Gilbert and Sullivan Theatrical Partnership - Essay Example

Gilbert and Sullivan Theatrical Partnership Gilbert and Sullivan is basically the Victorian era theatrical partnership which existed between composer Arthur Sullivan born in 1842 and who died in 1900 and between Librettist W.S Gilbert who was born in 1836 and who departed from this world in 1911. They worked on The Pirates of Penzance, H M S Pinafore and also The Mikado which are among the people who are known to be the best. Gilbert was the one who use to write the words and who created fanciful and fantastic worlds for those operas where logical conclusions were deduced out of even absurdity. There were fairies which were taken into account from the British lords and which were flirting with the capital offence along with gondoliers involved in ascending to the monarchy along with pirates who turn out to be the noblemen which actually go wrong. Sullivan was a junior of Gilbert and he was the composer and thus he was responsible for contributing memorable melodies which successfully delivered humor along with pathos. 1 The operas were successful in providing enduring and also broad international success along with performing frequently throughout the English speaking world especially. Sullivan and Gilbert basically introduced innovations along with bright new ideas in content and also form the directly influenced development which are involved in musical theatre. This practice was famous and was popular throughout the 20th century. The operas had a huge influence of the literature, film, television and also political discourse and it was widely pastiche and parodied by humorist. The partnership of Sullivan and Gilbert was brought together by the famous producer Richard D Oyle Carte who basically nurtured and brought together the collaborations. He was responsible for building the Savoy Theatre during the year 1881 and he also presented their joint works which were popularly known as Savoy Operas and they were also responsible for founding D Oyly Carte Opera Company which was good in performing and also promoting the Sullivan’s and Gilbert’s work as a lyricist and composer for almost over a century. Gilbert and Sullivan had played a major role in influencing the English speaking world and the pop culture. Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan had become extremely popular and the lines and quotations have become an integral part of English language. The Savoy operas have played a massive role in influencing the course of development of modern musical theatre and also the political style, literature, discourse and also advertising. All of their work is well known and is also good in conveying a distinct sense of Victorian Britishness along with being visible in the public domain. The songs are related to many operas which appear on the television and movies background. 2 Western culture has strongly pervaded the operas and also the events linked with the lives of the characters from the operas which are memorialized by all the major news outlets. An example can be taken from the New York Times article which is present in Frederic from The pirates of Penzance which was linked with indentures. Musical theatre is basically a type of plays which tells a story using a combination of songs, dances and also spoken dialogue. They are known as musicals. The tone is light and they also have some humor. There are many stories which are told from murder stories to love stories also. Musical theatre is different from the other kinds of stage work. When Gilbert and Sullivan songs are discussed they are specific and linked with the characters and situations along with the characters which are more rounded. Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics and melodies were sang, played, breathed and hummed by people who lived in Britain. They created many musicals from series of about 14 stage musicals and their work and music is successful in entertaining people today as well. There are many reasons of their music being ever green, from the wittiness which was included in their melodic operettas to the songs which sparkled with rhyme and also melodies. Another important reason is the blending of many things from serious to funny and also from realistic to fantasy. It is not easy to talk about the level of influence that Gilbert and Sullivan has on the musical theatre and also the development linked with the musical theatre but one thing which is confirmed is that it redefined it for a longer period of time or probably forever. 3 The operas of Arthur Sullivan were based on W.S Gilbert’s librettos which occupy a strange and also to some extent incomprehensible place in the nineteen century music. They have an outgrowth of a so called serious tradition linked with operatic culture which is made a witness by not only Sullivan but also through rigorous training and also fluent proficiency which is visible in the mainstream tradition of the German music. There are numerous allusions to and also the parodies of the operettas along with predecessors who are less aware of the regard line linked with the musicals and also the shows where the Savoy operas are considered to dwell in a strange no man’s land. This is linked between the respectable that is serious and also frivolous which are popular. The ambience is basically seen as a borne that is linked with strange along with still present formulations. They are double barreled along with being bicephalic when it is specifically being referred to the music. 4 Unrelated and not at the same time all these works were afforded remarkable polarized and the reception which existed between the enormous popular affection and also the critical opprobrium. It is important to understand how the history was linked and it came about. These works can be instituted in a more necessary way in order to investigate the relationship more deeply of the pieces of their musical land and also the aesthetic background which is important and necessary. They have an impact on the divided critical reception. It is important to understand the musical background along with the influences. The position along with the reception of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas need to be understood especially within the context of the sociological and cultural state of Britain musicians who has worked prior to 1870. There was a considerable amount of artistic culture which existed in Britain and it has also been decided literally based on the common senses along with the virtues and the rational thinking. There was a distrust of music which was basically deeply rooted in the mentality of the culture especially since the eighteenth century. The arts there were perceived by many as being dangerously seductive and also effeminate. There was an influence of a mischievous foreign language that would basically lead to the emasculation especially of the British traits, reasons and common sense of empiricism. 5 It is important to understand the reimbursements which are important and are linked with Gilbert and Sullivan. Music was undoubtedly the most important, insubstantial along with being dangerous of everything. There was an insidious capacity for in filtering the emotions and also way wards the freedom from the rational explanation. As per Joseph Addison who wrote in 1711 that music is totally an agreeable entertainment and also that it has the power to make us incapable of hearing sense , if the art is excluded and also if they have much more and greater tendency to the human nature and it’s refinements. Plato who allowed the banishing from his common wealth is another important factor here. Sullivan was successful in leaving the recollection which was from the great meeting which took place between the judges, politicians, financiers, archbishops and everyone on the subject of music and it will depreciate and decrease any knowledge linked with music of smug satisfaction. It is like man basically disowning the poor relations. It had made sure that the love of music was obvious and present in many. It would upshot the music which was imported from the profession of foreigners and also who were of course allowed to be wayward and be morally over emotional and also a suspect. There is an extraordinary list of all the distinguished foreign musicians who basically visited Britain, which include Mendelssohn, Handel, J.C , Bach, Hayden to name just a few and as a result of this the native talents helped in inspiring and being a source of inspiration to musical eminence which is found through the going tough6 (Cultural Influence Of Gilbert And Sullivan,2013). Sullivan just like Thomas Beecham started to complain about the obstacles and hardships faced by the British musicians almost a century later and he also was confronted by great amount of foreign competition.The serious instrumental music provision was little and opera was all there to be chatted over. Britain at that point was not considered to be the land of music and also the native talent which existed was possessed and received by scant encouragement especially from the existing state of society and also the path of musicians like George Macfarren and also William Stern dale Bennett which was normally one of slow and also having sad decline. They had a promising beginning along with having overseas recognition which was exposed in order to accumulate the years of public apathy. The music there was not linked with being used to build the society or even the cultural institutions of the country7 (Hunter, R, 1960). The major reason which gave rise to the Sullivan career to the 1870s was the social and cultural backdrop which was used against this and it also initiated the partnership with W.S Gilbert and it should be charted. The information about Sullivan’s initial period is known by everyone and on winning the first Mendelssohn scholarship which took place in 1856, it gained a lot through training especially in the Bastion of the Germanic music along with Leipzig conservatory performance during 1862 of the graduation piece which was important for the Shakespeare’s music. There was a feeling of temptation which was very obvious and which established him over night as being a great hope of the English music. The attention was then moved towards Ballet of Sullivan. During the year 1864 there was The Sapphire Necklace which was mostly lost along with symphony being involved during the year 1866 and there were also cellocencerto which were linked with overtures and also the songs which included the five notable Shakespeare’s settings along with the English song cycle8 (Michael T, 1939) Benedict Taylor also made few achievements which were linked with the work being performed and it being considerable. There were symphonies which are one of the brightest to emerge from the decades and they were involved between the Brahms and also the Schumann which would remain unsurpassed in English music for many decades. There is a particular and intangible stamp which exists in relation with the Sullivan and how they emerged confidently from the familiar background. This was considered but at the same time there were some serious productions which were not in themselves and they kept Sullivan’s body being attached to the vertiginous flights which were linked with his soul so that they can make a living and it can be turned as being increasingly lucrative to the market. There are ballads and also songs with a need which can only be satisfied by the financial independence which is provided by using the extraordinary operatic success linked with Gilbert There is an operatic backdrop which has emerged from the Sullivan’s and also Gilbert’ music theatre which was operative in 1870 and it was multi faceted. There is a tradition of ballad opera in which they have to stand behind any English operatic work and such genre are not directly relatable to the Savoy operas but they can present bas being general precedent. During the nineteenth century there was a growth seen and a genre of growth which was linked with English romantic opera that survived into the twentieth century and it was also a tradition which is known a little and which is significant enough to work in order to include John Barnett. During the year 1862 there was heritage which was responsible for providing an immediate context for a more serious and also hard English opera and which was also used indeed for Sullivan’s early Sapphire necklace. It was clearly linked with the tradition. They were influential models who played an integral role in the music history9 (The Globe and Mail,2013). Gilbert during the year 1875 they started running as starters towards the Offenbach works and they were able to quickly become the main and important attraction of the evening. The work of Gilbert grew rapidly out of the world of burlesque and he thus then collaborated to work and perform with Sullivan who was a long lost Thespis. During 1871 they came up with more humble stable and it was in conjunction with Sullivan who brought the training into wider European tradition and it was there to bear his comic operas. They were exposed to a wide range of operatic musicians like Leipzig and with lateral Covent who besides having proper and also prepared vocal scores also had numerous repertoire operas. The most important and also the most decisive influence or the role model for the comic opera was basically the figure of Rossini who was later on claimed by Sullivan to be the first inspiring person having a lot if love for the stage along with the operatic things. Sullivan thus then went to meet the Italian composer in Paris during the year 1862 and he was through all the accounts easily getting splendidly with a constant ageing master. Beyong this particular influence there was a line of comic which appeared in the operas especially in the German like Lortzing, Nicolai and also Cornelius along with some French work which was by Auber. They were successful in providing notable precedent for all the endeavors. The early comic work of Sullivan was related to and stand at the several conditions and their confluence. Sullivan was busy and was working hard to draw wider and also deeper reserves which were linked with the comic operas10 (Williams, C, 2011) Whatever the situation is analyzed one conclusion is safely drawn that Gilbert and Sullivan has a huge impact and influence on the modern music and they are being credit as the forefathers or the pioneers of the modern music. Many names like Andrew Lloyd,Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde in UK and in USA Tom Lehrer give a lot of credit and acknowledgment to Gilbert and Sullivan for influencing them and having a strong impact on them and their music. The comedic parody is another example with it being discernable in the vein of British comedy which runs through the private eye and also the Monty Python in the television serious, an example can be seen in Black Adder, Minister and also in Yes, were there is special emphasis on irony, poking funk wit at the establishment. It still is successfully able to manage being both disrespectful yet with an important contribution of it being delightful (Verity, J, 1950). It does not matter whether one is a fan of Gilbert or Sullivan or a fanatic of any of them, this show which is conducted can still leave one laughing on the aisles. The duo of Gilbert along with Sullivan Abridged and was successful in bringing a lot of fun, humor, passion, zaniness and craziness which can easily be traced while the performance is conducted in almost fourteen operetta’s in majorly ninety hilarious minutes. The modern and new musical is basically responsible in bearing the lingering imprints of Sullivan’s and also Gilbert’s radial and daring innovations which can be seen and analyzed in several aspects. The most amazing achievement of the duo was the revolutionary transform from the theatre to the haunt of the dissolute who were drinking classes along with working to the place full of entertainment. They were responsible for providing middle class families entertainment which they can enjoy without being ashamed of anything or without even a little blush. Though there was not even one single note of their opera which sounded wrong, they after their first performance has a massive influence on the American culture along with the British culture.11 They were without any doubt the principle begetters which were almost certainly the dominant theatrical genre which existed in the 20th century. It has an argument about it being most innovative and different in the cultural icon and the norm. These are the people who are responsible for work and activities performed in Savoy operas and this incredible duo of Sullivan and Gilbert are responsible for giving the nation The Lion King and also the Roof and Cats. REFERENCE Sullivan, Arthur, W S. Gilbert, Deems Taylor, Albert Sirmay, and Lucille Corcos. A Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1941. Musical score. Williams, Carolyn. Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. Print. Sullivan, Arthur, Doc Cook, and W S. Gilbert. Songs from Michael Todd's Hot Mikado: The New Musical Hit Based on the Gilbert and Sullivan Classic. New York: Robbins Music, 1939. Musical score. Sullivan, Arthur, and James Verity. Gilbert and Sullivan. New York: Tops, 1950. Sound recording. Sullivan, Arthur, Ralph Hunter, and W S. Gilbert. A Gilbert and Sullivan Songbook. New York: RCA Victor, 1960. Sound recording. " Cultural Influence Of Gilbert And Sullivan - Plastic Injection Machine Manufacturer ." song . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . "Gilbert and Sullivan: They are the very model of a modern music art form- The Globe and Mail." Home- The Globe and Mail. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . "Musical Theatre." Angelfire: Welcome to Angelfire. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . "Something Lingering: The Enduring Influence of Gilbert and Sullivan through the Twentieth Century : Oh Joy! Oh Rapture!The Enduring Phenomenon of Gilbert and Sullivan Oxford Scholarship Online." Home Oxford Scholarship Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . "Gilbert and Sullivan, Abridged | Comedy | Assembly Hall Theatre." Assembly Hall Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. . Read More