Tune of the Day: Ah, leave me not to pine
This sweet duet is sung by Mabel and Frederic during Act II of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. Our hero Frederic, having completed his 21st year, is about to be released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley (“the very model of a modern Major-General”), and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that technically, since he was born on the 29th of February, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his twenty-first birthday, meaning that he must serve for another 63 years!
Ah, leave me not to pine
Alone and desolate;
No fate seemed fair as mine,
No happiness so great!
And Nature, day by day,
Has sung in accents clear
This joyous roundelay,
“He loves thee – he is here.
Fal, la, la, la, Fal, la, la, la.
He loves thee – he is here.
Fal, la, la, Fal, la!”
Thanks to Phil for suggesting this tune!