Gilbert and Sullivan

The designation Gilbert and Sullivan alludes to a British Victorian opera duo, consisting of the playwright and librettist William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), and the works of musical theatre they created collaboratively. Between 1871 and 1896, they worked together on fourteen comic operas that enjoyed significant international acclaim. By parodying older, both British and Continental, works and genres, Gilbert and Sullivan created the distinctive form of English comic opera, while also engaging in parodies of cultural formations such as behaviours, attitudes, institutions and, for example, stereotypes such as ‘the angel in the house’ as a way of playing with these conventions of social life (Williams xiii).

Their First Collaboration

The duo first came together in 1871 to produce a Christmas extravaganza, Thepsis, for John Hollingshead, manager of the Gaiety Theatre in London. By that time both of them already had their careers in their respective fields consolidated, with Sullivan already having established himself as leading composer and Gilbert as successful playwright (Williams 1, 3). Their first operatic collaboration only occurred in 1875, when a composer was needed for the musical backdrop of one of Gilbert’s librettos. The resulting work Trial by Jury (1875) was instantly popular and ran for over a year (“Arthur Sullivan”). This second collaboration was instigated on the initiative of Richard D’Oyly Carte (1844-1901), then manager of the Royalty Theatre. His desire to establish a distinctive school of English comic opera and his consequent encouragement and leadership were central to bringing and keeping Gilbert and Sullivan together (Williams 1). Upon their early success, Carte formed the Comedy Opera Company with the aim to present and promote Gilbert and Sullivan’s works (“Arthur Sullivan”).