The Grand Duke - Chorus Practice

NOTE: Although it is customary to make liberal cuts in The Grand Duke, the demos on this page present complete and unabridged renderings of all the chorus numbers, as they appear in the vocal score edited by Larry Byler (more info below).

Photo: Jordan Haywood

For each choral number in the show:

Sing along with the part file corresponding to your choral part until you are confident. It isolates your part against subdued accompaniment and soloists.
Then try singing with the Tutti recording to see if you can hold to your part when all choral parts are sounding together.
Work back and forth between the part and Tutti as needed.

In some cases, the tempo has been moderated in the part recording or excerpt, but kept full tempo in the Full Length Tutti recording.

Change Tempo slider: You can slow the tempo of the playback by sliding the light blue knob on the above "Change tempo" slider to left and right along the track. Tempo begins at 100% at the right end and changes by 1% increments to a minimum of 50% at the left end. Note that slowing the tempo introduces distortion into the audio playback. (Supported in Firefox, Chrome, and Opera web browers.)

Page and measure references correspond to the Marc Shepherd edition of the vocal score, available from Lulu.com (the PDF ebook is free for download, or you may purchase the Performer's Edition or the Full Edition as a paperback hardcopy). The Pg and Ms columns provide the page and measure number where each excerpt begins, sometimes with added pickup note(s). The Shepherd score shows the measure number on the first measure of each system.

How would you like to access the sound files?

Online: Play sound files individually on this web page.
Locally: Download files to play them on your computer or device.

Online: To listen to a sound file, click one of the grey buttons found to the right of the selection you wish to hear. It will play in the audio player located at the top of the page next to the menu. (Or click the arrow to play in your browser's audio plug-in, depending on your setup.) Button colors indicate vs.

Pg	Ms	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor			Bass
Act I (prior to Finale)
		1. Won't It Be a Pretty Wedding?
14	11	• Cue: "Won't It Be a Pretty Wedding?"	2:30	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓	↓
14	1	• Full Length	2:32	↓
		1a. Pretty Lisa, Fair and Tasty
25	103	• Cue 1: "P'raps you think me only so-so?"	0:13	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
27	141	• Cue 2: "Why, my love, you're so much older"	1:02	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
24	76	• Full Length	2:08	↓
34	1	2. By the Mystic Regulation of Our Dark Assocation	1:31	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓	↓
		3. Were I a King in Very Truth
46	35	• Cue 1: "Oh, the man who can rule a theatrical crew"	0:13	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
49	90	• Cue 2: "Oh, the man who can drive a theatrical team"	1:02	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
44	1	• Full Length	2:33	↓
		5. My Goodness Me! What Shall I Do?
62	8	• Cue 1: "My goodness me! what shall I do?"	0:42	↓	↓				↓
65	39	• Cue 2: "But on the whole, uncertain yet"	0:25	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
67	65	• Cue 3: "I told him all, both bad and good"	0:25	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
69	91	• Cue 4: "Then suddenly, as still he squeal'd"	1:03	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
62	1	• Full Length	2:52	↓
111	21	9. The Good Grand Duke of Pfennig Halbpfennig (Chamberlains' parts)	0:55	↓					↓			↓
Act I Finale
Pg	Ms	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor			Bass
		12. Come Hither, All You People
154	16	• Cue 1: "With falt'ring feet"	0:34	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
157	45	• Cue 2: "No, you begin! No, you begin!"	0:09	↓	↓				↓			↓
159	61	• Cue 3: "You muff, sir! You lout, sir!"	0:21	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
162	86	• Cue 4: "I do, sir! We'll see sir!"	1:20	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
167	140	• Cue 5: "Behold the King!"	1:20	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
170	182	• Cue 6: "And now that you've departed"	0:27	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓			↓
173	216	• Cue 7: "Give thanks, give thanks to wayward fate"	0:27	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
153	1	• Section 12 - Full Length	5:46	↓
		12a. Oh, a Monarch Who Boasts Intellectual Graces
177	269	• Cue 1: "I've something to say"	0:32	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
181	314	• Cue 2: "Your Monarch am I"	0:32	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
184	343	• Cue 3: "To each and all (for that was the condition)"	0:25	↓	↓
176	246	• Section 12a - Full Length	2:01	↓
		12b. Then, Horror! / Ah, Pity Me, My Comrades True
185	349	• Cue 1: "Then, horror!"	0:10	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
185	352	• Cue 2: "Ah, pity me, my comrades true"	1:31	↓	↓				↓
190	392	• Cue 3: "Our duty, if we're wise, we never shun"	0:48	↓	↓
176	246	• Section 12b - Full Length	2:28	↓
		12c. Oh, Listen To Me, Dear
185	349	• Cue: "Tho' marriage contracts, or whate'er you call 'em"	0:17	↓	↓
192	416	• Section 12c - Full Length	1:30	↓
		12d. The Die Is Cast
197	489	• Cue: "Its doom, its doom is spoken!"	0:30	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
196	474	• Section 12d - Full Length	1:13	↓
		12e. For This Will Be a Jolly Court
200	525	• Cue 1: "For this will be a jolly Court"	0:51	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓	↓
204	567	• Cue 2: "In clothes of common sort"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
204	591	• Cue 3: "Henceforth our Court costume"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
208	607	• Cue 4: "For this will be a jolly Court"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
200	525	• Section 12e - Full Length	3:04	↓
153	1	12. Act I Finale - Full Length	15:57	↓
Act II
Pg	Ms	Selection	Time	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor			Bass
		13. As Before You We Defile
270	24	• Tenor-Bass entrance: "As before you we defile"	1:57	↓					↓			↓
272	41	• Soprano-Alto entrance: "Opoponax! Opoponax! Opoponax! Eloia!"	1:19	↓	↓		↓
269	1	• Full Length	2:49	↓
		14. Your Loyalty Our Ducal Heartstrings Touches
279	40	• Cue 1: "Periphrastic methods spurning"	0:17	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
283	79	• Cue 2: "It displays a lot of stocking"	0:17	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
188	118	• Cue 3: "Yet my classic lore aggressive"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
289	129	• Cue 4: "Wreaths of bay and ivy twine"	0:40	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
275	1	• Full Length	5:03	↓
		17. Your Highness, There's a Party at the Door
302	7	• Cue 1: "Your Highness, there's a party at the door"	0:35	↓	↓
305	34	• Cue 2: "For whatever may be due I'll pay it double"	0:23	↓	↓
307	53	• Cue 3: "Express your grief profound!"	0:30	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
310	83	• Cue 4: "For any disappointment"	0:33	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
302	1	• Full Length	2:14	↓
312	1	17a. For Any Disappointment We Are Sorry Unaffectedly	0:22	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
		18. Now Away to the Wedding We Go
317	16	• Cue: "To our wedding we'll eagerly go"	0:10	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
316	1	• Full Length	0:47	↓
337	112	20. Now Bridegroom and Bride Let Us Toast	0:29	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
		21. Come Bumpers — Aye, Ever So Many
342 345	27 69	• Cue: "So, bumpers — aye, ever so many" • Cue: "So, bumpers — aye, ever so many" (same music)	0:23	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
340	1	• Full Length	1:38	↓
347	1	22. Why, Who Is This Approaching?	0:52	↓	↓				↓			↓
		23. The Prince of Monte Carlo
349	7	• Cue 1: "That Prince of Monte Carlo and his be-eutiful daughter"	0:28	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
353	28	• Cue 2: "The Prince of Monte Carlo"	0:28	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
349	1	• Full Length	1:43	↓
		25. We're Rigged Out In Magnificent Array (Nobles' parts)
361	24	• Cue 1: "So we've engaged from the Theatre Monaco"	0:33	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
365	45	• Cue 2: "And they never take off their gloves"	0:12	↓					↓
365	54	• Cue 3: "They're worthy members of the brewing interest"	0:38	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
359	1	• Full Length	2:33	↓
		27. Take My Advice, When Deep In Debt (Roulette Song)
380	41	• Cue 1: "For ev'ry time the board you spin"	0:15	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
383	89	• Cue 2: "The moral's safe--when you being"	0:15	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
386	137	• Cue 3: "Where'er at last the ball pops in"	0:17	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
378	1	• Full Length	2:31	↓
389	1	28. Hurrah! Now Away To the Wedding We Go	0:52	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
		28a. Well, You're a Pretty Kind of Fellow NOTE: Cues 1, 3, and 5 are the same music, with different words, as are Cues 2, 4, and 6.
393	57	• Cue 1: "You guzzle and you gormandize"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
394	73	• Cue 2: "But when compar'd with other crimes"	0:19	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓
396	99	• Cue 3: "You fascinate her tough old heart" (Repeat Cue 1)
398	115	• Cue 4: "But even this, compar'd with deeds" (Repeat Cue 2)
399	141	• Cue 5: "You fancy you've reviv'd the Law" (Repeat Cue 1)
401	157	• Cue 6: "For this you'll suffer agonies"(Repeat Cue 2)
392	43	• Full Length	1:54	↓
405	1	29. Happy Couples Lightly Treading	1:33	↓	↓		↓		↓			↓	↓

Download the sound files to your computer

If you wish, you can download an individual MP3 sound file from the above table by right-clicking its down-pointing arrow (↓) and selecting Save link as... or Save target as... from the pop-up menu.

To download all the MP3 recordings for a part, use the button corresponding to your choral part, below. You will also need the Tutti zip file. Besides the sound files, each zip file contains one or more playlists for playing relevant groups of individual recordings in sequence.

About divisi: Each zip file contains alternate files for the occasional subdivided parts where they occur, labeled at the end of the filename with S1, S2, A1, A2, T1, T2, T3T4, B1, or B2. Be sure to play the correct files for your divisi part. Playlist files (.wpl files) are given to help you isolate each divisi part's list of files. (Note that in No. 25, Tenor 3 and Tenor 4 sing a single part in unison. File names for this part contain the suffix "T3T4". Simlarly Bass 1 and Bass 2 in No. 25 share a single part, suffixed "_B".)

Also download the Tutti .zip file. You will need this set of files too.

For more information about saving and unzipping these downloads, please read Tips for Downloading the Practice Files. Use your browser's "back" button to return here.