A FAMOUS PAIR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 May 1938, Page 2

A FAMOUS PAIR

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN. SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF “H.M.S. PINAFORE.” (By “Rondo.”) One of the most famous, most interesting and most successful collaborations in theatrical history is recalled by the celebration, today, of the sixtieth anniversary of the first performance of “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Gilbert, the author, and Sullivan, the composer, were men of entirely different outlook and ideals, yet, despite their lack of understanding, they produced a series of operas which have survived the cinema, jazz and the modern revue and won popularity in all parts of the world. Both Gilbert and Sullivan were well-known men when they were introduced to each other, in the autumn of 1870, by Frederick Clay, the composer. Gilbert was 35 and one of the most popular dramatists of the day and Sullivan, vsio was 29, was gaining renown with his musical works. Their first opera, “Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old,” an “entirely original grotesque opera in two acts,” was produced at the Gaiety Theatre on December 23, 1871. This was followed over three years later by the more familiar “Trial by Jury,” and another 2J years saw the production at the Opera Comique Theatre of “The Sorcerer.” Though these three operas had fairly good runs, it was not until the production of “H.M.S. Pinafore” on May 25, 1938, that Gilbert and Sullivan opera was established as a popular form of entertainment. At first, however, the opera was anything but well received. One critic said that “in its story itself there is not much of humour to balance its studied absurdity” and another described it as “a frothy production, destined soon to subside into nothingness.” For a number of weeks the attendances were alarmingly small and the receipts uncomfortably low and the management seriously contemplated the withdrawal of the production. In the words of S. J. Adair Fitz Gerald: “Matters were becoming ludicrous. One Friday the artists were really unaware whether the next night was to be the last or not. Eventually the directors agreed to accept the proposals of the company—including the chorus, who were only getting thirty shillings a week—which was to make a reduction of a third on their salaries.” Then the wind changed and what appeared to be an impending failure became an outstanding success. At the time, Sullivan was conducting a series of promenade concerts at Covent Garden. One evening a brilliant orchestral arrangement by Hamilton Clarke of “Pinafore” was presented. In this way the principal melodies of the opera were introduced to the audience. At once hundreds of people, who had been delighted with the music, flocked to see the opera, and thus disaster was averted and “Pinafore” went on its gay way for a run of two years.

Soon after the London production, the opera was presented in America, where it was received, as one writer said, with “an enthusiasm bordering upon insanity.” The opera was played by companies everywhere, and there was a good deal of pirating. In New York alone there were eight companies playing it at the same time, each presenting a different version!

As one listens to the delightful music of “H.M.S. Pinafore,” it is difficult to realise that Sullivan wrote it when suffering great pain from a severe illness. From the bright opening chorus of sailors to the equally bright finale,. “Pinafore” is filled with catchy songs and choruses which have a charm of their own. In many of the “Pinafore” lyrics, Gilbert is at his best, and who does not love his absurd characters? Gilbert was just as much a humorist in real life as he was on paper. He was magnificent at repartee, says one writer, but it was the repartee of the kind he used toward a girl who complained that a chorister had put his arm round her waist and called her “a pretty dear.” “Never mind,” said Gilbert, “he couldn’t have meant it.”

Familiar to thousands are the many other successes of those two amazing men—“ Pirates of Penzance,” ‘vyhich ran for 300 nights; “Patience,” the brilliant satire on the “aesthetic craze”; “lolanthe,” the delightful fairy opera; “Princess Ida,” “a perversion on Tennyson's immortal work”; “The Mikado,” perhaps the most popular of all; the supernatural “Ruddigore,” “The Yeomen of the Guard,” “The Gondoliers,” “Utopia, Ltd.” Not one of the whole series was a failure and all are still being performed to enthusiastic audiences throughout the world —surely a remarkable tribute to two remarkable men.