What Ought We To Do (from The Pirates Of Penzance): Piano Vocal

This duet captures the operetta at its most charming: two characters grappling with a moral dilemma that's simultaneously absurd and touching. The music sits comfortably for intermediate singers, the piano part is supportive without being pedestrian, and the comedic timing built into the lyrics rewards performers who commit fully to the theatrical moment. It's the kind of piece that reminds students why people keep returning to Gilbert and Sullivan after 150 years.

A conversation between two people who care deeply about doing the right thing, even when that thing is patently ridiculous. The music leans gently toward the sentimental while the lyrics undercut any tendency toward mawkishness, creating a tender comedy that never feels mean. There's a warmth to the writing that makes the characters' flawed reasoning almost endearing.

Intermediate to advanced singers preparing audition material or wanting to explore musical theater repertoire from its foundational tradition. Music theater programs and voice students seeking character pieces that develop both comedic sensibility and musical maturity will find substantial material here.

• Treat the dialogue sections with the same precision you'd apply to the sung passages; the comedy depends on rhythmic clarity and clear diction even when the characters are speaking over the accompaniment.
• Shape the vocal lines with attention to the text stress rather than melodic contour alone. Sullivan wrote singable melodies, but they're always subservient to the dramatic meaning.
• Allow the piano to breathe during transitions between sections. Resist rushing back into the vocal line; let silence become part of the comedic punctuation.

Include this in a light opera showcase or a musical theater history concert where it can sit alongside other Victorian song arrangements or early musical theater work. It works equally well as a lesson piece for understanding how composers write for comedy, where restraint in orchestration and clarity in text setting matter more than dramatic bombast.

• Reading sung dialogue over sustained accompaniment
• Coordination between dramatic gesture and musical line in comic writing
• Diction and character interpretation in English-language operetta
• Responding to rubato and flexible phrasing within a structured harmonic language