Editing H.M.S. Pinafore (section)

==Revisions and cut material==

===Ballad for Captain Corcoran, "Reflect, my child"===
During rehearsals for the original production, Gilbert added a ballad for Captain Corcoran in which he urged his daughter to forget the common sailor with whom she is in love, because "at every step, he would commit solecisms that society would never pardon." The ballad was meant to be sung between No. 5 and No. 6 of the current score, but it was cut before opening night. The words survive in the libretto that was deposited with the [[Lord Chamberlain]] for licensing. Before 1999, all that was known to survive of Sullivan's setting was a copy of the leader violin part.<ref name=Perry>Perry, Helga J. [http://gsarchive.net/pinafore/html/lost.html "Lost Pinafore Song Found"], "Reflect my Child" reconstruction, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 15 April 1999, accessed 21 April 2009</ref>

In April 1999, Sullivan scholars Bruce I. Miller and Helga J. Perry announced that they had discovered a nearly complete orchestration – lacking only the second violin part – in a private collection of early band parts. These materials, with a conjectural reconstruction of the partially lost vocal lines and second violin part, were later published and professionally recorded.<ref name=Perry/><ref>Miller, Bruce. [http://gsarchive.net/pinafore/html/miller.html "Comments on the Lost Song Discovery"], at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 17 April 1999, accessed 21 April 2009</ref> This piece has now been performed a number of times by amateur and professional companies, although it has not become a standard addition to the traditional scores or recordings.<ref name=DeOrsey>DeOrsey, Stan. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/lost-songs.htm#Pinafore "Gilbert & Sullivan: Of Ballads, Songs and Snatches, Lost or Seldom Recorded – ''H.M.S. Pinafore''"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 2003, accessed 10 June 2016</ref>

===Dialogue for Cousin Hebe===
[[File:Jessiehebe.jpg|right|frame|[[Jessie Bond|Bond]] as Hebe with [[George Grossmith|Grossmith]] as Sir Joseph, 1887 revival]]
In the licensing copy of the libretto, Sir Joseph's cousin Hebe had lines of dialogue in several scenes in Act II. In the scene that follows No. 14 ("Things are seldom what they seem"), she accompanied Sir Joseph onstage and echoed the First Lord's dissatisfaction with Josephine. After several interruptions, Sir Joseph urged her to be quiet, eliciting the response "Crushed again!" Gilbert would later re-use this passage for Lady Jane in ''[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]''. Hebe was also assigned several lines of dialogue after No. 18 ("Carefully on tiptoe stealing") and again after No. 19 ("Farewell, my own").<ref>Shepherd and Walters, pp. 751–752 and 754; and [http://www.gsarchive.net/pinafore/html/hebe.htm Hebe's cut dialogue after Nos. 14 and 19], The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 21 April 2009</ref><ref name=critical>Young, Percy M. (ed.) "''H.M.S. Pinafore''", critical edition, 2003, 2 vols., Broude Brothers Limited {{ISBN|0-8450-3003-5}}</ref>

Late in rehearsals for the original production, Jessie Bond assumed the role of Hebe, replacing [[Mrs Howard Paul]]. Bond, who at this point in her career was known primarily as a concert singer and had little experience as an actress, did not feel capable of performing dialogue, and these passages were revised to cut Hebe's dialogue.<ref>Shepherd and Walters, pp. 596–599</ref> Hebe's cut dialogue is occasionally restored in modern performances.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gsarchive.net/pinafore/html/marc_hebe.htm Hebe's Dialogue Introduction] at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 21 April 2009</ref><ref>Gilbert, Andrew. [http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_28511488/lamplighters-keeping-spotlight-gilbert-and-sullivan "Lamplighters: Keeping a Spotlight on Gilbert and Sullivan"], ''[[San Jose Mercury News|The Mercury News]]'', 20 July 2015, accessed 16 July 2016</ref>

===Recitative preceding the Act II finale===
The dialogue preceding the Act II finale, starting with "Here, take her sir, and mind you treat her kindly", was originally recitative. The music for this passage was printed in the first edition of the vocal score as No. 20a. Shortly after opening night, the recitative was dropped, and the lines thereafter were performed as spoken dialogue. In modern productions, the recitative is occasionally restored in place of the dialogue.<ref name=DeOrsey/><ref name=critical/>