The local CM station has a practice of playing marches twice each weekday
morning, as a service to listeners who may need a little prodding out of
the hay. This morning I happened to catch a Sousa composition I had not
heard before, the "Mikado" March, which the announcer pointed out was one
of his few works based on material he derived from someone else. This was
followed by the Lord High Executioner's "I've Got a Little List," sung, I
believe, by Geraint Evans.

This set me to thinking about the great collaboration of Gilbert and
Sullivan, and how uneven it was.  Whereas the former was absolutely
brilliant at his trade (with a few blemishes, as noted below), Sullivan
must have been one of the worst composers who ever lived.  Good grief, what
awful stuff he turned out!  Does anyone disagree? (I expect some one will.)

One of Gilbert's no-nos can be found in this song, in fact: the "N" word,
which has recently been the subject of some discussion in the Washington,
D. C. area. Mr. Evans enunciated it without a hitch, but I'm sure I would
have choked on it if I had been forced to sing it, and I wouldn't have
sung it without a gun to my head.  Quite a few other examples of racist
and sexist language can be found in the operettas, of course; it's a shame
that such brilliant writing is marred by these specimens of 19th-century
culture.  Come to think of it, I haven't heard much of G & S at all in
recent years, and it may be that, in this country at least, this linguistic
problem is part of the reason for the decline (as was the case with Stephen
Foster, who, however, did produce a few good tunes).

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]