Description
Geoffrey Toye (1889-1942) is perhaps best known for his association with the D’Oyly-Carte Opera Company, where he revived Gilbert & Sullivan’s mock horror operetta Ruddigore, for which he composed a new overture. His one-act ballet The Haunted Ballroom (1934) – which featured none other than Margot Fonteyn in her first principal role – is Toye’s most famous original work.
In the 1920s he published a number of songs, mostly for baritone solo and chorus including arrangements of a number of sea shanties including The Drunken Sailor. The Drunken Sailor (also known as What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor? ) is thought to date back to around 1820 when it was sung to accompany certain work tasks aboard sailing ships. The shanty became popular on land in the 1900s by which time it had been adopted as repertoire for glee singing at Eton College: by the 1910s, men had begun to sing it regularly at gatherings of the Savage Club in London.
Toye’s version was published in 1926 and was dedicated to (and likely commissioned by) the Selecta Club – presumably a gentlemen’s singing club.
