Princess Ida - Musical Numbers

Musical Numbers

• Overture (includes "We are warriors three" and "Minerva! oh, hear me")

Act I

• 1. "Search throughout the panorama" (Florian and Chorus)
• 2. "Now hearken to my strict command" (Hildebrand and Chorus)
• 3. "Today we meet" (Hilarion)
• 4. "From the distant panorama" (Chorus)
• 5. "We are warriors three" (Arac, Guron, Scynthius, and Chorus)
• 6. "If you give me your attention" (Gama)
• 7. Finale Act I (Gama, Hildebrand, Cyril, Hilarion, Florian, and Chorus)
  • "P'raps if you Address the Lady"
  • "Expressive glances"
  • "For a month to dwell in a dungeon cell"

Act II

• 8. "Towards the empyrean heights" (Lady Psyche, Melissa, Sacharissa, and Chorus of Girls)
• 9. "Mighty maiden with a mission" (Chorus of Girls)
• 10. "Minerva! oh, hear me!" ... "Oh, goddess wise" (Princess)
• 10a."And thus to Empyrean Heights" (Princess and Chorus)
• 11. "Come, mighty Must" (Lady Blanche)1
• 12. "Gently, gently" (Cyril, Hilarion, and Florian)
• 13. "I am a maiden, cold and stately" (Cyril, Hilarion, and Florian)
• 14. "The world is but a broken toy" (Princess, Cyril, Hilarion, and Florian)
• 15. "A lady fair, of lineage high" (Psyche with Cyril, Hilarion, and Florian)2
• 16. "The woman of the wisest wit" (Psyche, Melissa, Cyril, Hilarion, and Florian)
• 17. "Now wouldn't you like to rule the roast" (Melissa and Blanche)3
• 18. "Merrily ring the luncheon bell" (Blanche, Cyril, and Chorus of Girls)
• 19. "Would you know the kind of maid?" (Cyril)
• 20. Finale Act II (Princess, Hildebrand, Melissa, Psyche, Blanche, Cyril, Hilarion, Florian, Arac, Guron, Scynthius, and Chorus)
  • "Oh, joy! our chief is saved"
  • "Whom thou hast chained must wear his chain"
  • "Walls and fences scaling"
  • "Some years ago, no doubt you know"
  • "We may remark, though nothing can dismay us"
  • "To yield at once to such a foe with shame were rife"

1 Starting in the 1920s, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company traditionally deleted this song.

2As musical director, Harry Norris was responsible for adding prominent horn parts to the accompaniment to "A Lady Fair". They were expunged by Malcolm Sargent but subsequently restored by Royston Nash in the 1970s. These are customarily referred to as the ‘Norris’ horn parts, though they may have been written by Geoffrey Toye.

3 The first line of this song is often erroneously sung as "Now wouldn't you like to rule the roost" instead of "roast" (rhymes with "clear the coast" in the next couplet). This typographical error appeared in early vocal scores and still appears in a current Chappell vocal score edition, although some scores have corrected it.

Act III

• 21. "Death to the invader" (Melissa and Chorus of Girls)
• 22. "Whene'er I spoke" (King Gama with Chorus of Girls)4
• 23. "I built upon a rock" (Princess)
• 24. "When anger spreads his wing" (Chorus of Girls and Soldiers)
• 25. "This helmet, I suppose" (Arac with Guron, Scynthius, and Chorus)
• 26. Chorus during the fight, "This is our duty plain" (Chorus)
• 27. "With joy abiding" (Ensemble)

4 In the original production, No. 22 followed No. 23. The present order first appeared in vocal scores published after the first London revival in 1919.

Gilbert claimed that "If you give me your attention" was a satiric self-reference, saying: "I thought it my duty to live up to my reputation". Tom Lehrer performs a parody of the same song called "The Professor's Song". Music from the overture of Ida is heard in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers.