El Capitan is an
operettaOperetta 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.-Operetta in French:...
in three acts by
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches...
and has a libretto by
Charles KleinCharles Klein was an English-born playwright who emigrated to America.-Biography:Klein was born in London, England to Herman Klein and his wife Adelaide . Apparently, the elder Klein emigrated from Riga, Lativa. Once in Norwich, Hermann became a professor of foreign languages at the King Edward...
(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 TheatreThe 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 structure in the Greek Revival style...
in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, 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 HopperDe Wolf Hopper was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. 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.
El Capitan is an
operettaOperetta 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.-Operetta in French:...
in three acts by
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches...
and has a libretto by
Charles KleinCharles Klein was an English-born playwright who emigrated to America.-Biography:Klein was born in London, England to Herman Klein and his wife Adelaide . Apparently, the elder Klein emigrated from Riga, Lativa. Once in Norwich, Hermann became a professor of foreign languages at the King Edward...
(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 TheatreThe 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 structure in the Greek Revival style...
in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, 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 HopperDe Wolf Hopper was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. 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 was then toured almost continuously for four years in the United States and Canada. It was produced at the
Lyric TheatreThe 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 instance,
Lake George OperaLake George Opera is a professional opera company based in Saratoga Springs, New York. It performs an annual summer festival of three fully staged operas and operettas....
has scheduled a production for the summer of 2009.
El Capitan also refers to the
marchA 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 & B) and 2/4 (parts C & D) sections. Also like the Bride Elect and the Man Behind the Gun this march has an introduction between part C and D. It follows style IAABBCCIDD.
Roles
- Don Errico Medigua (baritone
Baritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...
)
- Estrelda (soprano
A soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
)
- Graf Hernan de Verrada (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...
)
- Isabel (soprano)
Synopsis
Don Enrico Medigua, the
viceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country 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. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
of
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
-occupied
PeruPeru , 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.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
, fears
assassinationAn Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure.Assassinations may be prompted by ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, personal public recognition, or mental illness....
by
rebelsRebellion is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government. Those who participate in rebellions are...
. After he secretly has the rebel leader El Capitan killed, he disguises himself as El Capitan. Estrelda, the former viceroy's daughter, impressed by tales of El Capitan's daring, falls in love with the disguised Medigua, who is already married. Meanwhile, Medigua's wife and daughter 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