H. M. S. PINAFORE

 

 

 

 

H. M. S. Pinafore was the fourth Gilbert and Sullivan opera, based on three of Gilbert’s Bab Ballads.   It was their first big success.  

 

Gilbert’s father had been a naval surgeon and Gilbert enjoyed the sea and sailing.   He  was very enthusiastic about H. M. S. Pinafore and went to Portsmouth to look over naval ships.   He went aboard H. M. S. Victory, Nelson’s flagship, and made sketches of the quarter deck, which he used as a model for the set of H. M. S. Pinafore.   When Gilbert began writing the libretto of H. M. S. Pinafore and sent the first part to Sullivan, he was suffering with a kidney stone and was resting.   Sullivan composed the music for H. M. S. Pinafore between many bouts of agony.

 

The first night of H. M. S. Pinafore was on 25 May 1878 and the opera was a great success, but all of the troubles were not over.   The summer of 1878 was very hot in London, and the audiences became very small indeed.   In the July, the theatre takings at night were below £40.   The directors wanted to close down the production, but the cast agreed to a one-third reduction in their salaries until things improved, so it carried on.   Sullivan had the bright idea of playing some of the music from H. M. S. Pinafore at the Promenade Concerts at the Covent Garden Theatre.   The songs were enjoyed and became better known, causing the size of the audiences to improve; so much so, that Richard D’Oyly Carte arranged two touring companies for the provinces.

 

H. M. S. Pinafore ran for 571 performances.   H. M. S. Pinafore was the first Gilbert and Sullivan operaperformed by amateurs.   On 30 April 1879 it was it was performed at the Kingston upon Thames Drill Hall by the Harmonists’ Choral Society.   It has been a favourite of schools and amateur dramatic societies ever since.