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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

Experiment in the art of merriment!
Arthur Sullivan’s successes brought many requests for compositions but when his father died his heart was poured into ‘In Memoriam’, which placed him in the vanguard of composers. He then visited Vienna where he tasted the music of Europe’s great composers, including the German Haydn, the Austrian Mozart, the German born Brahms, the Russian Tchaikovsky, Parisian Bizet, and of course the new waltz rhythms.

Both Gilbert and Sullivan were now at the top of their respective professions. Gilbert was also a part time army officer in the Royal Aberdeenshire Militia, and proud of it. (When I First Put this Uniform On!) By the early 1870s Sullivan was a musical figurehead, and was awarded a Doctor of Music degree by Cambridge University. One of the foremost mathematicians of the day was writing children's books under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll. Later, Sullivan was to decline the offer to set some of Carroll's work to music.

Then one day the muse struck! F C Burnand asked him to compose music for an amateur burlesque he had written. This revitalised Arthur’s latent sense of fun. He agreed, and to his amazement ‘Cox & Box’ became popular.

Shortly afterwards, on another chance meeting, composer Fred Clay introduced him to W S Gilbert and within a year they had written their first work ‘Thespis’. The Gods had spoken! What next . . .?

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