By the middle of the nineteenth century, the state of British musical theatre had begun to deteriorate. What operetta there was, was imported, mainly works from France such as those of Offenbach. Victorian theatre was burlesques, vulgar and suggestive and, horrors! women dressed as men. The proper Victorians did not go to the 'immoral' theatre, they went to Oratorios. Sullivan was already famous in this genre and considered to be the only hope for British music. (Meanwhile, Gilbert was writing burlesques.)

Gilbert and Sullivan restored British musical theatre, making it proper to attend. Their work was rooted in British social satire and British music. They were first brought together by John Hollinghead who, in 1871, commissioned them to write Thespis or The Gods Grown Old. By then, they were both successful on their own and, although they knew each other, no idea of a permanent collaboration was considered. They did not work together again until Trial by Jury, four years later. Thespis was a 'grotesque' opera. Gilbert directed it and it had a modest run. Its music has now been lost except for some Sullivan used again in The Pirates of Penzance. (Attempts to find the music of Thespis included the use of a clairvoyant.)

COLLABORATION
General
Together, they founded a new school of British music. In their usual procedure, Gilbert polished a scenario then sent Sullivan the songs, revising them if necessary. Only then did he begin the dialogue. The chorus was always an integral part of the cast. Richard D'Oyly Carte gave them full control in their departments and never interfered. Stravinsky compared them to Strauss and Hofmannsthal.

Their operas gallop along like happy colts, not like cart horses. They are also moral. The characters are good and bad, and the moral is always clearly drawn, although I do not overlook the sophistication of the satire. ... While they depend on conventions, their attack on conventions is always progressive.

They were vastly different in their personalities and in their physiques. While they usually worked well together, they did not mix socially. Gilbert was extremely tall and carried himself stiffly. Sullivan was short, stocky and outgoing. To minimize this obvious difference when they were taking curtain calls, they entered from opposite sides of the stage and did not stand very close together. Sullivan smiled and bowed in acknowledgement of the applause; Gilbert stood stiffly and bowed only with head jerks.

The only time they were regularly in each other's company was on an 1879 trip to America where they made a good impression. The New York Herald wrote: "Two more amiable, modest, simple, good-natured and vivacious men could not easily be imagined. They fairly brim over with animation, high spirits and the jolliest kind of bonhomie". The members of the company were in awe of them but respected them. They felt a patriotic desire to show other countries what Englishmen could do.

Specific Operas
Their first success under the auspices of D'Oyly Carte, was Trial by Jury which featured Sullivan's brother Frederick as the Judge. This was followed by The Sorcerer for Carte's newly formed Comedy Opera Company. They were able to pick the artists they wanted and to train them for their sorts of roles. When Gilbert approached him, George Grossmith (later Ko-Ko in The Mikado) had been giving songs and recitations to working men in the provinces. He said: "I should have thought you required a fine man with a fine voice". Gilbert relied: "No, that is just what we don't want". Of Rutland Barrington he said: "He's a staid, stolid, swine, and that's what I want". As a reflection of the attitude toward regular theatre, Grossmith was afraid that if he appeared on professional stage the Christian institutes such as YMCA for which he had been appearing would not longer hire him. He required some persuasion to join the company.

The Sorcerer was followed by H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, Iolanthe, and Princess Ida before the hugely successful The Mikado, the only one to achieve massive popularity in non-English speaking countries. It was followed by Ruddigore, The Yeoman of the Guard, The Gondoliers, Utopia Unlimited and The Grand Duke. After that, they led completely separate lives. Only one later meeting between them has been recorded. However, disagreements between the two have been overrated. No doubt Sullivan felt his role was subordinate to Gilbert's who had complete control over not only the text, but also the staging, costumes, etcetera. (Tellingly, 'Gilbert and Sullivan' is a very unusual billing. Almost always, the composer is listed first.) However, according to contemporaries, for the most part they worked very closely and well together.

THE CARPET AFFAIR
The latter part of their collaboration was marred by the 'infamous carpet affair'. This is a brief summary. For all of the details see: http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/html/quarrel.html.

According to the contract between Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan, "all expenses and charges of producing the ... operas and all the performances of the same, including ... repairs incidental to the performance" were to be deducted from the profits before these were shared. When Gilbert discovered that the expense of new carpets for the front of the theatre had been deducted, he became incensed. Sullivan refused to side with Gilbert (he was very involved with Carte in the building of the new Opera House and the production of his Ivanhoe), and Gilbert wrote to him: "The time for putting an end to our collaboration has at last arrived. In accordance, therefore, with the contents of my note to you of this morning, I am writing a letter to Carte (of which I enclose a copy) giving him notice that he is not ro produce or perform any of my libretti after Christmas 1890. In point of fact, after the withdrawal of The Gondoliers, our united work will be heard in public no more". The case ended up in court. However, in spite of the violent disagreement, they did work together on Utopia, Unlimited and on The Grand Duke and, according to Gilbert at any rate, at the time of Sullivan's death the differences between them had been bridged,and the relationship between them was cordial.

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Revised June 2009
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