Choral Choir,Choral,TTBB Chorus - Level 3 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1489568
By Philip Le Bas. By A Sullivan & W S Gilbert. Arranged by Philip Le Bas. 19th Century,A Cappella,Barbershop,Comedy,Opera. 7 pages. Philip Le Bas #1066432. Published by Philip Le Bas (A0.1489568).
A British Tar is one of the most popular songs from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore, and it deserves to be sung more widely. Here it is arranged by Philip Le Bas for unaccompanied barbershop quartet from the original trio plus orchestra/piano. In the operetta the song is supposedly composed by Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Admiralty, to encourage independence of thought and action in the lower branches of the service [the Navy], and to teach the principle that a British sailor is any man's equal. It should be sung with as much mock pomp as can be mustered, and the arranger suggests that in bars 10 to 16 and again bars 42 to 48 the first bass singer(s) should (especially when singing to a foreign audience) clearly indicate which part of the sailor's body is being referred to!
