to glorious effect). Then again, the lead characters, as well as singing songs, often sing duets \u2013 sometimes intimate and touching, but often lively and mischievous; and then there are those sometimes quite intricate ensembles, involving three or more characters, which range from fiery to reflective.<\/p>\n

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Why are Gilbert and Sullivan operettas so popular?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Why don\u2019t people take Gilbert and Sullivan seriously?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
6 unlikely Gilbert and Sullivan fans<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Why did Gilbert and Sullivan quarrel over a carpet?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
What are the lyrics to the song \u2018Modern Major General\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
So, here in ascending order is a list of (at least many of) the very best moments in Gilbert and Sullivan, whether they are \u2018songs\u2019 or otherwise\u2026<\/p>\n
Which are the best Gilbert and Sullivan ever?<\/h2>\n
25 Ruddigore (1887): \u2018Welcome gentry\u2019<\/h3>\n
Written following the success of The Mikado<\/em> and first staged in 1887 as Ruddygore <\/em>(the spelling subsequently changed to appease Victorian sensitivities), in this show we see a good deal of the (intentionally) irritating bridal chorus before, a good half hour into the show, the gentlemen of the chorus finally make their appearance. They are \u2018bucks and blades\u2019 (as described in the libretto) from the city visiting the village of Rederring to have a bit of pleasure with its fresh-faced local beauties. Here is a very fine example of a double chorus, in which the women\u2019s chorus \u2013 beguiling, swooning and yearning all at once \u2013 is contrasted with the swaggering \u2018gentlemen\u2019 singing \u2018When thoroughly tired of being admired\u2019, their affected urbanity giving way in their final beguiling line: \u2018your slaves for the moment are we\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>24 The Mikado (1885): \u2018The sun whose rays are all ablaze\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>For many G&S fans, Yum-Yum\u2019s big solo number is the lyrical highlight of\u00a0 <em>The Mikado,<\/em>\u00a0the creative duo\u2019s most popular show; for some listeners, though, it is just too sickly and sentimental. Yet, as Yum-Yum\u2019s preamble makes clear, it\u2019s a song by a young lady who quite unashamedly glories in her own beauty. While her very un-English \u2013 and, indeed, hardly typically Japanese \u2013 lack of modesty would have appeared comical to Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s audience (indeed, the English continued to find this quality amusing in Agatha Christie\u2019s Poirot, for instance), Sullivan responds with a melody which is both artful yet \u2013 to those who respond to it \u2013 guilelessly lovely. In the 1920s, music professor Percy Buck evidently felt this: \u2018The writing of a learned eight-part fugue is within the power of any musician who cares to waste his time in learning how to do it; but if he tries to reset the words, \u201cThe sun whose rays are all ablaze\u201d and then compares his music to Sullivan\u2019s, he will have no doubts as to which is the more serious task.\u2019<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""NORMA\" burrowes=\"\" gilbert=\"\" sullivan:=\"\" sun=\"\" whose=\"\" rays=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lpVPGk257Tc?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>23 The Mikado: \u2018I am so proud\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>And just in case anyone is beginning to think contrapuntal dexterity was beyond Sullivan\u2019s armoury, here is one of his most virtuoso demonstrations, not simply combining two contrasting choruses (as in \u2018Welcome gentry\u2019), but presenting three characters singing in utterly different styles \u2013 appropriate to their individual temperaments \u2013 and then having them sing together so their parts create a coherent piece of music. (<a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/benjamin-britten\/"\">Benjamin Britten<\/a> \u2013 though he blew hot and cold over Gilbert and Sullivan \u2013 pulled off a similar trick some 74 years later with his <em>Fanfare for St Edmundsbury<\/em>\u00a0for three trumpets.) The <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-coda\/"\">coda<\/a> <\/strong>is also much celebrated for its rattling alliterations, not least the still much-quoted \u2018short, sharp shock\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Mikado\" i=\"\" am=\"\" so=\"\" proud=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o957lzsqDec?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>22 Patience (1881): \u2018So go to him and say to him\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Although Gilbert and Sullivan relied on a core of proficient and sometimes superb singers, some of their regulars were far more noted for their abilities as comic actors. George Grossmith, who was also co-author of <em>The Diary of a Nobody<\/em>, was one of these, and this comic duet was written for him and the formidably substantial contralto Alice Barnett \u2013 who made her name creating several of Gilbert\u2019s formidable middle-aged women such as Ruth in <em>Pirates of Penzance<\/em> and the Fairy Queen in <em>Iolanthe<\/em>. Sullivan\u2019s playful music is a perfect setting of Gilbert\u2019s punchy lyrics.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daniel also named <\/em>Patience<em> the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-gilbert-and-sullivan-operettas\/"\">best Gilbert and Sullivan opera ever<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""So\" go=\"\" to=\"\" him=\"\" and=\"\" say=\"\" heather=\"\" begg=\"\" dennis=\"\" olsen=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JutFKM17Pl4?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<h3>21 The Grand Duke (1896): \u2018Take my advice\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Here is a gem of a song from Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s final show, much overlooked since <em>The Grand Duke<\/em>\u00a0is overall one of the most convoluted, bewildering and least engaging of Gilbert\u2019s plots. The flashy and extravagant Prince of Monte Carlo, though, is quite unlike the usual run of G&S anti-heroes, his belated first appearance in Act II scarcely prepared for by any of the preceding action. Having just invented the game of roulette, the Prince with Mephistophelean relish extols its merits to those heavily in debt, as Sullivan\u2019s skipping music suggests both the character\u2019s exuberance and the dance of the ball on the spinning roulette.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>20 The Pirates of Penzance (1879): \u2018Away, away, my heart\u2019s on fire!\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>In this fiery trio, Frederic (the romantic tenor hero), the Pirate King, and Ruth (Frederic\u2019s one time nurse and now part of the pirate band) react to the revelation of the Major-General\u2019s \u2018traitorous\u2019 deception \u2013 to avoid being killed, he pretended to be an orphan, the Pirates of Penzance being renowned for their mercy to such unfortunates. While the King and Ruth vow to kill the Major-General, Frederic is appalled that his sense of duty has forced him to reveal this deception. The result is one of Sullivan\u2019s pithiest ensembles, the music urgent and driven (though many productions cannot resist adding visual gags involving the Pirate King and Ruth).<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/10-of-the-best-songs-from-musicals\/"\">10 of the best songs from musicals<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/best-musical-theatre-composers\/"\">10 of the best musical theatre composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/best-stage-musicals-of-all-time\/"\">10 of the best stage musicals of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-christmas-musicals\/"\">10 of the best Christmas musicals<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-musical-and-an-opera\/"\">What is the difference between a musical and an opera?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>19 Patience: \u2018I hear the soft note\u2019<\/h3>\n<p><em>Patience <\/em>is on the surface a comedy involving two absurdly pretentious poets who vie for the adoring attentions of \u2018the young ladies\u2019. Yet Sullivan\u2019s music in particular expresses longing and often forlorn hope through much of its length. All the more touching, then, is the score\u2019s one moment of unadulterated calm: the sextet \u2018I hear the soft note\u2019. This is sung in the final scene of Act I by three Dragoon officers reunited with their fianc\u00e9es (subsequently joined by the chorus), who together swear \u2018never, oh never, our hearts will range \/ From that old, old love again!\u2019 Such is the heartfelt, touching simplicity of their music, that we are all the more appalled and amused when at the next moment Grosvenor, a vision of youthful male beauty and a self-declared poet, makes his first appearance, and the ladies instantly distracted from the men to whom they have just declared undying love, abandoning their beaus for their new idol.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>18 HMS Pinafore (1878): \u2018He is an Englishman\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>This perhaps most famous of G&S anthems (helped, no doubt, by being featured in the <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/all-the-oscar-winners-and-nominees-for-best-original-score\/"\">Oscar-winning<\/a><\/strong> <em>Chariots of Fire<\/em> was the last in which Gilbert and Sullivan indulged in more-or-less straight patriotism. <em>HMS Pinafore <\/em>was written in 1878 just as the British prime minister, Disraeli, was meeting apparent Russian threat by dispatching the British fleet to Constantinople and so was written on a wave of patriotism which had swept the country. In the show, the song is sung in praise of the ordinary seaman, Ralph Rackstraw, who aspires to marry the captain\u2019s daughter (which leads to Captain Corcoran to blurt in outrage \u2013 to the horror of all present \u2013 \u2018Why, damme, it\u2019s too bad!\u2019). Gilbert would never essay such straightforward patriotism again, and starting with <em>HMS Pinafore<\/em>\u2019s sequel, <em>The<\/em> <em>Pirates of Penzance<\/em>, he offered increasingly ludicrous representations of monarchist sentiment and patriotic fealty.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>17 HMS Pinafore: \u2018A British tar\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Almost as famous as \u2018He is an Englishman\u2019 is the glee supposedly composed by Captain Corcoran, sung by his loyal crew in Act I of the operetta. Its opening lines, \u2018A British tar is a soaring soul, As free as a mountain bird, His energetic fist should be ready to resist A dictatorial word\u2019 are sung by Sallah in <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em>; a great deal more is sung by Jean-Luc Picard in <em>Star Trek: Insurrection<\/em>. Sullivan\u2019s setting, sung with vigour, is highly effective and almost makes one overlook Gilbert\u2019s deliberately OTT portrayal of the good British tar.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>16 The Pirates of Penzance: \u2018Hail Poetry\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>\u2018For what, we ask, is life without a touch of poetry in it?\u2019 asks the Pirate King in preface to this a cappella choral paean to either poetry or to finer feeling \u2013 take your pick. Either way, Sullivan provides a noble and stirring anthem-like moment which perhaps gently sends up a pirate\u2019s pretensions to be civilised, but actually succeeds in making the sentiment appear sincere and one of the finer qualities that binds humanity.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>15 Ruddigore: Duo: \u2018You understand? I think I do\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Here is an even pithier number, whose light-heartedness is all the more striking in the show after the melodramatics of Sir Despard, heir to the terrible family curse since the apparent death of his elder brother, Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd. Ruthven\u2019s long-standing but not-so-loyal friend, Richard Dauntless, has just revealed to Sir Despard that his brother has in fact faked his own death to escape the family curse, and now, living incognito as a young farmer Robin, is about to wed local beauty, Rose Maybud (whom Richard covets \u2013 hence his act of betrayal). One may feel in this frolicsome number \u2013 light and contagious in its excitement \u2013 both Sir Despard\u2019s relief that he is about to lose the curse, and the treacherous Richard\u2019s excitement at the prospect of taking Rose from \u2018Robin\u2019.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""ruddigore\" duty=\"\" must=\"\" be=\"\" done=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-pe6VFuCcBo?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>14 Patience: \u2018Silvered is the raven hair\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Gilbert\u2019s humour was particularly cruel when it came to women well past their youthful prime \u2013<em>Trial by Jury <\/em>includes the infamous lines in the Judge\u2019s Song: \u2018She may very well pass for forty-three\/In the dusk, with a light behind her!\u2019 Gilbert exceeded even this in the lyrics to this song, sung near the start of Act II of <em>Patience<\/em>\u00a0by Lady Jane, the one remaining fan of the poet Reginald Bunthorne. (Her loyalty proves to be a mere chimera \u2013 the moment the Duke of Dunstable in an act of \u2018common fairness\u2019 proposes to her, Jane instantly throws herself into the Duke\u2019s arms.) She sings of herself: \u2018Fading is the taper waist, Shapeless grows the shapely limb, And although severely laced, Spreading is the figure trim!\u2019 Yet Sullivan setting of Gilbert\u2019s lyrics is nobly stoic, with just the occasional passing cloud of chromaticism to suggest Jane\u2019s forlorn state.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>13 Patience: \u2018A magnet hung in a hardware shop\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>We now have a song from Bunthorne\u2019s rival, the poet Grosvenor. From a not very promising lyric about a magnet attracting everything but what the poet desires \u2013 a silver churn (obviously a metaphor for the milkmaid Patience herself) \u2013 Sullivan spins a chirpy song (unusual for a baritone solo), with a particularly beguiling harmonic suspension at each verse\u2019s closing sestet to suggest the magnet\u2019s unfulfilled yearning. This is one of Grosvenor\u2019s better efforts as a poet, most probably since the subject is very close to his heart \u2013 the magnet representing himself and his attractiveness drawing all ladies but the one he desires.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Patience\" a=\"\" magnet=\"\" hung=\"\" in=\"\" hardware=\"\" shop=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mulTppJzPZE?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<h3>12 Princess Ida (1884): \u2018The world is but a broken toy\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Rarely performed even in Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s time, <em>Princess Ida<\/em>\u00a0is considered problematic today partly because of its lop-sided three-act structure, but mostly since Gilbert\u2019s satirical view of women\u2019s education and intellectual abilities has dated badly. Yet it includes more than one leading tenor role, and in Ida herself perhaps the most splendid of all the female roles to be found in Gilbert and Sullivan: noble, impassioned, brave and articulate \u2013 all these qualities are brought out by Sullivan in her songs and two magnificent arias (\u2018I built upon a rock\u2019, and the other \u2013 ranked higher in this list \u2013 we will come to anon). Ida\u2019s bravery is apparent even when she is fearful, as is evident from the music while she tries to assure her captive brothers that King Hildebrand\u2019s menacing threats to kill them are \u2018idle as the wind\u2019. In \u2018The world is but a broken toy\u2019 from earlier in the show, we find her confessing her dismay at the world as she finds it, ironically in the presence of men disguised (somewhat stretching the audience\u2019s credulity) as new female students at her university.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>11 The Pirates of Penzance: \u2018Poor wandr\u2019ing one\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Here is another splendid female lead, albeit one slightly absurd and treated by Sullivan with affectionate irony. \u2018Poor wandr\u2019ing one\u2019, sung by one of the Major-General\u2019s daughters, Mabel, really needs a fine soprano \u2013 very specifically, a coloratura \u2013 to do it full justice. On the face of it, her song is simply an admonishment to her sisters for refusing to take pity on a handsome pirate, Frederic, who wishes to renounce his profession and, let\u2019s say, find salvation through love. But her aria\u2019s slinky and seductive style, reinforced by its gem\u00fctlich-style orchestral accompaniment (clearly Sullivan\u2019s years as a student in the Leipzig Conservatoire counted for a great deal), makes quite clear that she is <<em>very<\/em>>[itals] attracted to this young man, and is hypocritically representing her opportunism as a selfless good deed.<\/p>\n<p>Spotify (Cynthia Glover as Mabel): https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/0bBozOyMBsKVb4APOgGBVR?si=e06dcc6fe3d0452e<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>10 Iolanthe (1882): Trio \u2018If you go in you\u2019re sure to win\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Sullivan, as we have already seen with <em>The Mikado<\/em>, had a particular skill in writing ensemble music for three male principals. Here is a very different and exuberantly light-footed example, in which Lords Mountararat and Tolloller \u2013 who have decided their friendship is too important to let their feelings for fair Phyllis, ward to the Lord Chancellor, cause them to fall out \u2013 encourage the Lord Chancellor to propose to her instead.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" if=\"\" you=\"\" go=\"\" in=\"\" sure=\"\" to=\"\" win=\"\" style=\""border-radius:\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/0MLeoEKx9VpligPf4Mgkrc?si=5d8575c7e11043b9&amp%3Bnd=1&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\n<h3>9 The Pirates of Penzance: \u2018With cat-like tread\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Gilbert headed his lyrics for this chorus with the instruction \u2018very loud\u2019 \u2013 perhaps having in mind something like the smugglers\u2019 chorus in <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/georges-bizet\/"\">Bizet<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s recently premiered <em>Carmen<\/em>, who rather loudly announce that \u2018death is the penalty we incur\u2019 should they be caught. Sullivan took the unsubtle hint, but at the same time furnished Gilbert\u2019s words with one of his superb marches, a genre he had an affinity for from his father having been an army bandmaster. The melody is carried by the pirates, all (except the Pirate King) being tenors, while discreet accompaniment is provided by the policemen (basses) hiding on-stage until the time comes to\u2026be defeated by the pirates.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""With\" cat=\"\" like=\"\" tread=\"\" opera=\"\" australia=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pMK8mEG89ik?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>8 The Yeomen of the Guard (1888): \u2018When maiden loves she sits and sighs\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Here\u2019s another overlooked gem, albeit in a fairly well-loved show. Its very opening number is not the usual introductory chorus, but an intimate scene involving one of the secondary characters, Phoebe, who while at her spinning wheel sings of her unrequited love (which we soon learn is for one of the prisoners held in the Tower of London). An obvious precedent for this is <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/franz-schubert\/"\">Schubert<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s song \u2018Gretchen at her spinning wheel\u2019 \u2013 one that Sullivan, as a great admirer and champion of the Austrian composer, would have known well. Yet, although he uses the sound of the spinning wheel as an accompaniment to the song (deftly suggested by the string accompaniment), pausing whenever Phoebe pauses in her work, he avoids writing a pale imitation of Schubert\u2019s song. Phoebe, we soon learn, is a strong-willed and even reckless woman, and so her melody here is gently wistful yet stoic. Altogether, a deft demonstration of Sullivan\u2019s ability to sketch in a character in a short song.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>7 Patience: \u2018If you want a receipt for that popular mystery\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>This swaggering song is so infectiously tuneful and has such a spring in its step that one could easily overlook the fact it is in fact a patter song \u2013 a genre made famous and even rather notorious by the much-parodied Song of the Major-General in <em>Pirates of Penzance<\/em>. Unlike that famous example \u2013 which, in fairness to Sullivan, was probably deliberately made flat-footed to reflect the Major-General\u2019s obvious limitations \u2013 Colonel Calverley\u2019s song in praise of the Dragoon Guards is absolutely confident, good-natured and charismatic. One can well understand how this gentleman and the men he commands might have won the hearts of the ladies they now intend to revisit while on leave.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" patience=\"\" act=\"\" if=\"\" you=\"\" want=\"\" a=\"\" receipt=\"\" for=\"\" that=\"\" popular=\"\" mystery=\"\" style=\""border-radius:\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/0OxtMiK6h8Caum5BCCI35Z?si=e43e667d3ba743bd&amp%3Bnd=1&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>6 Princess Ida: \u2018Minerva!\u2026Oh, goddess wise\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>But here is a leader that reaches an even higher level of inspiration. With this aria in Act II (not even its opening number), we are finally introduced to the title character. Noble and measured, she seems all the more exalted after the squabbling we have witnessed in the previous act between her father, King Gama, and her would-be father-in-law King Hildebrand.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" minerva...oh=\"\" goddess=\"\" wise=\"\" style=\""border-radius:\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/6GrEnIVntJhp5sAqvzQ2bX?si=5a1a66e82c0b4efd&amp%3Bnd=1&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\n<h3>5 Pirates: \u2018When a felon\u2019s not engaged in his employment\u2019 (\u2018A policeman\u2019s lot\u2019)<\/h3>\n<p>Famous and much parodied, this remains a sure-fire hit with audiences. Times have changed, but we may still identify with poor provincial coppers in deepest rural Cornwall suddenly faced with a potentially more fatal prospect than dealing with petty criminals. Sullivan admitted he drew from personal experience when writing this solo with chorus, as he used to run a church choir in the West End of London; thanks to the enthusiastic support of the local Chief Superintendent, Sullivan was able to make up the bass and tenor sections with dedicated singers from the nearby Cottage Row Police Station.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>4 Gondoliers: \u2018Kind sir, you cannot have the heart\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>In total contrast from lugubrious basses, here is a touching soprano aria in which Gianetta, newly wedded to Marco, pleads not to be separated from her husband. Like many composers, Sullivan had an abiding love for Mozart\u2019s work; not only the song\u2019s key (B flat major) but also its poignancy recalls the slow movement of the Austrian composer\u2019s D minor Piano Concerto, also recalled by its very Mozartian use of woodwind colour. Sullivan\u2019s exquisite pizzicato string accompaniment suggests the delicacy with which Gianetta tries to maintain her dignity. The music in its simplicity yet depth of feeling \u2013 its understated style heightening all the more the minor-key tint at the words \u2018Cannot be separated\u2019, soon followed by Gianetta\u2019s touching \u2018cry\u2019 on a high A flat, suggesting her emotional anguish \u2013 gives tremendous pathos to her song.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" the=\"\" gondoliers=\"\" king=\"\" of=\"\" barataria=\"\" remaster=\"\" act=\"\" i:=\"\" kind=\"\" sir=\"\" you=\"\" cannot=\"\" have=\"\" heart=\"\" style=\""border-radius:\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/3aqZ5pC8PWD5O91tu7MIac?si=9c43a66ac7db458d&amp%3Bnd=1&utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>3 Iolanthe: Chorus \u2018Loudly let the trumpet bray\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>And yet another change of mood, as we encounter what is surely Sullivan\u2019s most magnificent march disguised as a chorus. This is the procession of Peers \u2013 though, despite their office, Gilbert has them singing words more worthy of Nigel Molesworth: \u2018Tantantara! Tzing! Boom! Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes! Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow, ye masses!\u2019 Yet Sullivan dignifies their march with stirring music which elevates the whole scene to something which surely swelled the heart of every red-blooded Englishman of that time. The effect was all the more enhanced in D\u2019Oyly Carte performances (the company which premiered all G&S shows) by the hiring of members of the band of The Grenadier Guards.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Spotify\" embed:=\"\" spurn=\"\" not=\"\" the=\"\" nobly=\"\" born=\"\" style=\""border-radius:\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""80"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\""autoplay;\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/4wxsFp7rWt9nE7dLAD9blh?utm_source=oembed"\"\/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>2 The Mikado: \u2018A more humane Mikado\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>This was the aria Gilbert almost axed from the show even before its opening night \u2013 only to relent when a delegation from the chorus begged him to keep it. Possibly he thought it too similar to the even more famous \u2018Little List\u2019 song heard earlier in the show \u2013 but what a loss it would have been! Musically it is far more sophisticated, reflecting Gilbert\u2019s inventive \u2018punishments which fit the crime\u2019. Though some of those punishments appear cryptic to a non-Victorian audience, who can resist the \u2018billiard sharp\u2019 being forced to play \u2018extravagant matches in fitless finger-stalls On a cloth untrue, with a twisted cue And elliptical billiard balls!\u2019 It\u2019s a pity a tradition has built over the decades for the singer to add \u2018blood-curdling\u2019 laughter \u2013 the song is strong enough to stand on its own feet.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>1 The Pirates of Penzance: \u2018When the foeman bares his steel\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>And the winner is\u2026 \u2018When the foeman bares his steel\u2019. Here are all the elements of G&S shown at their very best. We are introduced to the Sergeant of Police, who together with his force is tasked with capturing the pirates \u2013 one quite beyond their level of bravery. There is the delicious mismatch between themselves and the expectations of the Major-General\u2019s bevy of daughters (led by Mabel singing \u2018Go, ye heroes\u2019), who even seems to relish the prospect of mourning the massacre of the \u2018heroic\u2019 Sergeant and his men (perhaps satirising the sentiments of the Charge of the Light Brigade of 1854, as memorialised that same year by Tennyson\u2019s poem) \u2013 expectations which the Sergeant ever so tactfully (aware, too, of his socially inferior position) tries to deflate so he might protect what little vestige of confidence his men may still have.<\/p>\n<p>The scene is set as the Sergeant and his force sing a morale-raising march (\u2018Tarantara\u2019) in C major, one which \u2013 in the face of the dispiriting exhortations of the ladies \u2013 increasingly loses its self-confident air as it drifts into tonalities more and more remote from that home key. Sullivan\u2019s masterstroke follows the moment the Sergeant and his men finally steel themselves and regain their C major home key, their march now neatly complemented by the women\u2019s \u2018Go, ye heroes\u2019 sung simultaneously. We are not in the least surprised when the police, despite their stated intent (\u2018Yes, forward on the foe!), obstinately stay put until driven out by the protests of the Major-General.<\/p> <p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>And the afterword\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>We might say: \u2018Any views or opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual writing, and are not necessarily those of BBC Music Magazine, its parent, or any of its affiliates or employees.\u2019 This list is compiled and offered by one G&S afficionado \u2013 who has had the pleasure of performing in several shows and even singing some of the selected \u2018songs\u2019 \u2013 principally for anyone who wants to know where to start, or where to find a favourite song or number from a G&S show. Inevitably, by limiting the number to 25, some favourites have had to be left out. We\u2019re always happy to hear from G&S fans of any other highlights you might feel should have been included \u2013 and do outline their merits! \u2013 either on <a href=\""https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/classicalmagazine\/"\">Facebook<\/a> or <a href=\""https:\/\/twitter.com\/MusicMagazine"\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Daniel Jaff\u00e9 Published: Friday, 13 May 2022 at 12:00 am Yes we\u2019re talking the best Gilbert and Sullivan songs, moments and highlights \u2013 not just solo numbers \u2013 and you won\u2019t even find them all here. Why not? First, limiting the number to 25 forces one to really consider which are arguably the very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15683,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"18"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time.jpg",1890,1107,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time-300x176.jpg",300,176,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time-768x450.jpg",768,450,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time-1024x600.jpg",800,469,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time-1536x900.jpg",1536,900,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/05\/25-best-gilbert-and-sullivan-songs-of-all-time.jpg",1890,1107,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Daniel Jaff\u00e9 Published: Friday, 13 May 2022 at 12:00 am Yes we\u2019re talking the best Gilbert and Sullivan songs, moments and highlights \u2013 not just solo numbers \u2013 and you won\u2019t even find them all here. Why not? First, limiting the number to 25 forces one to really consider which are arguably the very…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/15682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}