The Yeomen of the Guard - Chorus Practice

Find each excerpt at the page, system, and measure indicated in the G. Schirmer edition (ed. Edmond W. Rickett) of the vocal score, where the quoted lyric may be found.

Click the , , , or play button for your choral part or for Tutti. It will play in the audio player at the top of the page next to the Arjipelago menu. (Or click the down arrow ↓ to play directly in your browser, bypassing the above audio player.)

indicates Yeomen only.
indicates People only.
indicates All (both choruses together).
indicates the most inclusive Tutti recording for each number or subsection of a number.

More information about using this page can be found below the table.
If you prefer, you can download these audio clips to your computer and play them locally.

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Act I
Pg	Sy	Ms	Excerpt	Time	Chorus	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor		Bass
			2. Tower Warders, Under Orders
17	2	2	Opening Chorus	0:32	People	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
19	2	1	"In the autumn of our life"	0:44	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
23	2	4	"As in days of long ago" (Ending)	1:00	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
23	3	1	"Still would face a foreign foe" (Ending)	0:55	People	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
17	1	1	Full Length	3:16	All	↓
			3. When Our Gallant Norman Foes
31	4	3	"O'er London town" - 1st stanza	0:34	Yeomen	↓					↓
31	4	3	"O'er London town" - 2nd stanza	0:34	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
17	1	1	Full Length	3:31	Yeomen	↓
17	2	2	6. Here's a Man of Jollity	0:32	People	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
			7. I Have a Song to Sing, O!
62	3	3	"Who sipped no sup" (Chorus Cue)	0:29	People	↓	↓		↓	↓	↓		↓
53	1	1	Full Length	3:16	People	↓
Pg	Sy	Ms	Excerpt	Time	Chorus	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor		Bass
			12. Finale of Act I
			Oh, Sergeant Meryll, Is It True?
97	2	2	"Oh, Sergeant Meryll, is it true?" (1st cue)	0:32	Yeomen	↓					↓		↓
100	1	3	"Forgive his aged father's pride"	0:31	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
102	2	4	"Prodigiously exaggerated"	0:14	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
103	3	2	"Rescue it at deadly peril"	0:11	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
104	2	2	"Face, with gallant heart unshaken"	0:12	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
106	1	3	"Scarce a word of them is true!"	0:17	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
96	1	1	Complete Section - Oh, Sergeant Meryll	3:52	Yeomen	↓
			Phoebe's Entrance
108	3	1	"Your sister, Phoebe"	0:14	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
112	2	3	"Be thou at hand"	0:11	Yeomen	↓					↓
114	3	4	"From dim twilight" (1st/2nd Time)	0:16	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
117	3	1	"From dim twilight" (3rd Time)	0:15	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
96	1	1	Complete Section - Phoebe's Entrance	4:45	Yeomen	↓
			The Prisoner Comes
119	2	1	"The prisoner comes" (1st cue)	0:58	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
121	3	1	"Oh, Mercy, thou"	0:47	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓	↓
118	2	1	Complete Section - The Prisoner Comes	2:57	All	↓
			My Lord! I Know Not How to Tell the News
124	3	4	"He is not there!"	0:14	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
126	1	1	"The man we sought with anxious care"	0:12	All	↓	↓		↓
127	1	1	"As escort for the prisoner"	0:16	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
124	1	1	Complete Section - He Is Not There	1:55	All	↓
			All Frenzied with Despair
132	3	1	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
136	2	1	"Alive or dead"	0:27	All	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓		↓
132	3	1	Complete Section - All Frenzied with Despair	1:27	All	↓
96	1	1	Full-Length Finale of Act I	14:37	All	↓
Act II
Pg	Sy	Ms	Excerpt	Time	Chorus	Tutti	Soprano		Alto		Tenor		Bass
			13. Night Has Spread Her Pall Once More
141	4	2	"Night has spread her pall" (Opening)	0:42	People	↓	↓		↓
143	4	1	Carruthers: "Spite of ye all, he is free, he is free!"	0:21	People	↓	↓		↓
144	1	3	Women: "Spite of ye all, he is free, he is free!"	0:28	Yeomen	↓					↓	↓	↓	↓
145	2	1	"Ev'ry outlet, ev'ry drain"	0:15	All	↓	↓				↓		↓	↓
146	1	1	"Warders are ye? whom do ye ward?" (Ending)	0:45	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓	↓
140	1	1	Full Length	3:52	All	↓
			18. Hark! What Was That, Sir?
169	4	2	"Now what can that have been?"	0:26	All	↓					↓		↓
174	3	1	"Then we closed with one another"	0:11	All	↓	↓
177	1	1	"With a gasp and with a quiver"	0:11	All	↓	↓
179	1	1	"With an ounce or two of lead"	0:06	All	↓	↓
179	3	1	"I discharged it without thinking"	0:09	All	↓	↓
181	3	1	"Anyhow, the man is dead"	0:19	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
184	3	2	"So set to work"	0:32	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
169	1	1	Full Length	3:29	All	↓
			22. Act II Finale
215	2	2	"Comes the pretty young bride" (Opening)	1:04	People	↓	↓		↓
220	3	3	"This is my joy day unalloyed"	0:19	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
222	2	2	"No, no, recall those words"	0:34	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
225	2	2	"Thou art mine own!"	0:10	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
226	1	2	"Unmoved by sentimental shock!"	0:08	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
229	1	1	"With happiness our soul is cloyed"	0:29	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
231	3	1	"I have a song to sing, O!" (1st Time)	0:11	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
231	3	1	"Who sipped no sup" (1st Time)	0:18	All	↓	↓		↓	↓	↓		↓
233	2	2	"I have a song to sing, O!" (2nd Time)	0:08	All	↓	↓		↓		↓		↓
234	4	3	"Who sipped no sup" (2nd Time/Ending)	1:00	All	↓	↓		↓	↓	↓		↓
215	1	1	Full Length Finale of Act II	8:16	All	↓

More Information

Part vs. Tutti: In the table above, begin your study of each number by using the audio clip for your individual choral part, which features your part played prominently using a clarinet sound along with accompaniment and principals' vocal lines in a piano sound at lower volume. Listen and sing along with your isolated part until you are confident. Then try the Tutti file to see if you can hold to your part when all choral parts are playing at full volume. Work back and forth between part and Tutti as needed. These audio examples feature constantly full dynamics and mostly steady tempos for pitch-drilling purposes.

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.)

Finding Your Place in the Score: Page numbering corresponds to the G. Schirmer edition (ed. Edmond W. Rickett) of the vocal/piano score. To find each excerpt in the score, see the Pg, Sy, and Ms columns which give the page, system, and measure where the excerpt begins. It may also include one or more pickup notes from the bar preceding the given starting point. For example, Pg 19, Sy 2, Ms 1 means the 1st measure in the 2nd system on page 19, but it includes the two-note pickup from the previous bar. Look for the quoted lyric given in the Excerpt column which should appear at that point. This is not (usually) the first lyric you would sing, but the lyric at the starting point ahead of your vocal entrance.

Which Chorus? The chorus in this score is divided between Yeomen (TTBB) and People (SATB with some divisi). In some passages, e.g, No. 2. "Tower warders, Under orders," separate music is given to each of these choruses to sing simultaneously against the other. In other passages, e.g., the latter portion of the Act I Finale, they sing the same music together. Be sure to look in the "Chorus" column to make sure you are using the audio excerpts which apply to your portion of the chorus. These will be marked as "Yeomen," "People," or "All." In addition, the "Chorus" column and the play buttons are color coded as a visual cue:
indicates Yeomen only.
indicates People only.
indicates All (both choruses together).
indicates the most inclusive Tutti recording for each number or subsection of a number.

Yeomen Basses, please note that during number 2. "Tower Warders, Under Orders," the Yeomen basses briefly divide into three parts. The 3rd Bass notes are simply an octave doubling of the 2nd Bass notes. Accordingly, pitches for both octaves are given together in the B2 part, rather than providing separate B2 and B3 parts for this one brief part division.

Download the sound files to your computer

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

To download all the MP3 recordings for a part, click 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: Parts for Soprano 1 and 2, and for Alto 1 and 2, are included in the soprano.zip and alto.zip respectively, and will reside in the soprano directory or alto directory when you extract each zip file. Parts for Tenor1 and 2, and Bass 1 and 2, are separated into separate tenor1, tenor2, bass1, and bass2 directories each with its own zip file.

Click one of the following buttons to download the .zip file for your chorus part.

Also download the Tutti .zip file. You will need this set of files too. Playlists will not be able to find some of their audio files without the Tutti files being present in their own directory.

In a some cases, the Tutti file stands in place of a part file for unison singing. Playlists in the part .zip may be missing one or more numbers if the Tutti download is omitted.

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.