El Capitan (operetta)
Encyclopedia
El Capitan is an operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 in three acts by John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....

 and has a libretto by Charles Klein
Charles Klein
Charles Klein was an English-born playwright and actor who emigrated to America in 1883. Among his works was the libretto of John Philip Sousa's operetta, El Capitan. Klein's talented siblings included the composer Manuel and the critic Herman Klein...

 (with lyrics by Charles Klein and Tom Frost). The piece was Sousa's first successful operetta and his most successful stage work.

El Capitan was first produced at the Tremont Theatre
Tremont Theatre, Boston
The Tremont Theatre on 88 Tremont Street was a playhouse in Boston. A group of wealthy Boston residents financed the building's construction. Architect Isaiah Rogers designed the original Theatre structure in 1827 in the Greek Revival style...

 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, beginning on April 13, 1896. After this tryout, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre in New York on April 20, 1896, where it ran for 112 performances, starring DeWolf Hopper
DeWolf Hopper
William DeWolf Hopper was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. Although a star of the musical stage, he was best-known for performing the popular baseball poem Casey at the Bat. -Biography:...

, Edna Wallace Hopper, John Parr, and Alfred Klein. It then toured almost continuously for four years in the United States and Canada. It was produced at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...

 in London beginning on July 10, 1899, where it ran for 140 performances. Thereafter, the operetta was produced numerous times internationally and remained popular for some time. Occasional modern performances continue. For example, Lake George Opera gave a production in 2009, and Ohio Light Opera
Ohio Light Opera
The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

 presented the work during the summer of 2010.

El Capitan also refers to the march
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

 of the same name, composed of themes from the operetta. This march is like other operetta marches (1897's Bride Elect, 1900's Man Behind the Gun, and 1906's Free Lance) with its use of both 6/8 (parts A and B) and 2/4 (parts C and D) sections. Also like the Bride Elect and Man Behind the Gun this march has an introduction between part C and D. It follows style IAABBCCIDD.

Roles

  • Don Errico Medigua, recently appointed Viceroy of Peru (baritone
    Baritone
    Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

    )
  • Senor Amabile Pozzo, Chamberlain of Peru
  • Don Luiz Cazarro, former Viceroy of Peru
  • Count Hernando Verrada, a Peruvian gentleman (tenor
    Tenor
    The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

    )
  • Scaramba, an insurgent
  • Montalba, Scaramba's companion
  • Nevado, Scaramba's companion
  • General Herbana, commander of the Spanish Army in Peru
  • Estrelda, Cazarro's daughter (soprano
    Soprano
    A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

    )
  • Isabel, Don Medigua's daughter (soprano)
  • Princess Marghanza, Don Medigua's wife
  • Chorus of Spanish and Peruvian ladies and gentlemen; soldiers, etc.

Synopsis

Don Enrico Medigua, the viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...

 of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

-occupied Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, fears assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 by rebels
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...

. After he secretly has the rebel leader El Capitan killed, he disguises himself as El Capitan. Estrelda, the daughter of the former viceroy, Cazzara, impressed by tales of El Capitan's daring, falls in love with the disguised Medigua, who is already married. Meanwhile, Medigua's wife Marganza and daughter Isabelle (who is being wooed by the handsome Verada) search for him, and the rebels capture the Lord Chamberlain, mistaking him for the viceroy.

Medigua leads the hapless rebels against the Spaniards, taking them in circles until they are too tired to fight. The Spaniards win, the mistaken identities are revealed, the love stories are untangled, and the story ends happily.

Musical numbers

Prelude
Act I
  • Chorus: "Nobles of Castilian birth."
  • Recitative and Solos: "Oh, beautiful land of Spain."
  • Recitative Solo and Chorus: "From Peru's majestic mountains."
  • Chorus: "Don Medigun, all for thy coming wait."
  • Solo and Chorus: "If you examine human kind."
  • Melodrama
  • Solo and Chorus: "When we hear the call for battle."
  • Solo and Chorus: "Oh, spare a daughter."
  • Chorus: "Lo, the awful man approaches."
  • Solo and Chorus: "You see in me."
  • Finale Act I – "Bah! Bahl"


Act II
  • Introduction
  • Solo and Chorus: "Ditty of the Drill!"
  • Solo and Chorus: "Behold El Capitan".
  • Duet: "I've a most decided notion."
  • Double Chorus and Solo: "Bowed with tribulation."
  • Recitative Solo and Chorus: "Oh, Warrior Grim."
  • Sextette: "Don Medigun, here's your wife."
  • Finale Act II – "He can not, must not, shall not."


Act III
  • Introduction, Duet and Refrain: "Sweetheart, I'm waiting."
  • Song: "When some serious affliction."
  • Ditty: "The typical tune of Zanzibar."
  • Chorus and Entrance of Spanish troops
  • Finale. "We beg your kind consideration."

External links

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