From Don Magnifico to The Major General:

the pitter patter of patter songs

Alex Haigh (tenor)

In this light hearted, fast tempo lecture, Alex will explore the history and
origins of the Patter songs, in opera and beyond; a journey from 480BC
to the present day. He will take us from the Ancient Greeks through to
the best known of the lot; Gilbert and Sullivan, with well loved patter
numbers from Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti along the way. Testing the
excellence of his enunciation, Alex will rattle off the Champagne aria in
double time, demonstrating why these timelessly entertaining, tonguetwisting lyrics play an important part in our understanding and
enjoyment of comic opera.

When creating this lecture I wanted a way of combining two passions of mine;
Opera and Operetta. Whats interesting is that, even today, Operetta is as popular
as opera and I believe the reason why is simplicity in the writings of Gilbert and
Sullivan or G&S. Their plots are obvious, their language elegant (but english) and
their melodies just taxing enough to be a challenge for an amateur but also great
fun. Across the world millions of people in the USA, Canada, Australia and England
adore these comedies for the above reasons. I want to explore a particular facet of
them, possibly their most interesting device; the patter song.

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Patters history goes back to the 5th Century, and I will weave a merry yarn through
from there to the present. In the first half of my lecture I explore the history and the
use of Patter in Opera and other art forms. Following a brief break, the second half
will lead us into G&S, as well as more evolved forms of the Patter, culminating in
the most complicated patter song ever written. For me, the joy of performance has
always been audience based. Regardless of the art form, we are on a stage to
incite a reaction; whatever it may be, to an audience. Pleasure, pain, suffering,
memory or laughter any type of performance is reliant on somebody being aware
of it and reacting to it. Patter songs create a hyper-risk rich world of possibility of
going wrong, and delight in the way a language can fit together. You juxtapose the
thrill of a mistake with the delight in the skill, and you have Patter songs as well as
Tenor high Cs or soprano coloratura. Skill is the other thing to consider, how does
one learn words in such vast quantities and retain them, and is the skill any different
to learning a normal, less veracious piece of song. Hopefully, in 2 hours, we will find
out.

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General,

Pirates of Penzance
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news--With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus,
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's,
I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox,
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus,
In conics I can floor peculiarities parablous.
I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies,
I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes,
Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore,
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.
Then I can write a washing bill in Balylonic cuneiform,
And tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform;
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In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,

I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin",
When I can tell at sight a chassept rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat",
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery:
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy,
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee--For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

Extract from the Nightmare song, Iolanthe

Love unrequited, robs me of me rest
Love, hopeless love, my ardent soul encumbers
Love, nightmare like, lies heavy on me chest
And weaves itself into my midnight slumbers
When you're lying awake with a dismal headache
And repose is taboo'd by anxiety
I conceive you may use any language
You choose to indulge in, without impropriety
For your brain is on fire, the bed-clothes conspire
Of usual slumber to plunder you
First your counter pane goes and uncovers your toes
And your sheet slips demurely from under you
Then the blanketing tickles, you feel like mixed
Pickles, so terribly sharp is the pricking
And you're hot and you're cross and you tumble and
Toss 'til there's nothing 'twixt you and the ticking
Then the bed clothes all creep to the ground in a heap
And you pick 'em all up in a tangle
Next your pillow resigns and politely declines
To remain at its usual angle

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Extract from Monteverdis Orfeo

Lasciate i month
Lasciate i fonti
Ninfe vezzo's liete
E in questi prati
Ai balli usati
Vago il bel pi rendete

Leave the mountains

Leave the fountains
Lonely and joyful
nymphs
And in these meadows
To the traditional dances

Largo al Factotum, from Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Largo al factotum della citta.
Presto a bottega che l'alba e gia.
Ah, che bel vivere, che bel piacere
per un barbiere di qualita!
Ah, bravo Figaro!
Bravo, bravissimo!
Fortunatissimo per verita!
Pronto a far tutto,
la notte e il giorno
sempre d'intorno in giro sta.
Miglior cuccagna per un barbiere,
vita piu nobile, no, non si da.
Rasori e pettini
lancette e forbici,
al mio comando
tutto qui sta.
V'e la risorsa,
poi, de mestiere
imo;
a te fortuna non manchera.

Make way for the handyman of the city.

Hurrying to his shop now that it is already
dawn.
Ah, what a fine life, what a fine pleasure
For a barber of quality! Of quality!
Ah, well done Figaro!
Well done, very good!
Very fortunate indeed!
Ready to do everything,
Night and day
He is always on the move
A more plentiful fate for a barber,
A more noble life, no, it cannot be had.
Razors and combs
Lancets and scissors,
At my command
Everything is here.
There are the tools of the trade

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colla donnetta... col cavaliere...

Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono,
donne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle:
Qua la parruca... Presto la barba...
Qua la sanguigna...
Presto il biglietto...
Qua la parruca, presto la barba,
Presto il biglietto, ehi!
Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, ecc.
Ahime, che furia!
Ahime, che folla!
Uno alla volta, per carita!
Figaro! Son qua.
Ehi, Figaro! Son qua.
Figaro qua, Figaro la,
Figaro su, Figaro giu,
Pronto prontissimo son come il
fumine:
sono il factotum della citta.
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, braviss

With the ladies... with the

gentlemen...
Everyone asks for me, everyone
wants me,
Ladies, children, elders, young girls;
Here is the wig... The beard is ready...
Here is the blood...
The ticket is ready...
Here is the wig, the beard is ready,
The ticket is ready, hey!
Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, etc.
Alas, what a fury!
Alas, what a crowd!
One at a time, please!
Hey, Figaro! I am here.
Figaro here, Figaro there,
Figaro up, Figaro down,
Quicker and quicker I am like
lightning:
I am the handyman of the city.
Ah, well done Figaro! Well done, very

Extract from Si Pu from Pagliacci

Si pu?... Si pu?...
poi salutando
Signore! Signori!... Scusatemi
se da sol me presento.
Io sono il Prologo:
Poich in iscena ancor
le antiche maschere mette l'autore,
in parte ei vuol riprendere
le vecchie usanze, e a voi
di nuovo inviami.

May I? I may
Ladies! Gentlemen!
Excuse me if I alone introduce myself
I am the Prologue:
Since yet in the scene
The author uses ancient masks;
In part he wants to bring back the old
customs,
And send me back to you.

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Ma non per dirvi come pria:

Le lacrime che noi versiam son
false!
Degli spasimi e de' nostri martir
non allarmatevi! No! No:
L'autore ha cercato
invece pingervi
uno squarcio di vita

But not to tell you as before:

The tears we cry are false!
Of spasms and our martyrs
Do not be alarmed!
No! No. The author has sought
instead
To depict a glimpse of life.

Fin chhan dal vino from Don Giovanni

Fin chhan dal vino calda la testa,

una gran festa fa preparar!
Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza,
teco ancor quella cerca menar.
Senza alcun ordine la danza sia,
chil minuetto, chi la follia,
chi lalemanna farai ballar, ecc.
Ed io frattanto dallaltro canto,
con questa e quella vo amoreggiar!
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
duna decina devi aumentar!
Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza,
teco ancor quella cerca menar.
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
duna decina devi aumentar!
Senza alcun ordine la danza sia,
chil minuetto, chi la follia,
chi lalemanna farai ballar, ecc.
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
duna decina devi aumentar!

So that their heads may be warmed by

wine,
go and prepare a wonderful party.
If on the way you meet some young lady,
try also to bring her along.
Let the dancing be spontaneous.
They can do the minuet, the gavotte
or the waltz, just as you like.
And I in the meantime behind the scenes
will be flirting with this one and that one.
Ah, to my list tomorrow morning
you will have to add at least ten names!
If on the way you meet some young lady,
try also to bring her along.
Ah, to my list tomorrow morning
you will have to add at least ten names!
Let the dancing be spontaneous.
They can do the minuet, the gavotte
or the waltz, just as you like.

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Alex Haigh started his musical education in Hull University reading Music and
Drama. During his three years, He performed and musically directed several shows
including Jerry Springer the Opera by Richard Thomas; Last 5 years by Jason
Robert Brown; and he composed a musical adaptation of the play Yerma by
Garica Lorca.
During his education, he has studied with Sarah Leonard, Christopher Wilson and
Henry Herford, performing a wide range of repertoire with a focus on English song.
He has sung at master classes from Opera North, Robert Tear, Sarah Conolley and
Joel Efram in their respective fields and he has also performed as a Jazz singer in
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival twice with the Hull University Big Band. In addition,
he has performed Jazz with several solo artists including Maureen Braithwaite. His
main focus is Operatic repertoire.

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He graduated from Trinity Laban conservatoire with a Masters (with distinction) in

Vocal performance. He was taught by Lynton Atkinson and Helen Yorke, whilst also
receiving master classes and lessons from several other performers including
Simon Keenlyside and Linda Hirst. During his time at Trinity, Alex has performed as
a soloist with the BBC Symphony Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall, worked with ENO
as a minor role in a workshop production of Two Boys by Nico Muhly and performed
as a soloist in the London Handel Festival 2011, conducted by Adrian Butterfield.
He also sings with the Philharmonia chorus, Barbershop-o-Gram and most recently
The Quidco Quartet in a ITV advertisement airing in July.
Recent performances include Szymanowski's Stabat Mater; Gilbert and Sullivan's
'Pirates of Penzance' (Major-General); Benjamin Brittens Albert Herring; and
Daniel-Lesur's 'Le Cantique des Cantiques' in the 31st Prom 2010 (Tenor Solo). He
records with BBC Radio regularly, most recently the easter service on Radio 2 (April
2013). Alex also recently completed The 3 month Intensive Opera Performance
Course at the Advanced Performers studio at Riverside Studios.
As a Tenor, Alex has performed as a soloist scenes from Don Giovanni, Die
Zauberflote and Idomeneo. As well as Operatic work, Alex is a member of the vocal
acapella group, Apollo5. Formed in 2010, Apollo5 enjoys a busy schedule of
touring, concert and education work. Created by the same charity that formed
VOCES8, Apollo5 shares the same ethos V8; to inspire people through music. Also
is also a member of the Opera Prelude lecuture team, giving lectures and concerts
to a large audience of opera fanatics. In his limited spare time, Alex enjoys Golf,
SCUBA diving and long walks with his companion cockerpoo, Barney.
Opera Prelude works with some of the country's finest young singers at the
start of their careers, hosting lecture recitals, concerts, operas and
Masterclasses. If you would like to attend any of our events in Oxfordshire or
Londons Cadogan Hall, please contact us on 07908894333
or join our mailing list on www.operaprelude.com
Every ticket sold, subscription or donation made directly supports Opera
Prelude's chosen singers. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and
supporters we have inaugurated The Opera Prelude Song Prize and in 2015
we will be launching our Singers Friends Fund helping our young singers
with small grants. We simply couldnt do any of this without the help of our
friends and supporters who are a vital part of our story. If you would like to
champion our work, every penny counts and every donation is appreciated
more than it is possible to say.
Thank you for being part of Opera Prelude and giving young singers a start!
www.operaprelude.com
07908894333
Charity Commission Number: 1158309

www.operaprelude.com
07908894333
Charity Commission Number: 1158309