THE STORY OF GILBERT & SULLIVAN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 June 1939, Page 2

THE STORY OF GILBERT & SULLIVAN

rpHE moment they met, W. S. Gilbert sprang a conundrum on Arthur Sullivan, who thought it over for 30 years. This is characteristic of the peculiar partnership between these two men, who conjointly produced some of the most popular 'theatrical work in the world. Gilbert was always springing something, and Sullivan was always thinking it over. When they met in I 1870, William Schwenck Gilbert had j already had an exciting life, comprising | twenty years in the Gordon Highland- [ ers, and practically a lifetime of writing

—interspersed with quarrels, enmities, hostilities and reconciliations. He was hot-tem- ■ pered. egotistic,’ but blessed I with assuaging charm which provoked him to last-minute repentances and got him out of the many ‘•scrapes” into which his irrepressible humour and wit trapped him. Sullivan was the poor son of an Irish musician. Crazy for musical knowledge, he went | on a scholarship to study in Leipzig. Bright, obliging, sincere, Sullivan was loved wherever he went. His rapid ascent to the topmost circles in the musical world provoked ■ nothing but applause. His | compositions and songs became very popular, and his crowning fame came with his 5 composition of "Onward, i Christian Soldiers.” To this 5 talented and charming young ■ man came the fiery Gilbert, < whose humour shocked and J delighted the staid Victorians. : From the start the collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan i’ was a success, and in many | I ways a dissatisfaction to both i I of them. Gilbert usually be-1 I gan by writing the story. He I read it to Sullivan, who made ' suggestions, then wrote the | libretto. As soon as the songs s for the first act were com- -f pleted. he posted them off to 5. Sullivan, busying himself on those of the second act. He g worked generally at night. * because then, as he said, the

only person who could interrupt him then was a burglar. Sullivan, meanwhile, was turning out those melodies that probably will never die, and being aggrieved by their success. He yearned to write oratorio, and his success in Comic opera was a distinct perversity to him. He was continually tormented by a painful illness, and much of his erratic working power traced back to it. However, “I'll Sing Thee Songs of Araby,” “The Lost Chord” and “O, Mistress Mine” were produced during this period.

Gilbert was jealous of the music he inspired in Sullivan, and Sullivan was annoyed that he should be dependent upon Gilbert for inspiration. Several sharp brushes resulted in the sensitive Sullivan retiring. The theatre manager D’Oyly Carte patched it up, and Gilbert plunged enthusiastically into a plot which haunted him all his life — that of a magic lozenge the eating of which changed the eater into what he most wanted to be. Sullivan was horrified by the idea, and there was more friction. Eventually Gilbert relinquish-

ed it, and concentrated on “The Mikado.” This delightful work was then, as now, ' the most popular of their operas. On the heels of “The Mikado” the fatal lozenge cropped up once again, but I was staved off by the sudden ; inspiration of “Ruddigore.” i This had a mixed reception, i Gilbert desultorily eommenc--led "The Yeoman of the Guard.” and Sullivan, who did not care what his partner : wrote about, providing it was not about lozenges, composed ; some delightful music. "The Gondoliers” was at the height of its popularity when D’Oyly Carte, for a trifling reason, dismissed Gilbert and sought for another librettist. The young James Barrie was disappointing. and the critic Bernard Shaw declined the offer, so Sullivan thankfllily turned to grand opera. His effort was almost a failure, and poor Sullivan nearly broke his heart. The fuming Gilbert, as might have been expected, turned at once to his lozenge, and it eventually emerged as "The Mountebanks" —and surprisingly successful. D’Oyly Carte, realising that he had lost the goose with the golden egg, approached Gilbert once again, and the two partners reunited on "Utopia, Ltd." But the old fire was gone. They collaborated once more on "The Grand Duke." and that was the end of v. grand and glorious partnership.

The illustration above is of Kenny Baker and Jean Colin, who appear as Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum in the film version of "The Mikado,” the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be brought to the screen. I