A more human Mikado
Opera details:
Opera title: | The Mikado |
Composer: | Arthur Sullivan |
Language: | English |
Synopsis: | The Mikado Synopsis |
Libretto: | The Mikado Libretto |
Translation(s): | Not entered yet. |
Aria details:
Type: | aria |
Role(s): | The Mikado |
Voice(s): | Bass or Bass-Baritone |
Act: | 2 |
| Previous scene: | The sun whose rays are all ablaze |
| Next scene: | Alone and yet alive |
Harold Williams "A More Humane Mikado Never Did In Japan Exist" (1930) Gilbert & Sullivan, Mikado
Singer: Harold WilliamsHarold Williams sings "A More Humane Mikado"--the famous Gilbert & Sullivan song from The Mikado
A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist
To nobody second
I'm certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist
It is my very humane endeavor
To make, to some extent
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
All prosy dull society sinners
Who chatter and bleat and bore
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four
The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies
All desire to shirk
Shall, during off-hours
Exhibit his powers
To Madame Tussaud's waxwork
The lady who dyes a chemical yellow
Or stains her grey hair puce
Or pinches her figure
Is backed like a nigga
With permanent walnut juice
The idiot who, in railway carriages
Scribbles on window-panes
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
In Parliamentary trains
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
His object all sublime
He will achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
The advertising quack who wearies
With tales of countless cures
His teeth, I've enacted
Shall all be extracted
By terrified amateurs
The music-hall singer attends a series
Of masses and fugues and "ops"
By Bach, interwoven
With Spohr and Beethoven
At classical Monday Pops
The billiard sharp who any one catches
His doom's extremely hard —
He's made to dwell —
In a dungeon cell
On a spot that's always barred
And there he plays extravagant matches
In fitless finger-stalls
On a cloth untrue
With a twisted cue
And elliptical billiard balls!
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
His object all sublime
He will achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
Harold Williams "A More Humane Mikado Never Did In Japan Exist" (1930) Gilbert & Sullivan, Mikado
Watch videos with other singers performing A more human Mikado:
6 - Gidon Saks
7 - Donald Adams
6 - Darrell Fancourt
6 - Harold Williams
6 - Richard Temple
7 - John Tomlinson
6 - Donald Shanks
6 - Jonathan Biggins
6 - Darrell Fancourt
6 - Martyn Green
6 - Richard Watson
7 - Richard Watson
Other videos of the same singers performing A more human Mikado:
7 - Donald Adams
7 - Donald Adams
7 - Donald Adams
7 - Donald Adams
Libretto/Lyrics/Text/Testo:
A more humane Mikado neverDid in Japan exist,
To nobody second,
I'm certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavour
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver
A running river
Of harmless merriment.
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time--
To let the punishment fit the crime--
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
All prosy dull society sinners,
Who chatter and bleat and bore,
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four.
The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies
All desire to shirk,
Shall, during off-hours,
Exhibit his powers
To Madame Tussaud's waxwork.
The lady who dyes a chemical yellow
Or stains her grey hair puce,
Or pinches her figure,
Is painted with vigour
With permanent walnut juice.
The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes,
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
In Parliamentary trains.
The advertising quack who wearies
With tales of countless cures,
His teeth, I've enacted,
Shall all be extracted
By terrified amateurs.
The music-hall singer attends a series
Of masses and fugues and "ops"
By Bach, interwoven
With Spohr and Beethoven,
At classical Monday Pops.
The billiard sharp who any one catches,
His doom's extremely hard--
He's made to dwell--
In a dungeon cell
On a spot that's always barred.
And there he plays extravagant matches
In fitless finger-stalls
On a cloth untrue
With a twisted cue
And elliptical billiard balls!
English Libretto or Translation:
Not entered yet.External links for A more human Mikado
| Sheetmusic for aria |  Sheetmusicplus.com |
| Sheetmusic for opera | Sheetmusicplus.com |
| MP3's for this aria | on Amazon.com |
| DVD/CD's for this opera | on Amazon.com |
Possible interesting pages on Opera-Arias.com
All AriasBass Arias
Sullivan Arias
Sullivan Bass Arias
English Arias
English Bass Arias
English Operas
English Composers