Ruddigore by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

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WEB OPERA

Written by W. S. Gilbert

Music by Arthur Sullivan

Featuring

A Full Hour of Music

and

All of the Lyrics and Dialogue

[Plot Summary] [Dramatis Personæ] [The Web Opera] [Feedback]

This satire on Victorian melodrama has a high esteem among dedicated lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. But from the earliest performances its popularity among the wider public of suffered through comparison with its wildly successful immediate predecessor, The Mikado. As a result there are few opportunities to see professional productions today, but we hope this Web Opera will convince you that in Ruddigore, Gilbert and Sullivan produced another fine piece of theatre.

The MIDI files were sequenced by Paul Howarth from Noteworthy files prepared by Colin Johnson. There is also a MIDI file of the Overture arranged by Geoffrey Toye for the 1920 revival of the opera sequenced by George Pollen. If you would like to have them all to play at any time, you can download them in a zipped file (129K).

The Karaoke files are also available for download as a single zipped file (165K) . To play these you will need to install a player such as the vanBasco Karaoke player.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

MORTALS

Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (Disguised as Robin Oakapple, a Young Farmer)
Richard Dauntless (His Foster-Brother - A Man-o'-wars-man)
Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Of Ruddigore - A Wicked Baronet)
Old Adam Goodheart (Robin's Faithful Servant)
Rose Maybud (A Village Maiden)
Mad Margaret
Dame Hannah (Rose's Aunt)
Zorah (Professional Bridesmaid)
Ruth (Professional Bridesmaid)

GHOSTS

Sir Rupert Murgatroyd (The First Baronet)
Sir Jasper Murgatroyd (The Third Baronet)
Sir Lionel Murgatroyd (The Sixth Baronet)
Sir Conrad Murgatroyd (The Twelfth Baronet)
Sir Desmond Murgatroyd (The Sixteenth Baronet)
Sir Gilbert Murgatroyd (The Eighteenth Baronet)
Sir Mervyn Murgatroyd (The Twentieth Baronet)

AND

Sir Roderic Murgatroyd (The Twenty-first Baronet)

Chorus of Officers, Ancestors, Villagers, and Professional Bridesmaids

ACT I. — The Fishing Village of Rederring, in Cornwall.
ACT II. — Picture Gallery in Ruddigore Castle.
Time — Early in the 19th century

First produced at the Savoy Theatre on 22 January, 1887.

THE WEB OPERA

Overture

ACT I

No. 1	Chorus of Bridesmaids with solo (Zorah)	"Fair is Rose"
	Dialogue
No. 2	Legend (Hannah) with Chorus	"Sir Rupert Murgatroyd"
	Dialogue
No. 3	Song (Rose)	"If somebody there chanced to be"
	Dialogue
No. 4	Duet (Rose & Robin)	"I know a youth"
	Dialogue
No. 5	Chorus of Bridesmaids	"From the briny sea"
No. 6	Song (Richard) and Hornpipe	"I shipped, d'ye see"
	Dialogue
No. 7	Song (Robin)	"My boy, you may take it from me"
	Dialogue
No. 8	Duet (Rose & Richard)	"The battle's roar is over"
No. 9	Entrance of Bridesmaids	"If well his suit has sped"
	Dialogue
No. 10	Trio (Rose, Richard & Robin)	"In sailing o'er life's ocean wide"
No. 11	Recit. & Aria (Margaret)	"Cheerily carols the lark... To a garden full of posies"
	Dialogue
No. 12	Chorus	"Welcome gentry"
No. 13	Song (Sir Despard) & Chorus	"Oh why am I moody and sad?"
	Dialogue
No. 14	Duet (Richard & Sir Despard)	"You understand?"
No. 15	Finale, Act I	"Hail the Bride of seventeen summers"

ACT II

No. 16	Duet (Robin & Adam)	"I once was as meek as a new-born lamb"
	Dialogue
No. 17	Duet & Chorus (Rose & Richard)	"Happily coupled are we"
	Dialogue
No. 18	Song (Rose)	"In bygone days I had thy love"
	Dialogue
No. 19	Chorus	"Painted emblems of a race"
No. 20	Song (Sir Roderic & Chorus)	"When the night wind howls"
	Dialogue
No. 21	Chorus	"He yields! He yields!"
	Dialogue
No. 22	Recit & Song (Robin)	"Away remorse... Henceforth all the crimes or For thirty-five years"
No. 23	Duet (Margaret & Sir Despard)	"I once was a very abandoned person"
	Dialogue
No. 24	Trio (Margaret, Robin & Sir Despard)	"My eyes are fully open"
	Dialogue (including Melodrame)
No. 25	Song (Hannah with Sir Roderic)	"There grew a little flower"
	Dialogue
No. 26	Finale, Act II	"When a man has been a naughty Baronet"

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