The Gondoliers

The Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria was the 12th Savoy Opera which was created by the partnership of Arthur Sullivan's musical genius, and W.S. Gilbert's clever writing. Its story is that of two impoverished Venetian Gondoliers who are informed by the Grand inquisitor that one of them has been named the "King of Barataria", but, that the only person who knows which of them is the true heir is their mutual foster mother. Subsequently the pair, along with their wives and the Grand Inquisitor, as well as a myriad of other cast members, traipse about attempting to find out who, in fact, is the "King Of Barataria".

The piece which we sing from The Gondoliers is the closing piece of the whole operetta. Through the course of the story Giuseppe and Marco have gone from happy bachelors, to merry newly weds, to contestants for the Kingship of Barataria; and finally, back to being happy newly weds paddling their gondolas down the causeways of Venice. In addition, the character whom we are introduced to as Luiz the Drummer, has been finally revealed as the true "King of Barataria". And from that we also learn that Luiz's nurse is the mother of one of the two brothers, though we can never know which one. But, with the marital crisis between Casilda and the brothers resolved all characters can finally return to their original happy states, relieved that the whole debacle is over.

It seems to me as if this emotion of relief is expressed in the intense crescendos which we sing in this piece. And just as how in the play the characters have accomplished a lot and are rejoicing the happy ending, just as we as a choir have accomplished so much and are able to in this song rejoice our accomplishments in this concert and of course also that we can now rest.

I have two sources in case anyone is interested in reading more about the Gondoliers or the overall genius of Sir Arthur Sullivan:

http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/gondoliers/html/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gondoliers