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''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics.〔Perry, Helga. (Information from the Savoyoperas.org website ), Savoy Operas, 27 November 2000, accessed 25 July 2009〕 Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York. The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he only has a birthday each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday and that he must serve for another 63 years.〔This figure assumes that Gilbert was ignoring the fact that there was no leap year in 1900. Otherwise, the action of the play would take place in 1873 instead of 1877, and the figure would be 67 years. See Bradley (1996), p. 244〕 Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully. ''Pirates'' was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced the much-parodied "Major-General's Song". The opera was performed for over a century by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain and many other opera companies and repertory companies worldwide. Modernized productions include Joseph Papp's 1981 Broadway production, which ran for 787 performances, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and spawning many imitations and a 1983 film adaptation. ''Pirates'' remains popular today, taking its place along with ''The Mikado'' and ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas. ==Background== ''The Pirates of Penzance'' was the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have its official premiere in the United States. At the time, American law offered no copyright protection to foreigners. After their previous opera, ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', achieved success in London in 1878, approximately 150 American companies quickly mounted unauthorised productions, often taking considerable liberties with the text and paying no royalties to the creators.〔Prestige, Colin. "D'Oyly Carte and the Pirates: The Original New York Productions of Gilbert and Sullivan", pp. 113–48 at p. 118, (Papers Presented at the International Conference of G&S ) held at the University of Kansas, May 1970, edited by James Helyar. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Libraries, 1971.〕〔Allen (1979), p. 2〕〔Goodman, Andrew. ''Gilbert and Sullivan at Law'', pp. 204–05, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press (1982), ISBN 0838631797〕 Gilbert and Sullivan hoped to forestall further "copyright piracy" by mounting the first production of their next opera in America, before others could copy it, and by delaying publication of the score and libretto.〔(International copyright pirating ), Edward Samuels, accessed 25 July 2009〕 They succeeded in keeping for themselves the direct profits of the first American production of ''The Pirates of Penzance'' by opening the production themselves on Broadway, prior to the London production, and they also operated profitable US touring companies of ''Pirates'' and ''Pinafore''.〔 However, Gilbert, Sullivan, and their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, failed in their efforts, over the next decade, to control the American performance copyrights to ''Pirates'' and their other operas.〔Rosen, Zvi S. ("The Twilight of the Opera Pirates: A Prehistory of the Right of Public Performance for Musical Compositions" ), ''Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal'', Vol. 24, 2007, pp. 1157–1218, 5 March 2007, accessed 24 October 2012〕 Fiction and plays about pirates were ubiquitous in the 19th century. Walter Scott's ''The Pirate'' (1822) and James Fenimore Cooper's ''The Red Rover'' were key sources for the romanticised, dashing pirate image and the idea of repentant pirates.〔Williams, p. 130〕 Both Gilbert and Sullivan had parodied these ideas early in their careers. Sullivan had written a comic opera called ''The Contrabandista'', in 1867, about a hapless British tourist who is captured by bandits and forced to become their chief. Gilbert had written several comic works that involved pirates or bandits. In Gilbert's 1876 opera ''Princess Toto'', the title character is eager to be captured by a brigand chief. Gilbert had translated Jacques Offenbach's operetta ''Les brigands'', in 1871.〔 As in ''Les brigands'', ''The Pirates of Penzance'' absurdly treats stealing as a professional career path, with apprentices and tools of the trade such as the crowbar and life preserver.〔Williams, pp. 131–32〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Pirates of Penzance」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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