The usual first example that comes to mind when describing "Patter Song." Predictably, it is the first mentioned on Wikipedia, and this is not undeserved. I just may be the best.
This operetta was written in 1879, says Wikipedia, which warns the reader against pirated! Ha! American copy of that year. That’s funny. But what’s interesting is that the mild mockery and good humour at the height of the Empire speaks v v well of that civilisation then. Sydney Smith sadly noted the rise of a humourless younger generation as examples by Macauley- he did not say but I do that hypocritical cant and diminished humour seems linked to more aggressive greed. The early Empire in India must have been v glorious as a young man -pig hunting, tiger shooting and memsahibs, if he survived the yellow fever and the wars. From Macaulays time on it was much more about the money going back to London and Control. When Englishwomen made it to India, that surely ended any fun and numbered the Empire’s days. Draw parallels to now where pleases you.
Operettas about cartoonish wokesters would be a healthy sign. I pity any writer trying to get laughs from the grim characters at the top of society and the grimmer audience. Mel Brooks, maybe.
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This operetta was written in 1879, says Wikipedia, which warns the reader against pirated! Ha! American copy of that year. That’s funny.
But what’s interesting is that the mild mockery and good humour at the height of the Empire speaks v v well of that civilisation then. Sydney Smith sadly noted the rise of a humourless younger generation as examples by Macauley- he did not say but I do that hypocritical cant and diminished humour seems linked to more aggressive greed. The early Empire in India must have been v glorious as a young man -pig hunting, tiger shooting and memsahibs, if he survived the yellow fever and the wars. From Macaulays time on it was much more about the money going back to London and Control. When Englishwomen made it to India, that surely ended any fun and numbered the Empire’s days.
Draw parallels to now where pleases you.
Operettas about cartoonish wokesters would be a healthy sign. I pity any writer trying to get laughs from the grim characters at the top of society and the grimmer audience. Mel Brooks, maybe.
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