7 Sir W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan 7Duck and the Great Quack, a commercial success, and other
commissions followed. Meanwhile, Sullivan’s first comic
opera was his setting of Sir Francis Cowley Burnand’s Cox
and Box (1867). An operetta, the Contrabandista, also on a
libretto by Burnand, was produced in the same year. In
1870 Gilbert met Sullivan, and they started working
together the following year. Together they created Thespis,
or the Gods Grown Old (first performance 1871) and Trial
by Jury (1875), a brilliant one-act piece that won instant
popularity and ran for more than a year.
These early works were followed by four productions
staged by then-manager of the Royalty Theatre, Richard
D’Oyly Carte: The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878),
The Pirates of Penzance (1879, New York; 1880, London), and
Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride (1881). Carte built the Savoy
Theatre in 1881 for productions of the partners’ work,
which collectively became known as the “Savoy Operas”;
they included Iolanthe, or the Peer and the Peri (1882), Princess
Ida, or Castle Adamant (1884), The Mikado, or the Town of
Titipu (1885), Ruddigore, or the Witch’s Curse (1887), The
Yeomen of the Guard (1888), and The Gondoliers (1889).
By this time, however, relations between the partners
had become strained, partly because Sullivan aimed higher
than comic opera and because Gilbert was plagued by a
jealous and petty nature when it came to financial matters.
A rupture occurred, and the two were estranged until 1893,
when they again collaborated, producing Utopia Limited
and later The Grand Duke (1896).
Aside from his work with Sullivan, Gilbert wrote several
popular burlesques for the dramatic stage: Sweethearts
(1874), Engaged (1877), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
(1891). He also created librettos for other composers; the
music for his last opera, Fallen Fairies, or the Wicked World
(1909), was by Edward German. His last play, The Hooligan,
was performed in 1911. Gilbert was knighted in 1907.