Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography

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Curtain-raiser: The London grocer and the Irish soldier
Part I: 1836-1837 by different routes to the stage door
Chapter 1 : 1836-1852 Gilbert: a dramatic childhood. Sullivan: a musical background
Chapter 2 : 1853-1858 The Chapel Royal and King's College
Chapter 3 : 1859-1862 Sullivan at Leipzig
Gilbert at Law
Chapter 4 : 1863-1866 Gilbert and Sullivan: the ballad writers
Part II: 1867-1877 Establishing reputations: from Cox and Box to The Sorcerer
Chapter 5 : 1867-1868 Gilbert and Sullivan in the theatre
Chapter 6 : 1869-1871 The Meeting of Gilbert and Sullivan C Thespis
Chapter 7 : 1872-1873 Different Worlds: Gilbert's The Wicked World
Sullivan's The Light of the World
Chapter 8 : 1874-1875 Trial By Jury
Chapter 9 : 1875-1876 In search of a manager
Chapter 10 : 1876 Sullivan is honoured
Gilbert is ridiculed
Chapter 11 : 1877 The Comedy Opera Company and The Sorcerer
Part III: 1877-1884 The G&S phenomenon: from HMS Pinafore to Princess Ida
Chapter 12 : 1877-1878 HMS Pinafore
Chapter 13 : 1878-1879 Troubled Waters
Chapter 14 : 1879 America and The Pirates of Penzance
Chapter 15 : 1880-1881 Patience
Chapter 16 : 1881 The Savoy Theatre
Chapter 17 : 1881-1882 Iolanthe
Chapter 18 : 1883-1884 Princess Ida

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'A Gilbert is of no use without a Sullivan.' With these words, W.S. Gilbert summed up his reasons for persisting in his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan despite the combative nature of their relationship. In fact, Michael Ainger suggests in Gilbert and Sullivan the success of the pair's work is a direct result of their personality clash, as each partner challenged the other to produce his best work. After exhaustive research into the D'Oyly Carte collection of documents, Ainger offers the most detailed account to date of Gilbert and Sullivan's starkly different backgrounds and long working partnership. Having survived an impoverished and insecure childhood, Gilbert flourished as a financially successful theater professional, married happily and established himself as a property owner. His sense of proprietorship extended beyond real estate, and he fought tenaciously to protect the integrity of his musical works. Sullivan, the product of a supportive family who nourished his talent, was much less satisfied with stability than his collaborator. His creative self-doubts and self-demands led to nervous and physical breakdowns, but it also propelled the team to break the successful mode of their earliest work to produce more ambitious pieces of theater, including The Mikado and The Yeoman of the Guards . Offering previously-unpublished draft libretti and personal letters, this thorough double-biography will be an essential addition to the library of any Gilbert and Sullivan fan.

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