Sullivan, Sir Arthur (1842 -1900)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Reminiscent at times of Dvorak and Svendsen, perhaps.

And yet written before either composer wrote their own first symphonies. ("Preminiscent"?)

[LMcD]

And yet written before either composer wrote their own first symphonies. ("Preminiscent"?)

Every day I learn, Mr. Fawlty.
Quote from the liner notes, written by Tom Higgins in 1993: Although a comparison with early German Romanticism is well warranted, what should not be overlooked is the degree to which the work also looks forward to symphonic development later in the 19th century.
(I was aware that the first performance was in 1866, but failed to relate that date to the output of the 2 composers I mentioned).

[Oakapple]

Matthew Parris writes this in his column for the Times today: "Poor Sullivan: manacled to Gilbert, longing to escape, yet a talent never quite realized without him".

Most of the criticism of Sullivan's non-Gilbert music written in the last 70 years has been by people who have never heard it performed or even seen the scores. But the last ten years or so have been very good to Sullivan with professional recordings and scholarly editions of some of the G&S operas appearing for the first time. Most notable are The Light of the World, Ivanhoe, The Beauty Stone, On Shore and Sea, The Prodigal Son and the complete music for The Tempest and Macbeth.

Surely the time is ripe for a new biography and appreciation of his work. The current leading one seems to be by Arthur Jacobs but his is 35 years old and he can be quite dismissive of his subject.

[LMcD]

We're working our way through a box set of G&S performed by the Australian Opera - the perfect antidote to the current fraught times. This evening it was 'The Gondoliers' - 152 minutes of unalloyed joy!
The wonderful Jonathan Miller/ENO 'Mikado' (complete with head butt) is available on YouTube.

[BBMmk2]

I’m hoping for a G & S revival, anytime soon?!?!?

[LMcD]

I’m hoping for a G & S revival, anytime soon?!?!?

For some of us, they never really went away! We always go the Ipswich Gilbert and Sullivan's annual G&S at the Seckford Theatre.

[Oakapple]

They've never been absent from my household either.

I wish the BBC would repeat the complete series they broadcast on Radio 2 on Sunday afternoons in the late 1980s, not least because it included rare professional performances of Utopia Ltd and The Grand Duke as well as deleted songs. Maybe Radio 2 is no longer the platform for it but surely a slot on Radio 3 could be found.

[LMcD]

They've never been absent from my household either.

I wish the BBC would repeat the complete series they broadcast on Radio 2 on Sunday afternoons in the late 1980s, not least because it included rare professional performances of Utopia Ltd and The Grand Duke as well as deleted songs. Maybe Radio 2 is no longer the platform for it but surely a slot on Radio 3 could be found.

The two operas you mention are available on YouTube. I'm rubbish at links - just google '(Name of opera)BBC Radio 2 YouTube'. These are complete performances dating from 1966. The 1989 series began on 1st October and ran for 12 weeks. Off-air recordings exist but I don't think any have been uploaded.

[BBMmk2]

For some of us, they never really went away! We always go the Ipswich Gilbert and Sullivan's annual G&S at the Seckford Theatre.

You know what I mean!

[Oakapple]

So nice to hear two of Sullivan's settings of Shakespeare songs on Sunday Morning today. It was even nicer to hear some appreciation although Sarah Walker didn't have to say "it's only salon music". So what if it is?

[Barbirollians]

Is it wrong to admit I prefer his Irish Symphony to Stanford 's ?

[LMcD]

Is it wrong to admit I prefer his Irish Symphony to Stanford 's ?

Definitely not!

[Edgy 2]

Is it wrong to admit I prefer his Irish Symphony to Stanford 's ?

No,but I like them both equally

[Leinster Lass]

I recently acquired a BBC Music Magazine CD featuring Sullivan's 'The Rose of Persia'. Described by The Times in 1935 as 'a marriage of The Mikado and the Arabian Nights', it can hardly be described as a radical departure from, or advance on, his work with Gilbert, but I nevertheless enjoyed it very much. Sullivan's score is as elegant, witty, delicate and grand in turn as one might expect, and there are a satisfying number of outrageous rhymes, of which my favourite is perhaps 'trotted/garotted'. Apparently it is rarely performed these days, which seems a pity.

(I'm curious as to why I couldn't find 'Sullivan' under the 'Composers' sub-forum- is that the correct term?).

[Padraig]

(I'm curious as to why I couldn't find 'Sullivan' under the 'Composers' sub-forum).

You can rectify that, rfg, by opening a new thread under 'Composers'.