Editing Ruddigore (section)

===Changes during the initial run===
After the unfavourable reception that the opera received on opening night, Gilbert and Sullivan made numerous significant cuts and alterations:<ref>A copy of the libretto, including material cut before the first night and during the initial run, is at {{cite web |url= http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/ruddigore/ruddygore.pdf |title= available |access-date= 30 July 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192813/http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/ruddigore/ruddygore.pdf |archive-date= 3 March 2016 |url-status= dead }}&nbsp;{{small|(294&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<! –  application/pdf, 301170 bytes  – >)}} at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.</ref> Sullivan recorded in his diary:<ref>''quoted'' in Jacob, pp. 249–50</ref>

* [23 January 1887]: Gilbert and Carte came. Pow-wow. Several changes and cuts decided on.
* [24 January]: Alterations made in finale [2nd act]: ghosts not brought back to life.
* [25 January]: Long rehearsal for cuts and changes (without band).
* [30 January] Wrote and scored new song (second act) for Grossmith.
* [31 January]: Busy all day. Went to American consulate to sign agreement for American "Ruddygore". Finished score of new finale

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
|style="text-align: left;" |So far as I can see, there is only one strong and serious objection to "Ruddygore", and that is its hideous and repulsive title. What could possibly have incited Mr. W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan to court prejudice and provoke opposition by giving a gratuitously false impression to their most melodious and amusing work?
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|style="text-align: left;" |Review from ''[[The Illustrated London News]]''.<ref>"The Playhouses", ''The Illustrated London News'', 29 January 1887 (signed C.S., possibly [[Clement Scott]])<!-- Please add PAGE NUMBER. --></ref>
|}

Gilbert and Sullivan made the following changes:

* The initial title, ''Ruddygore'', was changed: because of claims that "ruddy" was too similar to the then-taboo curse word "[[bloody]]", it was shortly changed to ''Ruddigore''.<ref>See, for example, ''[[The Pall Mall Gazette]]''{{'}}s satire of it [http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/ruddigore/html/appeal.html here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901124235/http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/ruddigore/html/appeal.html |date=1 September 2006 }}).</ref> Gilbert's response to being told they meant the same thing was: "Not at all, for that would mean that if I said that I admired your ruddy countenance, which I do, I would be saying that I liked your bloody cheek, which I don't."<ref>See [http://hcs.harvard.edu/hrgsp/old/productions/rud68/rud68arg.htm this information from Harvard's website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312081141/http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hrgsp/old/productions/rud68/rud68arg.htm |date=12 March 2007 }} and [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/witter.htm this information at the Australia G&S site.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923050025/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/witter.htm |date=23 September 2006 }}</ref>
* "I once was as meek" (No. 16) originally had two verses.  In the cut second verse, Robin's servant says that he has changed his name from Adam Goodheart to Gideon Crawle since he is now a "bad Bart.'s steward."  Old Adam is then referred to as "Gideon Crawle" or "Gideon" for the rest of Act II.  After the cut, he remained Old Adam throughout, except for a single erroneous reference ("Gideon Crawle, it won't do!") which persisted in many librettos well into the 20th century.
* "In bygone days" (No. 18) was cut from two verses to one.
* "Painted emblems of a race" (No. 19) originally had two extra passages, including a March of the Ghosts after they descend from their frames, both of which were cut. (This alteration may have occurred before the premiere.)<ref name=Hulme/> The dialogue between Robin and the ghosts afterwards was also shortened.
* The patter song after the recitative "Away, remorse!" (No. 21a) was changed from "For thirty-five years I've been sober and wary" to "Henceforth all the crimes that I find in the Times". The rewriting of the song was prompted by a letter from Gilbert to Sullivan dated 23 January 1887:  "I can't help thinking that the second act would be greatly improved if the recitation before Grossmith's song were omitted and the song re-set to an air that would admit of his singing it desperately – almost in a passion, the torrent of which would take him off the stage at the end. After a long and solemn ghost scene, I fancy a lachrymose song is quite out of place".<ref>Reproduced in facsimile in Allen, Reginald and Gale R. D'Luhy (1975). ''Presenting in Word & Song, Score & Deed the Life and Work of Sir Arthur Sullivan", p. 154, New York: Pierpont Morgan Library and Boston: David Godine; quoted in Jacobs, p. 250, where the date is stated erroneously.</ref>
* Despard's and Margaret's stated (in No. 22) place of employment was changed from "a Sunday School" to "a National School".
* The dialogue scene among Robin, Despard and Margaret before the patter trio (No. 23) was shortened.
* The dialogue scene before "There grew a little flower" (No. 25) was considerably shortened; the first version exploring the topsy-turvy idea that if Sir Roderic and Dame Hannah were married, her husband would be a ghost, and she would therefore be a wife and a widow at the same time (this concept was recycled in ''[[The Grand Duke]]'').  Roderic originally entered through a trap door in the floor, where red flames could be seen shooting around him.  This was changed to an entrance from the picture frame.
* The second revivification of the ghosts was dropped, with only Roderic being revived. Somewhat implausibly, this required the "chorus of Bucks and Blades" from Act I to be present at the castle at the end of Act II, to provide a four-part chorus for the finale.
* The finale was revised and extended, ending with a common-time reworking of "Oh happy the lily", rather than a straight reprise as previously.<ref name=Hulme/>

The original vocal score, published in March 1887, represented this revised version of the musical text.<ref name=Hulme/> A 1987 recording by the New Sadler's Wells Opera, for which [[David Russell Hulme]] was adviser, restored most of the surviving material from the first-night version, including "For thirty-five years I've been sober and wary", as well as the extra music from the ghost scene. The recording and the production were based in part on Hulme's research, which also led to the 2000 Oxford University Press edition of the ''Ruddigore'' score, in which the music for some passages was published for the first time.<ref name=Hulme/>