Sir arthur sullivan

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“Iclanthe” was brought out on Nov. 25, 1882, “Princess Ida” on Jan. 5, 1884, and the most successful of the whole series, “The Mikado,” on March 14, 1885. “Ruddigore” followed it on Jan. 22, 1887, “The Yeomen of the Guard” on Oct. 3, 1888, and “The Gondoliers” on Dec. 7, 1889. The previous Birmingham Festival (1870) had commissioned the Overture di Ballo. 1871 saw the composition of the best-known of Sullivan’s seventy-odd hymn tunes, “St.

One of them, “O Israel” a “sacred song,” was published by Novello in 1855. The reconcilement of the Savoy differences was a matter of national rejoicing, and on Oct. 7, 1893, the next Gilbert and Sullivan opera was seen, called “Utopia Limited”; for the next production, a revival of the “Contrabandista”—to a libretto of Burnand’s with various modifications of the original, was given as “The Chieftain,” on Dec.

12, 1894. Sullivan succeeded Sir Michael Costa as conductor of the Leeds Festival of 1880, and wrote for it “The Martyr of Antioch,” to words selected from Milman’s play of that name. His father, a native of County Cork, was a bandmaster, and chief professor of the clarinet at Kneller Hall; he was thus born amongst music. Two very graceful pianoforte pieces, entitled “Thoughts,” were among his earliest publications.

Stainer, and he was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Music. He wrote his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis, in 1871. He was appointed Organist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and it was there that his second major composition, a ballet entitled L’Ile Enchantée, was produced in May 1864. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated by Sullivan in two compositions: the ballet, “Victoria and Merrie England,” produced at the Alhambra, May 25, 1897, in which a danced fugue was the best and most interesting number; and a “Festival Te Deum,” given at the Chester Festival of 1897.

He edited two hymnals and vocal scores of a number of standard operatic works.

The vein thus struck was not at first very rapidly worked. Such are “Will he come?” and “The Lost Chord,” “O ma charmante” (V. This beautiful composition made a great sensation in musical circles, and launched him into London musical society. In 1878, he acted as British Commissioner for Music at the International Exhibition at Paris, and was decorated with the Ligion d’honneur.

Another mistake was made, for although rumours were heard of various new English operas being prepared to take the place of “Ivanhoe,” none was ready when its popularity was over, and Messager’s pretty “Basoche” was produced; at the close of the run of this piece, the theatre was transformed into a music-hall.

Sullivan wrote a good many sets of incidental music to plays, beside “The Tempest,” with which his first recognition had been obtained.

His last composition, in the shape of a single song, was “The Absent-Minded Beggar” to words by Kipling; this served its purpose of obtaining substantial aid for charities consequent upon the Boer War.

The same tunefulness and appropriateness that have made his songs such favourites also distinguish his numerous Anthems. Gertrude”, for the Revd.

Various circumstances contributed to the ultimate failure of the scheme, and to the establishment of the “Palace Theatre of Varieties” in its stead. In 1869 he composed a short oratorio on the story of the “Prodigal Son,” for the Worcester Festival, where it was produced on Sept. For the seasons 1878 and 1879 he conducted the Promenade Concerts at Covent Garden for Messrs.