On Shore and Sea

Sullivan in about 1870

On Shore and Sea is a "dramatic cantata" composed by Arthur Sullivan, with words by Tom Taylor. Sullivan completed this work to open the Royal Albert Hall, 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 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 at a time when conflict raged between the Saracen settlements in Northern Africa and the Christian states of the Mediterranean, especially Genoa. 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's Trial by Jury 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 Riviera near 16th century Genoa, the fleet weighs anchor to the sounds of a joyous song of the sailors as they heave at the windlass 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 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 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"

References

• Information at the G&S Archive, with links to text and score
• Introduction at the G&S discography

External links

• Complete Midi files
• Review in The Times, 2 May 1871