American tenor David Portillo made his Seattle Opera debut as the dutiful Frederic in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. In the comic opera’s one “serious” number, he prepares to abandon his beloved Mabel, and so bids her a tearful farewell. With Vanessa Becerra as Mabel. The orchestra of Seattle Opera was conducted by David Charles Abell. Photo by Sunny Martini.
Ah, must I leave thee here
In endless night to dream,
Where joy is dark and drear,
And sorrow all supreme –
Where nature, day by day,
Will sing, in altered tone,
This weary roundelay:
“He loves thee – he is gone.
Fa la la.”
