Cox and Box - Versions

Versions

The original domestic version is scored for the three voices (Box, tenor; Cox, baritone; and Bouncer, counter-tenor) and piano. Sullivan wrote the role of Bouncer in the alto range for Foster, a counter-tenor, but subsequently the role was played by a bass or bass-baritone. For the theatre, Sullivan rescored the piece for his usual small orchestra of about 30 players. He added a short overture and some additional music in the main piece, including the extended duet, "Stay, Bouncer, Stay!". This version plays for just under an hour. For the 1894 revival by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Sullivan cut the "Sixes" duet (No. 9) in which Box and Cox each try to lose (the stake being the unwanted Penelope Ann). He also cut verses from numbers 2 (first verse); 3 (Cox's first verse, "That two are two" and a repeat of the "Rataplan" duet); 4 (second verse); 6 (a repeat of the "Rataplan" trio) and the vocal sections of 10 (finale). Dialogue cuts were also made.

The 'Savoy Version' of 1921 made further minor cuts throughout the score, but restored the finale (except for Bouncer's reprise). Box's verse in No.7, "The Buttercup", was also omitted, and further dialogue cuts were made. The keys of some of the numbers are lower in the Savoy Version, so that Bouncer is best sung by a bass-baritone. The key changes, however, may have been first made by Sullivan for the 1894 revival. The 1921 Savoy Edition runs about half an hour. The changes were made by D'Oyly Carte musical director Harry Norris. Additional orchestrations were added at various places by Geoffrey Toye, the guest conductor of the company's 1920–21 London season. According to musicologist Roger Harris, "taken all together, the tamperings of the 1921 version amount to a considerable vandalization of Sullivan's original score, and it is a matter for regret that this version should have been presented to successive generations as the genuine article."