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See also: English playwright and humorist, son of See also: William
See also: Gilbert (a descendant of
See also: Sir Humphrey Gilbert), was See also: born in See also: London on the 18th of See also: November 1836
.
His See also: father was the author of a number of novels, the best-known of which were See also: Shirley See also: Hall
See also: Asylum (1863) and Dr See also: Austin's Guests (1866)
.
Several of these novels—which were characterized by a singular acuteness and lucidity of See also: style, by a dry, subacid See also: humour, by a fund of humanitarian feeling and by a considerable medical knowledge, especially in regard to the psychology of lunatics and monomaniacs—were illustrated by his son, who See also: developed a talent for whimsical draughtsmanship
.
W
.
S
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Gilbert was educated at See also: Boulogne, at See also: Ealing and at See also: King's
See also: College, graduating B.A. from the university of London in 1856
.
The termination of the See also: Crimean War was fatal to his project of competing for a commission in the Royal Artillery, but he obtained a See also: post in the See also: education department of the privy council office (1857–1861)
.
Disliking the routine See also: work, he See also: left the See also: Civil Service, entered the Inner See also: Temple, was called to the See also: bar in November 1864, and joined the See also: northern circuit
.
His practice was inconsiderable, and his military and legal ambitions were eventually satisfied by a captaincy in the See also: volunteers and See also: appointment as a magistrate for Middlesex (See also: June 1891)
.
In 1861 the comic journal Fun was started by H
.
J
.
See also: Byron, and Gilbert became from the first a valued contributor
.
Failing to obtain an entree to See also: Punch, he continued sending excellent comic verse to Fun, with humorous illustrations, the work of his own See also: pen, over the signature of " Bab." A collection of these lyrics, in which deft craftsmanship unites a titillating satire on the deceptiveness of appearances with the irrepressible nonsense of a See also: Lewis Carroll, was issued separately in 1869 under the title of Bab See also: Ballads, and was followed by More Bab Ballads
.
The
two collections and Songs of a Savoyard were See also: united in a See also: volume issued in 1898, with many new illustrations
.
The best of the old cuts, such as those depicting the " See also: Bishop of See also: Rum-ti-Foo and the "Discontented See also: Sugar Broker," were preserved intact
.
While remaining a staunch supporter of Fun, Gilbert was soon immersed in other journalistic work, and his position as dramatic critic to the Illustrated Times turned his See also: attention to the stage
.
He had not to wait long for an opportunity
.
Early in See also: December 1866 T
.
W
.
See also: Robertson was asked by See also: Miss See also: Herbert, lessee of the St See also: James's theatre, to find some one who could turn out a bright
See also: Christmas piece in a fortnight, and suggested Gilbert; the latter promptly produced Dulcamara, a burlesque of L'Elisire d'amore, written in ten days, rehearsed in a week, and duly performed at Christmas
.
He sold the piece outright for 3o, a piece of rashness which he had cause to regret, for it turned out a commercial success
.
In 1870 he was commissioned by See also: Buckstone to write a See also: blank verse fairy See also: comedy, based upon Le Palais de la verite, the novel by Madame de Geniis
.
The result was The Palace of Truth, a fairy drama, poor in structure but See also: clever in workman-See also: ship, which served the purpose of Mr and Mrs Kendal in 187o at the Haymarket
.
This was followed in 1871 by See also: Pygmalion and Galatea, another three-See also: act " mythological comedy," a clever and effective but artificial piece
.
Another fairy comedy, The Wicked See also: World, written for Buckstone and the Kendals, was followed in See also: March 1873 by a burlesque version, in collaboration with Gilbert a Beckett, entitled The Happy
See also: Land
.
Gilbert's next dramatic ventures inclined more to the conventional See also: pattern, combining sentiment and a cynical humour in a manner strongly reminiscent of his father's style
.
Of these pieces, Sweethearts was given at the See also: Prince of See also: Wales's theatre, 7th November 1874; -Tom See also: Cobb at the St James's, 24th See also: April 1875; Broken See also: Hearts at the See also: Court, 9th December 1875; See also: Dan'l Druce (a drama in darker vein, suggested to some extent by See also: Silas Marner) at the Haymarket, 11th See also: September 1876; and Engaged at the Haymarket, 3rd See also: October 1877
.
The first and last of these proved decidedly popular
.
Gretchen, a verse drama in four acts, appeared in 1879
.
A one-act piece, called Comedy and Tragedy, was produced at the See also: Lyceum, 26th See also: January, 1884
.
Two dramatic trifles of later date were Foggerty's Fairy and Rozenkrantz and Guildenstern, a travesty of See also: Hamlet, performed at the See also: Vaudeville in June 1891
.
Several of these dramas were based upon See also: short stories by Gilbert, a number of which had appeared from See also: time to time in the Christmas numbers of various See also: periodicals
.
The best of them have been collected in the volume entitled Foggerty's Fairy, and other Stories
.
In the autumn of 1871 Gilbert commenced his memorable collaboration (which lasted over twenty years) with Sir Arthur See also: Sullivan
.
The first two comic operas, See also: Thespis; or The Gods grown Old (26th September 1871) and Trial by See also: Jury (Royalty, 25th March 1875) were merely essays
.
Like one or two of their successors, they were, as regards See also: plot, little more than extended " Bab Ballads." Later (especially in the Yeomen of the Guard), much more elaboration was attempted
.
The next piece was produced at the See also: Opera Comique (17th November 1877) as The Sorcerer
.
At the same theatre were successfully given H.M.S
.
Pinafore (25th May 1878), The Pirates of See also: Penzance; or The Slave of Duty (3rd April 188o), and See also: Patience; or Bunthorne's Bride (23rd April 1881)
.
In October 1881 the successful Patience was removed to a new theatre, the See also: Savoy, specially built for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas by See also: Richard D'Oyly See also: Carte
.
Patience was followed, on 25th November 1882, by lolanthe; or The Peer and the See also: Peri; and then came, on 5th January 1884, Princess See also: Ida; or See also: Castle Adamant, a re-cast of a charming and witty fantasia which Gilbert had written some years previously, and had then described as a " respectful perversion of Mr
.
See also: Tennyson's exquisite poem." The impulse reached its fullest development in the operas that followed next in order—The Mikado; or The See also: Town of Titipu (14th March 1885); Ruddigore (22nd January 1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (3rd October 1888) ; and The Gondoliers (7th December 1889)
.
After the appearance of The Gondoliers a coolness occurred between the composer and librettist, owing to Gilbert's considering that Sullivan had not supported him ina business disagreement with D'Oyly Carte
.
But the estrangement was only temporary
.
Gilbert wrote several more librettos, and of these See also: Utopia Limited (1893) and the exceptionally witty See also: Grand Duke (1896) were written in conjunction with Sullivan
.
As a master of metre Gilbert had shown himself consummate, as a dealer in quips and paradoxes and ludicrous dilemmas, unrivalled
.
Even for the See also: music of the operas he deserves some See also: credit, for the rhythms were frequently his own (as in " I have a See also: Song to Sing, 0 "), and the metres were in many cases invented by himself
.
One or two of his librettos, such as that of Patience, are virtually flawless
.
Enthusiasts are divided only as to the See also: comparative merit of the operas
.
Princess Ida and Patience are in some respects the daintiest
.
There is a genuine vein of See also: poetry in The Yeomen of the Guard
.
Some of the drollest songs are in Pinafore and Ruddigore
.
The Gondoliers shows the most charming lightness of touch, while with the general public The Mikado proved the favourite
.
The enduring popularity of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas was abundantly proved by later revivals
.
Among the birthday honours in June 1907 Gilbert was given a See also: knighthood
.
In 1909 his Fallen Fairies (music by See also: Edward See also: German) was produced at the Savoy
.
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