Gilbert and Sullivan: The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History

by Robin J. Wilson, Frederic Lloyd

Celebrates each of the twelve major operas as they have been produced over the years, complete with photographs, drawings, paintings, posters, and review clippings

216 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1984

About the author

Robin James Wilson (born December 1943) is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford[1] and, as of 2006, professor of geometry at Gresham College, London, where he has also been a visiting professor. On occasion, he guest teaches at Colorado College.
From January 1999 to September 2003 Robin Wilson was editor-in-chief of the European Mathematical Society Newsletter.[2]
He is the son of Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He has two daughters: Catherine and Jennifer.

Reviews

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, really lovely. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company ran for one hundred and seven years, from the moment in 1875 when founder Richard D'Oyly Carte [re]united two extremely different young luminaries of the British arts scene to create a one-act comic opera, Trial by Jury. The men's thirteen creations under D'Oyly Carte would prove the most lasting of all Victorian popular culture, rivalled only by the novels of Mr Dickens. Gilbert and Carte kept a firm hand on the staging of the works (Sullivan was somewhat more hands-off) until their deaths, after which time Rupert, Carte's son, led the company nobly, followed by his only child, Dame Bridget. Their performances upheld a remarkable tradition even if, dare I suggest, they threatened to protect Gilbert and Sullivan's operas in mothballs from time to time.

The company shuffled to its end in 1982. There had been a dramatic fall from grace since the celebrated centenary season of 1975. The cultural world was changing, as were the financial demands of taking a company on the road, and the Thatcher Government - despite public pressure - declined, through its Arts Council, to subsidise the company. An abbreviated last season was given in London, and the company went their separate ways, and a landmark of theatre was lost to time. Luckily they recorded all of the operas, some numerous times, and left an astonishing legacy.

This authorised picture book contains close to 500 pictures (largely black and white) from that first production of Trial by Jury through to the programme of the closing night. There is little text other than captions, and of course nothing that isn't out-and-out praise for The Company. But that's not to complain, given the gloriousness of the pictures and the nostalgia they conjure up. Treasures from a time long lost.

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another coffee table book, invaluable for its photos of the original costumes and principals. The authors have been involved with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and its productions.

215 oversized pages including bibliography and index. 40 illustrations in full color and more than 450 black-and-white photographs.

The 100 year souvenir program for everyone who loves Gilbert & Sullivan. Created under the auspices of the D'Oyly Carte Company – the great English production company, whose founder first brought Gilbert & Sullivan together and to the theater – this delightful book takes you onstage and backstage and shows you, up close ...

The Mikado
Patience
The Gondoliers
The Pirates of Penzance
Iolanthe
H.M.S. Pinafore
Trial by Jury
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Sorcerer
Cox and Box
Ruddigore
Princes Ida
... as they appeared in the wonderful D'Oyly Carte productions through the years.

Each opera comes vividly to life in dozens of color and black-and-white illustrations. Photographs, drawings, paintings, posters, clippings, cartoons, letters, memorabilia of every kind, reveal the casts, the stars, the sets, the costumes, the programs, the very mood and ambience of all those glorious productions through the century: from the originals – when Victoria was Queen – to those mounted during the Edwardian Era and the Jazz Age to the final D'Oyly Carte performances in 1982. And the captions provide anecdotes, insights, opinions, and information – a lively abundance of G & S lore.

We see, for example, various plump and pleasing contraltos who have charmed one generation after another by announcing, "I'm called Little Buttercup" ... we see the unforgettably nimble and elegant Martyn Green – and the other agile patter-song virtuosi who preceded him – as the heartbroken Koko of The Mikado and the series of hilariously pompous grandees he so brilliantly personified (among them, "The ruler of the Queen's Navy" in Pinafore, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, the Duke of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers) ... we see the elaborate scenery costumes – both in the original sketches and as they appeared on stage – that have always been among the joys of a G & S opera. We see, as well, memorable and intimate backstage moments ... Messrs. W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan themselves, in youth and old age ... reviews by theater, and music, critics ... and much, much more.