“The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze”
Composers:
Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert
The D’Oyly
Carte Company
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1isIPA5YCY
Performer: Valerie Masterson (from the film version of The Mikado, 1966)
Composers:
Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert
Performer:
Norma Burrowes, 1973
Composers:
Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert
Performer:
Barbara Hendricks
Composers:
Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert
Performer
Shirley Henderson (from the film Topsy-Turvy,
1999)
One of
the most beautiful musical compositions by Arthur Sullivan along with what you
might almost describe as “lilting lyrics” from the often rambunctious W.S.
Gilbert is the ur-feminist work, “The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze” from their
great musical The Mikado of 1885,
which ran for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre. The lyrics, in this case,
are particularly fascinating, given the patriarchal society of the day and even
the chauvinism of the lyricist himself. In this work the Japanese maiden,
Yum-Yum sings not only of her beauty but of her intentions to rule the earth
and the sun and moon do the skies. If nothing else, as she herself admits, she
is certainly “not shy.”
The sun,
whose rays
Are all
ablaze
With
ever-living glory,
Does not
deny
His
majesty —
He
scorns to tell a story!
He don't
exclaim,
"I
blush for shame,
So
kindly be indulgent."
But,
fierce and bold,
In fiery
gold,
He
glories all effulgent!
I mean
to rule the earth,
As he
the sky —
We
really know our worth,
The sun
and I!
I mean
to rule the earth,
As he
the sky —
We
really know our worth,
The sun
and I!
Every soprano of importance has probably interpreted this lovely song of
entitlement, so it is difficult to even know where to begin in selecting a
discology as I have above. Valerie Masterson, who often performed on stage and
on film, is excellent. And sopranos Leslie Garrett, Norma Burrowes (despite the
utterly kitsch scenery in which she sits), and Barbara Hendricks sing it
equally well, some with fuller-bodied voices, but all with great delicacy and
fine interpretation. My personal favorite, however, is Shirley Henderson in
Topsy-Turvy, playing a drugged Yum
Yum, staring into her own mirror before singing the song on stage. Only she
sings it like she truly means it:
Ah, pray
make no mistake,
We are not
shy;
We're
very wide awake,
The moon
and I!
Ah, pray
make no mistake,
We are
not shy;
We're
very wide awake,
The moon
and I!
And here
Gilbert’s ironies truly come through since, obviously, the character in the
movie is far from wide awake in her own life, given her drug addiction.
Los Angeles, April 7, 2018
i agree - - -
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