On Shore and Sea
Encyclopedia
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
" composed by Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, with words by Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine...
. Sullivan completed this work to open the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, and it was performed at the opening of the London International Exhibition of art and industry, May 1, 1871. The concert featured works commissioned from Italy, France, Germany, and Great Britain. Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
was the French representative.
The cantata has an appropriately international flavour, telling of war and reunion, based on a 16th century conflict between Christians and Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
at a time when conflict raged between the Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
settlements in Northern Africa and the Christian states of the Mediterranean, especially Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. The theme is the sorrows and separations that are always incidental to war. The central characters are a sailor and his love, who are separated when he goes to battle, and later reunited. The final chorus, "Sink and Scatter, Clouds of War," was later renamed "The Song of Peace" and was played separately as a concert item.
Four years later, in 1875, Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
would also be described as "a dramatic cantata," and these were the only two Sullivan works so named.
Synopsis
Near a small seaport on the Italian RivieraItalian Riviera
The Italian Riviera, or Ligurian Riviera is the narrow coastal strip which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines...
near 16th century Genoa, the fleet weighs anchor to the sounds of a joyous song of the sailors as they heave at the windlass
Windlass
The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt...
and spread the sail. Their brave declaration of their determination to sweep the Saracens from the sea is contrasted with the lament of the wives and mothers, sisters and sweethearts, left sorrowing on the shore. At sea, aboard one of the galleys, in the midnight watch, the thoughts and prayers of Il Marinajo go back to the loved ones left behind and invoke for them the protection of our Lady, Star of the Sea. "What doth now the maid I love?" he wonders. "Does she sleep and dream of me? / Or prays she her aint above Shield of her sailor to be? / Sending her heart, like a dove, / Hither across the sea!" Months pass. The fleet appears on the horizon, and the crowd flocks to the port to greet its triumphant return. La Sposina faithfully awaits the return of Il Marinajo, her lover. She looks for him hopefully, but the galley aboard which her sailor served is missing: it has been taken by Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
sea rovers. Her beloved is captive, or slain. She gives expression to her desolation, amid the sympathizing sorrow of her companions.
Her lover, however, is not slain, but a slave, toiling at the oar, under the lash of his Moorish captors. While the Moors are celebrating their triumphs with song and feasting, he obtains the key to the chain securing all the prisoners and exhorts his fellow prisoners to strike for their liberty. The galley slaves rise up against their captors bolstered by their Christian faith and their love for their wives and mothers ashore. They overwhelm their captors, master the galley and steer homewards. Re-entering the port, they are welcomed by their beloved ones. The sorrow of separation is turned to rejoicing; La Sposina and Il Marinaho will live and die in each others' arms. The cantata ends with a paean
Paean
A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice...
to the blessedness of Peace, inviting all nations to her temple.
Characters
- La Sposina (A Riviera Woman)
- Il Marinajo (A Genoese Sailor)
- Chorus of Riviera Women
- Chorus of Genoese Sailors
- Chorus of Moorish Sea-Rovers
Musical numbers
- No.1. Choruses of sailors and women - "The windlass ply, the cable haul"
- No.2. Recitative, Song and Chorus - Il Marinajo and Sailors - "'Tis the mid-watch of night"
- No.3. Recitative - La Sposina - "From Spring-time on to Summer draws the year"
- No.4. Song and Chorus - La Sposina and Women - "Soft and sadly sea-wind swell"
- No.5. Moresque - Instrumental
- No.6. Recitative and Chorus - Il Marinajo - "The Crescent o'er the Cross is hoisted high"
- No.7. Recitative - Il Marinajo - "They chain not Christian souls that chain their limbs!"
- No.8. Chorus of Sailors (prisoners) at the oar - "With a will, oh brothers, with one will for all"
- No.9. Recitative and Duet - Il Marinajo and La Sposina - "Hark! on the night - the clash of falling chains"
- No.10. Chorus - "Sink and scatter, clouds of war"