Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-13

4 Critic Criticised-Pirates Us. Pinafore.
To the Editor of the Globe.
Twas much amused this moIn:ng in read
ing the absurd criticisms upon the little opera
"Pirates of PeDzance,'' which appear in the
cat Home'' of the Pioneer Press. With
such q load of adverse opinion against it, the
production is, without the shadow of q
doubt, damned, as regards future success. If
Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan were but aware
of the awful tempest their pretty effort had
stirred up in the diminutive tea
pot of the cat Home" and the
monstrous amount of sercasm (D wasted
to their cost, they would undoubtedly be in
the future forever silent. Such, however, /
am glad to say can never be the case, and
we may have more operas just as entertain
ing as the one our people have 80 lately been
treated to-.
That the tsAt Home man is abnormally
developed in favor of Pinafore, is evident
from his words. I am charitable enough
to suppose, however, that he may have once
played Rackstraw, or the Boatswain, or Capt.
Corcoran, and thus his young heart won to
that much endured production. But when
he talks about the ''plot' of either
opera he is undoubtedly clearly "otf."
Why, the very success of the two pieces is
due to the very absence of any tangible
"plot''-it is 80 much the more ridiculous
as the plot is ignored, and as such, am
free to say that the Pirates is long way
ahead of Pinafore. That the music is
superior to the latter opera, his colleague, in
the communication following, is honest
enough to acknowledge, and with much
oh IF N
everybody whistle its many airs, and hear
ing 1t drummed on the piano, is tacit proof
that its pretty melodies are more difficult
to catch up "by ear" than those which have
been inflicted upon long soffering public
ever since Pinafore struck these shores.
Every drawing room smatuer cannot strut
upon the stage in the character of Mabel or
Frederick 30 easily as in Josephine or Rack
straw. The music is of a much higher
order, and prettier by far, especially the
choruses. Such light airs as the "Police-
mems Chorus" and the waltz Song" we
hear already, occasionally; but IL is because
they are 80 easy of execution that anybody
can take them. The wit in the Pirates is GER
tainiy more sparkling than in its predecessor,
although sometimes snbtler, needing really
more than one representation to catch fully.
IS" however labors under the deiusion that
the Pirates is to be compared with such ope-
ras IS Don Pasquale, etc. Why not put it
side by side with Mignon, Carmen, and
such, and then Dwell on its lightness. One
does not go to SEQ such productions as Sulli-
vans and expect to keep as long face on
as when one sees II Travatore'or Lucia. How
ever, set the Pirates side by side with 'Little
Duke." "Trisl by Jury.' t'Pinafore," "Fati-
nitz'," aud others to which c'ass il unques-
tionably belonge, add tban make compari-
SONS. In conclusion it is unfortunate that
49," should have wasted his dsilsr bill in 50
inferior (?) an effort, and thus lay himself
IN common with tie rest CT the cultivated
audiences that greetcl DFesie Carte's troupe
here, to being included in that large list OF
'lovers Of the circus, menseerie and Hump
iy Dumpty." VINDEx,s