Were I Thy Bride is a song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera, The Yeomen of the Guard. It is performed by Tina Mancini as Phoebe Meryll and Peter Blair as Wilfrid. The lyrics are sung in English, Spanish, French, and German, with the opera being performed by the Montreal West Operatic Society in 2007. The opera features a chorus of “I am a bride,” which is sung by Abigail Coy as Phoebe Meryll and Ralph Katz as Wilfrid. The opera is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Malcolm Sargent.
The opera was recorded on HMV in November 1958 and recorded between December 10-14, 1957. The lyrics are in both D major and E flat major, with the former preserving Sullivan’s original key scheme. The opera is available for free streaming on Spotify and can be enjoyed through an Internet Web Opera.
The opera also includes an aria for mezzo from the English opera Yeoman of the Guard by Arthur Sullivan. The lyrics include “I Have A Song To Sing, O!” and “How Say You, Maiden.” The opera also features a scene where Phoebe replaces keys at her girdle that Meryll had retrieved. The lyrics of the opera are written by William Schwenck Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, Elsie Morison, Sir Malcolm Sargent, and others.
📹 “Were I Thy Bride” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard
“Were I Thy Bride” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard. Abigail Coy as Phoebe Meryll and Ralph Katz as Wilfrid …
📹 Gilbert & Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard – BBC Proms 2012
The BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Jane Glover perform Were I Thy Bride from Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard with …
Here is what Phoebe sings (and I have taken the liberty of writing rr, rrr, rrrr to represent the trilled r in Received Pronunciation; and all r’s before vowels were either flapped or trilled in old-fashioned Queen’s English): Were I thy brride, Then all the world beside Were not too wide To hold my wealth of love — Were I thy brride! Upon thy brrreast, My loving head would rrrest, As on her nest, The tender turtle dove — Were I thy bride! This heart of mine, Would be one heart with thine, And in that shrrine Our happiness would dwell — Were I thy brride! And all day long Our lives should be a song: No grrrief, no wrong Should make my heart rebel — Were I thy brride! The silv’rrry flute, The melancholy lute, Were night-owl’s hoot To my love-whispered Coo — Were I thy brride! The skylark’s trrill, Were but discordance shrrill, To the soft thrill Of wooing as I’d woo — Were I thy brrride! The rrose’s sigh, Were as a carrion’s cry To lullaby Such as I’d sing to thee, Were I thy brride! A feather’s prress Were leaden heaviness To my caress: But then, of course, you see, I’m not thy brride!