GILBERT AND SULLIVAN

Part 1: The Correspondence, Diaries, Literary Manuscripts and Prompt Copies of W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) from the British Library, London

Chronology 1836 to 1911

Compiled by Stephen Turnbull

1836

18 November: Birth of William Schwenck Gilbert, only son of four children born to William Gilbert, novelist and former navy surgeon, and Anne Gilbert (née Morris). His second name was the surname of his godmother.

1837

Accession of Queen Victoria

1842

13 May: Birth of Arthur Seymour Sullivan, younger of two sons born to Thomas Sullivan, musician, and Mary Clementina Sullivan (née Coghlan).

1844

Birth of Richard D’Oyly Carte.

1847-1850

Gilbert attends Western Grammar School, Brompton.

1850-1852

Gilbert attends Great Ealing School.

1853

Gilbert returns to Brompton then registers at King’s College, London.

1854

Sullivan admitted as one of the Children (boy choristers) of the Chapel Royal, where he studies under the Revd. Thomas Helmore.

1855

Gilbert registers as a student of the Inner Temple.

Sullivan’s first published work, a sacred song, “O Israel”, with text from the Bible.

1856

Gilbert applies to sit the competitive examination for a commission in the Royal Artillery, but the end of the Crimean War leads to its indefinite postponement.

Sullivan enters the Royal Academy of Music as the first winner of the Mendelssohn Scholarship. His tutors there include John Goss and William Sterndale Bennett.

1857

Gilbert graduates with a BA (first class honours) from London University. Enters the Education Department of the Privy Council Office.

1858

The Mendelssohn Scholarship is extended to enable Sullivan to enter the Leipzig Conservatory, where his tutors include Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Hauptmann and Louis Plaidy.

1859

Gilbert joins the 5th West Yorkshire Militia as a lieutenant.

1860

3 October: Gilbert’s first traceable published work, a letter to The Times about an assault he suffered in the street.

1861

30 August: Gilbert’s name appears on a playbill for the first time: his translation of the “Laughing Song” from Auber’s Manon Lescaut is sung at Alfred Mellon’s promenade concert.

Sullivan completes his studies at Leipzig: his graduation piece, which he conducts at the graduation concert (6 April), is a suite of incidental music for Shakespeare’s The Tempest. He returns to England, taking work as a teacher and as organist of St. Michael’s church, Chester Square.

1862

1 February: Gilbert’s first identifiable column in Fun, a humorous periodical founded in 1861.

5 April: Performance of Sullivan’s incidental music to The Tempest at the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts conducted by August Manns. So successful that it is repeated the following Saturday. This performance is highly praised by Dickens.

1863

Gilbert receives a legacy of £300, leaves the civil service and finances his call to the Bar.

31 October: first performance of Gilbert’s first play, Uncle Baby, at the Lyceum Theatre.

1864

Sullivan working as Organist at Covent Garden under Sir Michael Costa. Writes L’Ile Enchantée, a ballet for Covent Garden, performed there with Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula. Writes an unperformed opera The Sapphire Necklace, most of the music for which is lost.

1865

Gilbert illustrates The Magic Mirror, a novel by his father. Joins the Aberdeenshire Militia.

1866

Gilbert writes Dulcamara! an extravaganza for the St James’s Theatre; co-writes (with Chas. Millard) Hush-a-Bye, Baby, on the Tree Top, a pantomime for Astley’s Theatre.

Sullivan writes Cox and Box, a “triumviretta” adapted by Francis Cowley Burnand (later editor of Punch) from Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton, for private performance.

Death of Thomas Sullivan, aged 61. Sullivan, wrestling with a commission from the Norwich Festival, is inspired by his death to write the overture In Memoriam. First performances of his Symphony in E (later known as “the Irish”) and Cello Concerto.

1867

Gilbert marries Lucy Agnes Turner. Writes Allow me to Explain, a farce, for the Prince of Wales Theatre; Highly Improbable, a farce, for the Royalty Theatre; Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, a pantomime, for the Lyceum.

Sulivan becomes Organist of St. Peter, Cranley Gardens. First public performances of Cox and Box at the Adelphi Theatre. Writes the overture Marmion for the Philharmonic Society; The Contrabandista, a two-act operetta, with Burnand: first performed 18 December at St. George’s Hall. Journeys to Vienna with George Grove in search of lost Schubert manuscripts. They discover an overture, two symphonies and the Rosamunde incidental music. Probable first meeting with Mrs. Mary Frances Ronalds, later to become his mistress and companion for the remainder of his life.

1868

Gilbert writes The Merry Zingara, a burlesque, for the Royalty; No Cards, an operetta, for the Gallery of Illustration. Ends his legal career. Publishes The Bab Ballads - Much Sound and Little Sense. The new Gaiety Theatre opens with Gilbert’s Robert the Devil, an operatic burlesque.

Sullivan publishes Seven Part-Songs, including “The Long Day Closes”.

1869

Gilbert illustrates King George’s Middy, a novel by his father. Writes The Pretty Druidess, a travesty of Norma, for the Charing Cross Theatre; Ages Ago (music by Frederic Clay) for the Gallery of Illustration; An Old Score, a comedy, for the Gaiety.

Sullivan writes oratorio The Prodigal Son for the Three Choirs Festival (Worcester).

1870

Gilbert writes The Princess, a parody of Tennyson’s poem, for the Olympic Theatre; The Gentleman in Black, a musical play (music by Clay), for the Charing Cross Theatre; The Palace of Truth, a comedy, for the Haymarket Theatre; Our Island Home (music by Thomas German Reed) for the Gallery of Illustration.

Sullivan writes the Overture di Ballo for the Birmingham Festival.

Mrs. Ronalds moves to London.

Probable first meeting of Gilbert and Sullivan: they may have known each other already, but are introduced to one another by their mutual friend Frederic Clay at a rehearsal for a revival of Ages Ago.

1871

Gilbert writes Pygmalion and Galatea, a comedy, for the Haymarket; A Sensation Novel (music by Reed) for the Gallery of Illustration; Randall’s Thumb, a comedy, Creatures of Impulse (music by Alberto Randegger), Great Expectations (adapted from Dickens) and On Guard, a comedy, all for the Court Theatre.

Sullivan writes On Shore and Sea, a dramatic cantata, for an international exhibition in the newly-opened Royal Albert Hall; incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice for Charles Calvert’s production at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester.

Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on Thespis, a two-act operetta in pantomime style for John Hollingshead at the Gaiety. With 63 performances it outlasts most of that year’s Christmas novelties but, with the exception of one benefit performance in April 1872, it is never revived. The libretto is later published but, apart from a song “Little Maid of Arcadee” (published 1872), the chorus “Climbing over rocky mountain” (recycled into The Pirates of Penzance) and a 9-minute ballet from Act II, the music is lost.

1872

Gilbert writes Happy Arcadia (music by Clay) for the Gallery of Illustration. Publishes More Bab Ballads.

Sullivan writes the Festival Te Deum to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from typhoid fever.

It is first performed at the Crystal Palace on 1 May with 2,000 performers and an audience of 26,000.

1873

Gilbert writes The Wicked World, a comedy, for the Haymarket. As F. Latour Tomline he writes, with Gilbert à Beckett, The Happy Land, a burlesque of The Wicked World, for the Court. This is banned briefly because it caricatures Gladstone and other government figures. As Tomline writes The Realm of Joy, a farce; translates The Wedding March, a farce, from the French, both for the Royalty.

Sullivan writes The Light of the World, an oratorio on the life of Christ, for the Birmingham Festival.

1874

Gilbert writes Charity, a drama, for the Haymarket; Ought We To Visit Her? a drama, for the Royalty; Topsyturveydom, (music by Alfred Cellier), for the Criterion Theatre; Sweethearts for the Prince of Wales Theatre; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, a travesty of Hamlet.

Sullivan writes incidental music for John Hollingshead’s production of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Gaiety. Edits Church Hymns with Tunes for the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.

1875

Gilbert writes Eyes and No Eyes, an operetta (music by Reed), for St. George’s Hall; Tom Cobb, a comedy, for the St James’s Theatre; Broken Hearts (a verse drama) for the Court.

Sullivan writes The Zoo, a one-act through-composed operetta with libretto by Bolton Rowe (B. C. Stephenson).

25 March: Production of Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan (henceforth G & S) at the Royalty Theatre under the management of Richard D’Oyly Carte. A one-act through-composed afterpiece to Offenbach’s La Périchole, it is a great success, running from March - June and October - December 1875 and prompting the creation of the Comedy Opera Company by Carte.

1876

Gilbert writes Dan’l Druce, Blacksmith, a drama, for the Haymarket Theatre; Princess Toto, an operetta (music by Clay), for the Strand Theatre.

Gilbert’s parents separate.

Sullivan is appointed first Principal and Professor of Composition of the newly established National Training School for Music (now the Royal College of Music).

1877

Production of The Sorcerer by G & S at the Opéra Comique. It runs for 175 performances. Gilbert writes Engaged, a comedy, for the Haymarket; On Bail, a farce, for the Olympic Theatre.

Sullivan’s brother Frederic, architect and actor (creator of the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury), dies aged 39. Sullivan composes “The Lost Chord” by his bedside. It goes on to become arguably the most famous song of the Victorian era. Sullivan assumes responsibility for Fred’s family, who eventually settle in Los Angeles, except for his son Herbert, whom Sullivan unofficially adopts. Writes incidental music for Charles Calvert’s production of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII at the Theatre Royal, Manchester.

1878

Production of HMS Pinafore by G & S at the Opéra Comique. It runs for 571 performances. It is the duo’s first major international success and is received in America with “enthusiasm bordering upon insanity” (Kate Field, Scribner’s Monthly, xviii, 754). A pattern is established with D’Oyly Carte’s touring companies which continues throughout the G&S collaboration. One or more companies tour exclusively the new opera while one or more play it in repertory with the existing operas. At times there are six companies simultaneously touring the G&S operas.

Gilbert writes The Ne’er Do Weel (later renamed The Vagabond), a drama, for the Olympic.

1879

31 December: Production of The Pirates of Penzance by G & S at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York. In an attempt to put a stop to the pirating of their works by other managements, Gilbert and Sullivan travel to the USA to personally oversee the production. A performance takes place in Paignton, Devon the previous day to establish British copyright.

Gilbert writes Gretchen, a verse tragedy, for the Olympic.

1880

3 April: Production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Opéra Comique. It runs for 363 performances.

Sullivan is appointed conductor of the triennial Leeds Musical Festival, the most important in the country, and is commissioned by the Festival Committee to compose The Martyr of Antioch, a “sacred musical drama” with words by the late Very Revd. Henry Hart Milman. Sullivan asks Gilbert to do some minor modifications to the libretto.

1881

23 April: Production of Patience, a satire on the aesthetic movement, by G & S at the Opéra Comique. 11 October: Patience transfers to the Savoy Theatre, built by Carte as a home for the G&S collaborations, and completes a run of 578 performances. The Savoy Theatre is the first public building in the country to be lit by electricity.

Gilbert writes Foggerty’s Fairy, a farce, for the Criterion Theatre.

1882

Production of Iolanthe by G & S at the Savoy Theatre. It runs for 398 performances.

Death of Mary Clementina Sullivan aged 70.

1883

Sullivan is knighted for services to music.

1884

Production of Princess Ida by G & S at the Savoy - it runs for 246 performances. First Savoy revival of The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury.

Gilbert writes Comedy and Tragedy, a drama, for the Lyceum Theatre.

1885

14 March: Production of The Mikado by G & S at the Savoy. It runs for 672 performances. It rapidly goes around the world, becoming and remaining their most popular and successful joint work.

1886

Sullivan writes cantata The Golden Legend (libretto by Joseph Bennett after Longfellow) for the Leeds Festival. The piece is so successful that it becomes for a time the most performed choral work in the country after Handel’s Messiah and the composer actually takes steps to suppress some performances to prevent its becoming too hackneyed.

1887

22 January: Production of Ruddygore by G & S at the Savoy. Name later changed to Ruddigore. It runs for 288 performances and is not revived until 1920. First Savoy revival of HMS Pinafore.

1888

First revivals of The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado at the Savoy.

3 October: Production of The Yeomen of the Guard by G & S at the Savoy. It runs for 423 performances.
Gilbert writes Brantinghame Hall, a drama, for the St James’s Theatre. Builds the Garrick Theatre, which opens in April 1889.

5 October: Sullivan records his voice for Thomas Edison and predicts that, as a result of the invention of the phonograph “so much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever.” Writes incidental music for Henry Irving’s production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the Lyceum.

1889

Production of The Gondoliers by G & S at the Savoy. It runs for 554 performances.

1890

The G & S partnership is broken following an acrimonious financial dispute (the so-called “carpet quarrel”) between Gilbert and Carte.

Death of William Gilbert aged 85. Gilbert purchases and moves to the Grim’s Dyke estate, Harrow Weald, Middlesex. Publication of Original Comic Operas and Songs of a Savoyard.

1891

Gilbert is made a Justice of the Peace.

30 January: Production of Ivanhoe, a romantic opera in three acts by Sullivan with libretto by Julian Sturgis based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel, for the Royal English Opera House, newly built by Carte as a home for English opera. It runs for an unprecedented 155 consecutive performances.

1892

Gilbert writes The Mountebanks, an operetta with music by Alfred Cellier (who dies shortly before the opening) for the Lyric Theatre; Haste the Wedding, an operetta with music by George Grossmith, for the Criterion.

April: Sullivan gravely ill. Recovers to write Haddon Hall, a three-act operetta with libretto by Sydney Grundy for the Savoy.

1893

G & S resume collaboration. 7 October: Production of Utopia Limited at the Savoy. It runs for 245 performances.

1894

Gilbert writes His Excellency, an operetta with music by F. Osmond Carr, for the Lyric.

Sullivan writes The Chieftain, an extended reworking by Burnand of The Contrabandista, for the Savoy. An abridged version of Cox and Box is added to the bill from 31 December.

1895

Second Savoy revival of The Mikado.

Sullivan writes incidental music to King Arthur by Joseph Comyns Carr for the Lyceum.

1896

7 March: Production of The Grand Duke by G & S at the Savoy Theatre. It runs for 123 performances and is their final collaboration. Third Savoy revival of The Mikado.

1897

Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. As part of the jubilee celebrations Sullivan writes a “grand national ballet”, Victoria and Merrie England, for the Alhambra. First performed 25 May; runs for 155 performances. Sullivan also sets the Jubilee Hymn (“O King of Kings”, words by Bishop William Walsham How), commanded to be sung in all churches on Sunday 20 June. First revival of The Gondoliers at the Savoy Theatre.

Gilbert writes The Fortune-Hunter, a drama, for the Birmingham Theatre.

1898

Second Savoy revivals of The Gondoliers and The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury. Sullivan writes The Beauty Stone, a three-act opera with libretto by Arthur Wing Pinero and Comyns Carr, for the Savoy.

1899

Second Savoy revival of HMS Pinafore.

Sullivan writes The Rose of Persia, an operetta with a libretto by Basil Hood, for the Savoy; sets Kipling’s poem “The Absent-minded Beggar” for the Daily Mail fund for the dependents of those fighting in the Boer War.

1900

Second Savoy revival of The Pirates of Penzance. First Savoy revival of Patience.

22 November: Death of Sir Arthur Sullivan. His wish to be buried in his family grave in Brompton Cemetery is set aside by Queen Victoria and he is given what amounts to a state funeral prior to interrment in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1901

22 January: Death of Queen Victoria.

3 April: Death of Richard D’Oyly Carte.

27 April: The Emerald Isle, an operetta with libretto by Basil Hood, left unfinished at Sullivan’s death, is completed by Edward German and opens at the Savoy.

1902

End of the Boer War. 8 June: Sullivan’s Te Deum Laudamus - A Thanksgiving for Victory (known as the Boer War Te Deum), commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1900, is first performed there.

1904

Gilbert writes Harlequin and The Fairy’s Dilemma for the Garrick.

1907

Gilbert is knighted, the first dramatist to be so honoured.

1909

Gilbert writes Fallen Fairies, an operetta with music by Edward German, for the Savoy.

1911

Gilbert writes The Hooligan, a short serious sketch, for the Coliseum Theatre.

29 May: Death of Sir W. S. Gilbert from heart failure brought on by his attempt to save a young woman from drowning in the lake at Grim’s Dyke. He is survived by his wife. They have no children.

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