William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) worked together for a quarter of a century, creating 14 comic operas.
Gilbert started in the military before launching an unsuccessful legal career. In 1861, he began working on dramatic criticism and humorous verse.
At age 8, Sullivan composed his own anthem. By 10, Sullivan could play all of the wind instruments in his father's band. He was a Chapel Royal chorister and the first Mendelssohn scholar; he studied at the Leipzig Conservatoire. At age 20, he composed The Tempest, which made him famous. He was regarded as the leading composer of his day. Among his favourite works was the hymn Onward, Christian Soldiers.
Gilbert and Sullivan were first introduced to each other around 1870. Their first opera was a flop but when Richard D'Oyly Carte presented Trial by Jury in 1875, it was clear that he had discovered a winning partnership.
The Gondoliers was written in 1889 and gave more prominence to Sullivan's music after one of many disagreements nearly ended the collaboration. The opening of the first act contains about twenty minutes of uninterrupted music. Most the early operettas were performed at the dilapidated Opera Comique Theatre until Carte built them their own theatre in 1881. The Savoy Theatre, which was the first public building in the world to be lit by electricity, is still the home of the D'Oyly Carte Company today.
Gilbert and Sullivan created their works to the strengths and limitations of their ensemble of actors and both were responsible for producing the shows. Sullivan continued with his desire to write grand opera but only fulfilled it once, with Ivanhoe (1891), which was fairly successful yet has rarely been revived. The collaboration came to a close with The Grand Duke (1896). Suffering from a chronic kidney complaint, Sullivan died of heart failure in 1900. Gilbert lived until 1911 when he too suffered heart failure and drowned while rescuing a young lady in his own lake.