Gilbert & Sullivan - A Very Model of an English Entertainment
A talk by Roger Askew - December 2017
December’s presentation at the General Meeting was a gallop through the lives and times of this very famous duo, commencing with their early careers, and the genesis of their collaboration with Richard Carte and the establishment of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in the late 1800s.
William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan came from very different backgrounds. Gilbert (born in 1836 to a fairly wealthy family) was brought up in London and, initially, trained as a barrister where he honed his gift for words. His career in the profession was nonetheless something of a failure and he was forced to look elsewhere for a living. Sullivan, on the other hand, also born in London, came from fairly humble beginnings but won a music scholarship at the age of 12, joined the choir of the Chapel Royal and by the age of 14 his music was being performed in public. In 1866, he wrote a processional march for Prince Albert’s marriage to Princess Anne of Denmark and in 1875 he founded the Royal College of Music. The quite separate talents of music and lyric stood these two gentlemen in good stead for potential collaboration.
Their considerable success came from collaboration with producer Richard Carte who brought them together and subsequently founded a syndicate to raise £6,000 for the production of HMS Pinafore. In the late 1800s, this type of musical theatre flourished and, as a consequence, the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was formed and subsequently funded fourteen G & S comic operas, which were lavish and varied, with Gilbert writing the lyrics and Sullivan the music. Sullivan was knighted in 1882 and died in 1900 at the age of 58. Gilbert was also knighted by Edward VII and lived on until 1911. He is buried in Stanmore Churchyard.
It was a fascinating talk, punctuated with musical clips from Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, to which the audience were encouraged to sing along!
Thank you to Colin for arranging this very light-hearted entertainment for the final general meeting of the year.
Janet Cato
December 2017
William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan came from very different backgrounds. Gilbert (born in 1836 to a fairly wealthy family) was brought up in London and, initially, trained as a barrister where he honed his gift for words. His career in the profession was nonetheless something of a failure and he was forced to look elsewhere for a living. Sullivan, on the other hand, also born in London, came from fairly humble beginnings but won a music scholarship at the age of 12, joined the choir of the Chapel Royal and by the age of 14 his music was being performed in public. In 1866, he wrote a processional march for Prince Albert’s marriage to Princess Anne of Denmark and in 1875 he founded the Royal College of Music. The quite separate talents of music and lyric stood these two gentlemen in good stead for potential collaboration.
Their considerable success came from collaboration with producer Richard Carte who brought them together and subsequently founded a syndicate to raise £6,000 for the production of HMS Pinafore. In the late 1800s, this type of musical theatre flourished and, as a consequence, the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was formed and subsequently funded fourteen G & S comic operas, which were lavish and varied, with Gilbert writing the lyrics and Sullivan the music. Sullivan was knighted in 1882 and died in 1900 at the age of 58. Gilbert was also knighted by Edward VII and lived on until 1911. He is buried in Stanmore Churchyard.
It was a fascinating talk, punctuated with musical clips from Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, to which the audience were encouraged to sing along!
Thank you to Colin for arranging this very light-hearted entertainment for the final general meeting of the year.
Janet Cato
December 2017