WILLIAM GILBERT, English Composer (1836-1911). William Gilbert free midi downloads.

WILLIAM GILBERT
18^th November 1836 --- 29^th May 1911

William Gilbert (born 1836, London--died 1911, Harrow Weald, Middlesex, England), English playwright and humorist best
known for his collaboration with Sir Arthur Sullivan (q.v.) in comic operas.

Gilbert began to write in an age of rhymed couplets, puns, and travesty; his early work exhibits the facetiousness common
to most writers of extravaganza. He then turned away from this style and developed a genuinely artful style burlesquing
contemporary behaviour. Many of his original targets are no longer topical, Pre-Raphaelite aesthetes in Patience; womens
education (Princess Ida), Victorian plays about Cornish pirates (The Pirates of Penzance), the long theatrical vogue of the
"jolly jack tar" (H.M.S. Pinafore), bombastic melodrama (Ruddigore)--but Gilbert's burlesque is so good that it creates its
own truth. As librettist, Gilbert is outstanding not only because of his gift for handling words and casting them in musical
shapes but also because through his words he offered the composer opportunities for burlesquing musical conventions.

Gilbert's early ambition was for a legal career, and a legacy in 1861 enabled him to leave the civil service to pursue it. He
was called to the bar in November 1863. In 1861, however, he had begun to contribute comic verse to Fun, illustrated by
himself which he signed "Bab." These pieces were later collected as The Bab Ballads (1869), followed by More Bab Ballads
(1873), with the two collections, containing the germ of many of the later operas, were united in a volume with Songs of a
Savoyard (1898).

Gilbert's dramatic career began when a playwright, Thomas William Robertson, recommended him as someone who could
produce a bright Christmas piece in only two weeks. Gilbert promptly wrote Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great
Quack, a commercial success, and other commissions followed. In 1870 Gilbert met Sullivan, and they started working
together the following year. Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old (first performance 1871) and Trial by Jury (1875), a brilliant
one-act piece, were followed by four more productions staged by Richard D'Oyly Carte (q.v.), 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, and their works 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 the relations between the partners had become strained, partly because Sullivan
aimed higher than comic opera. A rupture occurred, and the two were estranged until 1893, when they again collaborated
producing Utopia Limited and later The Grand Duke (1896). Gilbert was knighted in 1907.

Gilbert had meanwhile written 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 died of a heart attack brought
on by rescuing a woman from drowning in a lake on his country estate.
Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated on 2022
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

New (3581)"Princess Toto - Bang the Merry Tom-Tom, No.18". Sequenced by Frederick Clay.

New (3580)"Princess Toto, No.19". Sequencer Unknown.

Thanks to Ed Ritchie for the music below.
New (3579)"As Some Day It May Happen from the Mikado ". Sequenced by Ed Ritchie.

(166)"The Mikado". Sequenced by Ed Ritchie

New (3578)"Three Little Maids From Schoo". Sequenced by Micheal Petri.

Thanks to Tony Matthews for the music below, Email (TonyM@absolutesolutions.co.uk)
(2634)"Overture to the Mikado, (Vocal Score Piano Duet)". Sequenced by Tony Matthews.

(2384)"The Pirates of Penzance". Sequenced by Tony Matthews.

Thanks to Emily Gray for the music below, Email (HappyMusician@opendiary.com).
(2072)"Buttercup". Sequenced by Emily Gray

(45)"Two songs from Patience,(info by Stephen Lewis)". Sequencer unknown

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