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Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan
The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan
Ian Bradley's Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan has established itself across the world as the authorized and definitive 'Bible' for all those interested in the Savoy operas. Originally published in two Penguin paperbacks in the 1980's, a single-volume comprehensive compendium, hailed widely as "easily the best annotated Gilbert & Sullivan available" (Gayden Wren, New York Times) was published by Oxford University Press in 1996. This brand new 20th anniversary edition includes Thespis, Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration which is now being increasingly performed, despite the loss of the vocal and orchestral scores. It also features a completely new introduction, reflecting on the state of Gilbert and Sullivan nearly 150 years after the pair began their legendary collaboration, and new annotations addressing recent performance history, newly discovered 'lost' songs and dialogue, and, for the first time, Gilbert and Sullivan references in contemporary popular culture. Scholars, performers, and fans are sure to rejoice in this indispensable companion to the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, newly updated for the present day.
1296 pages, Hardcover
First published January 2, 1996
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About the author
W.S. Gilbert
733 books35 followersBritish playwright and lyricist Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) wrote a series of comic operas, including
Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore
(1878) and
The Pirates of Penzance
(1879), with composer Sir Arthur Sullivan.
This English dramatist, librettist, poet, and illustrator in collaboration with composer Sullivan produced fourteen comic operas, which include The Mikado , one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre.
Opera companies, repertory companies, schools and community theatre groups throughout and beyond the English-speaking world continue to perform regularly these operas as well as most of their other Savoy operas. From these works, lines, such as "short, sharp shock", "What, never? Well, hardly ever!", and "Let the punishment fit the crime," form common phrases of the English language.
Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads , an extensive collection of light verse, which his own comical drawings accompany.
His creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature , the "lyrical facility" of Gilbert "and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since."
This English dramatist, librettist, poet, and illustrator in collaboration with composer Sullivan produced fourteen comic operas, which include The Mikado , one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre.
Opera companies, repertory companies, schools and community theatre groups throughout and beyond the English-speaking world continue to perform regularly these operas as well as most of their other Savoy operas. From these works, lines, such as "short, sharp shock", "What, never? Well, hardly ever!", and "Let the punishment fit the crime," form common phrases of the English language.
Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads , an extensive collection of light verse, which his own comical drawings accompany.
His creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature , the "lyrical facility" of Gilbert "and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 16, 2016
An indispensable volume for fans of music, satire or British humor and culture. Gilbert and Sullivan's mixture of bookish intellectualism and outright silliness may or may not have invented the musical as a genre, but it certainly established a template for the twentieth-century sense of humor. Without these classic comedies, "The Pirates of Penzance," "The Mikado" and "HMS Pinafore" being the most famous, there would be no Blackadder, no Monty Python, and almost certainly no Broadway as we know it.
April 30, 2016
Fun. This twelve-hundred page book includes the scripts and commentaries of thirteen musical comedies. I picked this up for background and “Pirates of Penzance.”
These shows take us back to a quaint era of innocence and naiveté. Through these comedies, we return to the fun of the eighteen-seventies Victorian era. But these satires remain with us, thanks to the timeless melodies and situations we can recognize today. “Penzance,” for example, offers a pompous major general who we can recognize in the politics of today.
Reading a play or comedy is an acquired tasted that I still work to master. Skilled pros of the cast and crew transform the words on paper into memorable productions. Sullivan’s tuneful music can transcend Gilbert’s words on the printed page.
“Pirates of Penzance” is a laugh-out-loud and funny favorite of mine. The show stopper: Introducing himself, the major general launches into a fast and famous patter song: “I am the very model of a modern major general. …” Reading the lyrics here helped catch the silly and tongue-twisting bit, which goes quickly on stage.
Skylight produced this about five years ago. Time to see this audience favorite again, after reading the annotated script. http://www.skylightmusictheatre.org/s...
These shows take us back to a quaint era of innocence and naiveté. Through these comedies, we return to the fun of the eighteen-seventies Victorian era. But these satires remain with us, thanks to the timeless melodies and situations we can recognize today. “Penzance,” for example, offers a pompous major general who we can recognize in the politics of today.
Reading a play or comedy is an acquired tasted that I still work to master. Skilled pros of the cast and crew transform the words on paper into memorable productions. Sullivan’s tuneful music can transcend Gilbert’s words on the printed page.
“Pirates of Penzance” is a laugh-out-loud and funny favorite of mine. The show stopper: Introducing himself, the major general launches into a fast and famous patter song: “I am the very model of a modern major general. …” Reading the lyrics here helped catch the silly and tongue-twisting bit, which goes quickly on stage.
Skylight produced this about five years ago. Time to see this audience favorite again, after reading the annotated script. http://www.skylightmusictheatre.org/s...
September 29, 2020
The best all around version of the funniest stuff in English.
And if someday it should happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list.
I've got a little list.
Of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed,
they never would be missed.
A complete delight.
If you only sample the patter songs in each of the operettas that alone is worth the price of this thoroughly enjoyable book.
I am proud to say this book as its own shelf in the downstairs bathroom.
And if someday it should happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list.
I've got a little list.
Of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed,
they never would be missed.
A complete delight.
If you only sample the patter songs in each of the operettas that alone is worth the price of this thoroughly enjoyable book.
I am proud to say this book as its own shelf in the downstairs bathroom.
January 12, 2014
This contains all G&S's Libretti.The fact that i own this makes me a very big geek
February 12, 2015
Great to have all the lyrics and the interesting stories, but needed more clarification on some uniquely British things such as the legal system. Some illustrations would have been nice.
May 28, 2021
This is a must for any G & S fan. It is exactly what is promised from the title. Each opera is introduced with an overview and the extensive collection of notes for each opera give the reader a very good understanding of the work.
February 2, 2021
A very interesting look at all if the comic operas og G&S.
September 25, 2024
A gorgeous volume. It is tragic that no-one on Goodreads has seen fit to review this yet!
Bradley's volume contains the complete text of every one of the Gilbert/Sullivan operettas, complete with annotations in the margins, providing a useful contextual and historical overview. I recommend enjoying this alongside a music-biography of the works. The 20th anniversary edition contains impressive updates as well as including a couple of the early works previously excluded.
Bradley's volume contains the complete text of every one of the Gilbert/Sullivan operettas, complete with annotations in the margins, providing a useful contextual and historical overview. I recommend enjoying this alongside a music-biography of the works. The 20th anniversary edition contains impressive updates as well as including a couple of the early works previously excluded.
August 11, 2007
Of course, I HEARD them long before this (except the underrated Grand Duke, which I had to search out). But Bradley's notes rule like Vicki herself. Life's a pudding full of plums.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews