Gilbert and Sullivan

I am one person who believes in Mary Jane Kelly's substantial link to Gilbert and/or Sullivan. Are there any interesting gossipy tidbits in the newspaper archives regarding this duo?

Arthur Sullivan visited prostitutes regularly and William S. Gilbert's family once lived in one of madam Mary Jeffries' houses.

I'm most interested in the period in time that Mary Kelly may have bore her alleged son. I'm guessing it was sometime in 1884...

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Dies Suddenly Today.

A VICTIM OF HEART DISEASE.
Story of His Life.

We regret that we are called upon to record the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, the distinguished composer, which took place at his London residence, No. 1, Queen's-mansions, at nine o'clock this morning. Death was due to heart failure.
Sir Arthur had only been ailing for about a fortnight, and his condition was not considered by his medical attendants to be critical. The sad event has therefore come upon us quite unexpectedly, and the world of opera lovers who have taken pleasure in his fruitful labours are suddenly called upon to lament his loss.

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SIR ARTHUR'S LIFE AND WORK.

Sir Arthur Sullivan was born in London on May 13th, 1842. His father, Thomas Sullivan, was principal Professor of Kneller Hall, Hounslow, the training school for British military bands. He received his first systematic instruction in music at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, under the Rev. Thomas Helmore, and he was still a chorister when, at the age of fourteen, he gained - the first time it was competed for - the Mendelsshon Scholarship.

At Leipsig.

After two years' study under Mr. (afterwards Sir Sterndale) Bennett, and Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Goss, he studied at Leipsig for three years at the Conservatorium. Upon his return to England in 1861 he brought with him his music to Shakespeare's "Tempest," which was performed for the first time at the Crystal Palace.

Early Compositions.

His next work was the Cantata "Kenilworth," produced at the Birmingham Festival in 1864. This was followed by the symphony in E (Crystal Palace), 1865; overture "In Memoriam" (Norwich), 1866; overture "Marmion" (Philharmonic), 1867; and a number of other works, including the "Golden Legend," a dramatic Cantata (Leeds), 1886.

Popular Operas.

Sir Arthur Sullivan produced also the following popular operas and operettas: - "Cox and Box" (1866), "Contrabandiste" (1867), "Therpis" (1872), "Trial by Jury" (1875), "The Sorcerer" (1877), "H.M.S. Pinafore" (1878), "The Pirates of Penzance" (1879), "Patience" (1881), "Iolanthe" (1882), "Princess Ida" (1884), "The Mikado" (1885), "The Yeoman of the Guard" (1888), "Gondoliers" (1889), "Haddon Hall" (1892), "Utopia" (1893), "The Chieftain" (1894), "The Grand Duke" (1896), and "Ruddigore" (1887).

Honorary Degrees.

He wrote also the incidental music to the following plays of Shakespeare: - "The Tempest," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," the "Merchant of Venice," and "Macbeth."
In 1876 the University of Cambridge conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music, and a similar honour was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford in 1879.

Official Duties.

He was the Principal of the National Training School (now the Royal College) of Music, from its foundation in 1876 to 1881. Sir Arthur conducted the Leeds Triennial Music Festival in 1880, 1883, '86, '89, '92, and '95, and in 1885-6 he conducted the Philharmonic Concerts in London.
In 1887 he was British Commissioner for Music at the Paris Exhibition, where he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was also a Knight of the Order of the House of Coburg, and received from the Sultan of Turkey the Order of the Mejidieh, 1888.

Knighthood.

Sir Arthur was Knighted by the Queen at Windsor, May 24th, 1883, and on the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee he was honoured by the Royal Victorian Order.

SPECIAL MEMOIR.

Thousands of people will feel the loss of Sir Arthur Sullivan as that of a personal friend. There probably never was a composer who worked himself into the public confidence so intimately as did the gifted writer of the music to the "Mikado," "Patience," "The Lost Chord," and many other melodies and operas which are known and loved throughout the length and breadth of the world.
Sir Arthur's father was an Irishman but his mother was an Italian, and he inherited from her much of his genius for light, airy music on which his fame now mainly rests. His father being a bandmaster, the boy was brought up in a musical atmosphere, and even when he was only five years old his inclination evinced itself.

His Studies.

As he grew older he practised regularly with the band. When he grew a little older he was admitted into the choir of the Chapel Royal; here and at the Royal Academy he studied music, at the latter place under Sterndale Bennett, Arthur O'Leary, and John Goss.
It was in Germany, however, that he received his most catholic training. It was in Germany that he wrote the incidental music to the "Tempest." It was completed while he was still eighteen years of age, and the music was performed with great success at Leipsig.

Found Himself Famous.

On his return to England he was introduced to Sir George Grove, who produced some of his compositions at the Crystal Palace. In 1862 the "Tempest" music was produced at a Saturday concert.
"This," said Sir Arthur, "was the great day of my life. It is no exaggeration to say that I woke up the next morning and found myself famous. The papers, one and all, gave me most favourable notices, and the success was so great that the music was repeated on the following Saturday.

Praised by Dickens.

"All musical London went down to hear the second performance. After it was over, Charles Dickens met me as I came out of the artists' room; he seized my hand in his iron grip, and said: "I don't pretend to know much about music, but I do know that I have been listening to a very great work."

First Dramatic Venture.

It was this success that determined Sullivan to make his living as a composer. He composed symphonies, overtures, ballets, anthems, hymn-tunes, songs, part-songs, concertos, comic and light operas. For "Orpheus with his Lute" he got five guineas; for "If Doughty Deeds" he received double that amount. His first dramatic venture was "Box and Cox," which Frank Burnand arranged.
It was in 1871 that his famous partnership with Mr. W.S. Gilbert began. John Hollingshead, who at that time managed the Gaiety Theatre, asked Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert to do a piece with parts for Toole and Nellie Farren. The result was "Thespis," which was, however, only fairly successful.

The Happy Partnership.

In 1875 Mr. D'Oyly Carte, who was managing the Royalty, asked Mr. Gilbert to do something for him. Mr. Gilbert had in his mind "Trial by Jury," which was completed in a fortnight, with the music by Sullivan, and put on immediately at the Royalty. It was an eminent success, and thus began the happy partnership which gave us so much mirth in the series of comic operas with which the names of Gilbert and Sullivan will for ever be associated.

Source: The Echo, Thursday November 22, 1900

The reports claim Mary Kelly arrived in London and went to Paris in 1884.

Arthur Sullivan also went to Paris in 1884 where he regularly visited a brothel.

D'Oyly Carte was on the board of the Providance Row Night Refuge.

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/ws-providence.html

Yes, I'm sorry about that - I just checked her biography and she did arrive in London in 1884. Like I said before, it is possible that Mary Kelly and either Gilbert or Sullivan knew each other and had a child together. I don't discount anything as reality is much stranger than fiction.

Thanks for the correction.

MAKER OF ENGLISH COMIC OPERA.
SIR W.S. GILBERT.

PLAYED EVERY NIGHT FOR 24 YEARS.

Sir William S. Gilbert was last night at the Savoy Hotel beside the theatre that he had done so much to make known throughout the world, entertained to dinner by a company of influential men of all sections who have admired his work and desired to congratulate him on his knighthood.
On November 18 last, Sir William Schwenk Gilbert celebrated his seventy-first birthday, having in the course of that long and interesting life contributed nearly seventy plays to the stage.
Sir William's father was a retired naval surgeon, living in Southampton-street, Strand, when his son was born, and it is a remarkable fact that it was the early incursions of the younger man into literary work that spurred on the parent, when he was upwards of sixty years of age, to become a novelist.

HIS EARLIEST AMBITION.

The ambition of W.S. Gilbert, when a youth, was to join the Army, then fighting the Russians in the Crimea, but the restoration of peace put an end to his desire to secure a commission, and at the age of twenty-one he became a clerk under the Privy Council. Long before the five years he spent in that employment had expired he had begun studying for the Bar, and in 1864 he was "called." It is rather remarkable that his earliest amibition - soldiering - should have been to some little extent satisfied later in life, for in July 1865 he secured a commission in a Militia regiment, the Aberdeenshire Highlanders (now the 3rd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders) - retiring on March 24, 1882, with the honorary rank of major - and his lifelong affection for the Bar, at which he had not all the success he desired, finds some satisfaction now in his being qualified - as a justice of the peace for Middlesex - to take his seat on the Bench.
That his duties with his regiment at Aberdeen did not wholly take his mind away from the stage is borne out by many inhabitants of that city, who state that on several occasions when his plays were performed there at Her Majesty's Theatre the young officer, in reply to calls of "Author," rose, blushing, from his seat in a private box, and bowed in stately fashion.

EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY.

No living author has so often witnessed the successful production of his own plays as has Sir William S. Gilbert. To have written nearly seventy plays is a remarkable achievement, but to have been responsible for the entire rehearsing of all the successful ones, to have planned the scenery and given suggestions for the costumes in each instance, increases the personal credit of the author who conceived and carried them through to success. Curiously enough, however, Mr. Gilbert after the last dress rehearsal, never entered the auditorium of the theatre. He has never seen one of the Savoy operas from the front of the house.
In the public memory the name of W.S. Gilbert is more associated with the making of what is known as Savoy opera than with his other work. The method of the new author created a new taste. It might be said to have created a new school, only, unfortunately, there were no pupils, for those who attempted to follow in his footsteps were nothing less or more than mere tiresome imitators. His personal genius was not to be transferred.

STRICT, BUT GENIAL.

The generally accepted opinion that Mr. Gilbert was a despot, and a severe one at that, at rehearsals is contradicted by all who have rehearsed under him. He always went to the theatre knowing what he wanted done, and he wasted no time in letting everybody know what he required, but he was always ready and willing to listen to sensible suggestions, and he constantly adopted them, too. Strict as he was, he was always genial with his company.
No author was less willing than he to leave the coaching of his company to another. In the autumn of 1900, when the first revival of "Patience" was being got ready for the Savoy Theatre, he was only recovering from a severe attack of rheumatic fever, and as it was impossible for him to go to the theatre, he had the company down to Grim's Dyke, his place near Harrow. There he met them each day, and from the chair in which he was wheeled into the drawing-room, he conducted the rehearsals. In fact, during his entire career of forty years he has never missed a single stage rehearsal.
The first play that Sir William Gilbert ever wrote was a burlesque called "Dulcamara," which was produced at the St. James's in 1866. It took him a week to write it. He sold it for thirty pounds and it ran for 120 nights. Many others of his early plays got long runs: "The Merry Zingara" played 150 nights; a burlesque on "Robert the Devil," 200; a burlesque on Tennyson's "Princess," 150; "The Palace of Truth," 230; "Pygmalion and Galatea," 330; "The Wicked World," 200; "Randall's Thumb," 120; "Creatures of Impulse," 150; "Sweethearts," 130. But "The Happy Land" (the plot of which was suggested by him) and "Engaged" enjoyed still longer runs, the latter remaining in the bill on its first production for over twelve months.

WORK IN COLLABORATION.

The first of the comic operas which W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan wrote together at the invitation of D'Oyly Carte was "The Sorcerer." It was the remarkable effect created by their "Trial by Jury" at the Royalty Theatre when produced on March 25, 1875, that led to D'Oyly Carte making an offer to the collaborators. "The Sorcerer" was produced at the Opera Comique on November 17, 1877. At the same theatre followed "H.M.S. Pinafore," "The Pirates of Penzance," and "Patience." The run of the latter was interrupted at the Opera Comique on October 18, 1881; and resumed two nights later with the opening of the Savoy Theatre. By this time D'Oyly Carte was amassing a fortune out of the operas that every theatre-goer in the United Kingdom was talking about, and the collaborators were in a not less happy position. They could boast, too, that "Patience" was the first stage play ever to be produced in an electrically lighted theatre; for the Savoy was the first public building in London to use that illuminant.
Sir William S. Gilbert wrote the books and lyrics of twelve operas of which Sir Arthur Sullivan wrote the music, which were produced by D'Oyly Carte, at either the Opera Comique or the Savoy Theatre. The total number of performances of these given at those two theatres amounted to no fewer than 7,015. "The Mikado" comes first with 1,144 performances, "H.M.S. Pinafore," 994; "The Pirates of Penzance," 876; "Patience," 814; "Gondoliers," 765; "Yeoman of the Guard," 695, "The Sorcerer," 427; "Iolanthe," 398. These figures include the several revivals. The others (which have not been revived) ran as follows: "Princess Ida," 246; "Ruddigore," 288; "Utopia," 243; "The Grand Duke," 123. A wonderful record of successful appeal to the public taste, this.
Sir William Gilbert, however, must not have his record limited to the Savoy Theatre and the now non-existent Opera Comique. Plays of this had run for hundreds of nights before the building of the Savoy Theatre was planned. He wrote serious plays as well as farces. Burlesque, comedy, drama, extravaganza, operetta, comodietta, and pantomime were all included in his wonderful repertoire, and of these only two were adaptations from the French.
He has had plays produced at nineteen London theatres, and the most recently produced of his creations - "The Fairy's Dilemma" - was staged, curiously enough, at a theatre which he himself had built - the Garrick. For twenty-four years his name was never out of the London bills for a single night except when theatres were closed by the Lord Chamberlain's orders.

JAMES WATERS.

Source: Daily Mail, Monday February 3, 1908, Page 8

I remember reading a version of Arthur Sullivan's private Diary and looking for some MJK initials with Xs next to them!

In his Diary, Sullivan does mention the Double Event of September 30 but he doesn't mention the murder of Mary Kelly on November 9th. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words...

Arthur Sullivan was reportedly of "average height" or about 5 foot 7. http://books.google.ca/books?id=TSMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA579&dq=genius+and+stature&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IpAMT-3ADKnq0gHhv7WCBg&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=genius%20and%20stature&f=false

Mary Kelly was also reportedly 5 foot 7. Any child of theirs would be bigger than average. Reports said he was six. Some said ten or eleven but that was probably people confusing her with the mother with an older child living upstairs on the second floor.

He could well have been as young as 3 if Mary lied about his age to cover up his identity, hense a birth as late as 1885. Sullivan was in America in June through October but conception would have been prior to that time.

I thought it would be a good idea to make a timeline on Sir Arthur Sullivan, including his whereabouts in 1884 and 1885:

January 8, 1884

ARTHUR SULLIVAN'S ILLNESS.
PROSTRATED BY OVERWORK IN THE PRODUCTION OF "PRINCESS IDA."

LONDON, Jan. 7. - Sir Arthur Sullivan, who has been dangerously ill ever since the production of "Princess Ida" on the 5th inst., is this evening reported to be slightly better. The critical nature of his condition has been concealed until today. It is now ascertained that his physical system has been reduced to the point of exhaustion by an almost continuous series of fainting fits which began early Sunday morning, and which were not conquered until late this afternoon. The composer exhausted his energies in the attempt to finish the score of "Princess Ida," which he did not undertake until the last moment, and which he guaranteed to have completed by New Year's Day. During the rehearsal he was attacked by a severe cold. He persevered in keeping his engagement to lead the orchestra upon the presentation of the opera last Saturday night. During the performance the cold produced acute neuralgia. At the close of the performance Sir Arthur swooned behind the scenes after having retired from his appearance with Mr. Gilbert before the footlights. He was taken home unconscious, in which state he remained almost continuously that evening.

Source: The New York Times, Tuesday January 8, 1884, Page 2

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January 10, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan passed a tolerably good night, and was much refreshed this morning. Subject to the consent of Dr. Lynch, he may, perhaps, sit up for a short time this afternoon.

Source: The Echo, Thursday January 10, 1884, Page 3

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January 13, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan was taken ill after the first performance of The Princess, but is going on favourably.

Source: Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, January 13, 1884, Page 5

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January 16, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan has recovered from his recent illness.

Source: The Guardian, January 16, 1884, Page 76

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January 20, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan is recovering from his attack of neuralgia, but is threatened with paralysis and is still unable to walk.

Source: The New York Times, Sunday January 20, 1884, Page 2

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February 2, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan will leave on Monday next for Madrid, where he will remain for some time for the benefit of his health.

Source: The Echo, Saturday February 2, 1884, Page 4

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February 11, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan, who is now dangerously ill, has been a victim of a painful disease for a long time. When he wrote the music for "Pinafore," it is said that he used to roll about on the floor to find relief from his excruciating pains.

Source: Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, February 11, 1884

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March 2, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan is still at Madrid. It is announced that his health is quite restored.

Source: Fort Wayne Gazette, Sunday March 2, 1884, Page 2

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May 13, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the composer of the music of Iolanthe was made a baronet by Queen Victoria in recognition of his fame as a musical composer.

Source: Piqua Daily Call, May 13, 1884

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June 3, 1884

Mr. Randolph Aronson has received a letter from Sir Arthur Sullivan, thanking him for devoting a night to the presentation of Sir Arthur's compositions at the Casino.

Source: The New York Times, Tuesday June 3, 1884, Page 4

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July 6, 1884

W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan have already begun work on the successor to "The Princess Ida," which has proved a very fair success in London, though so decidedly a failure on this side of the water. Rumor, always busy with these gentlemen and their purposes, declares that a satire on the circumlocution of the British civil service will be the theme of the new work.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday Morning, July 6, 1884, Page 10

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July 13, 1884

Sir Arthur Sullivan played Mendelsson's Wedding March at the recent Ritchie-Ronalds wedding in London. Mrs. Ritchie received from her father a set of silver and a check, from Miss Catherine Wolfe of New York a check, and, to show how English lovers greet their wives, the grooms presents alone numbered thirty.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday Morning, July 13, 1884, Page 12

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October 13, 1884

The Princess Ida, having been married and settled a great many times, has now departed to make room for two old friends by Gilbert and Sullivan - The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury, Sir Arthur Sullivan conducting in person on the first night.

Source: The Echo, Monday October 13, 1884, Page

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November 26, 1884

LORD GARMOYLE AND MISS FINNEY.

To the great disappointment of the gossip-loving portion of the public, the great breach of promise case, which has of late attracted so much attention, resulted on Thursday in an arrangement. Lord Garmoyle offered to pay 10,000 pounds damages, and this sum was accepted by Miss Finney. She insisted, however, on a verdict being given in court, feeling it "incumbent upon her out of respect for herself and those who esteemed her that whatever was done should be done in the form of a verdict delivered in public."
It appears from the statement of her counsel, Mr. Russell, Q.C., that Miss Finney, who was born in 1859, was the daughter of Mr. William Finney, who was for many years a well-to-do member of the firm of Finney, Seal, and Co., coal merchants. A few years ago Mr. Finney went into liquidation, and Miss Finney has since been almost the sole support of her mother and younger sister. Some three or four years since she was introduced to Sir Arthur Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert, and through them obtained an engagement to play as a fairy in one of their well-known pieces, Patience, at the Savoy Theatre, playing under the assumed name of "Miss Fortescue." She had for a time three guineas a week, and subsequently six guineas. Towards the end of 1882 she met in society with Lord Garmoyle, the eldest son of Earl Cairns, who has been twice Lord Chancellor. On the 11th July, 1883, Lord Garmoyle proposed to her, and was accepted. On communicating the fact to his parents, he received from Lord Cairns, who, being in ill health, was abroad, a telegram expressing a guarded approval of the engagement. On the 18th July Lady Cairns wrote to her: -

Dear Miss Finney - a name by which you will very shortly be no longer known - my son asked me this evening to write to you, as his visit to Switzerland will delay him for some little time from seeing you, and I am anxious that he should not hurry back from his father. I trust it will please God to grant His blessing both to him and to you, for experience has taught me that without God's blessing no life can be happy and no good permanent. I think I have no greater hope than that you and my truly beloved son will be really happy, and there is a kindly desire to further his and your interests on the part of every member of his family.

Miss Finney replied: -

Dear Lady Cairns - I cannot tell you how deeply I feel and appreciate the kindly feelings which prompted the letter you sent today. You have been very kind to us both, and so forbearing. I have only one wish, and that is to make Garmoyle thoroughly and absolutely happy in the true, real way. Two days later Lord Garmoyle saw his father, who, after stating that the proposed alliance was not one which he should have, of his own choice, selected, repeated in substance what Lady Cairns had said in her letter - that his son's happiness was the main object of his life, and he consented to the engagement. On July 20 Lord Garmoyle went to Switzerland, and he writes to Miss Finney as follows: -

At last I have seen the dread parent, who, I find, is overjoyed at my doing anything at all, much more to find that I am doing so sensible a thing as going to marry.

In August Lord Garmoyle explained to Miss Finney that "his people" had very strong views upon the subject of the theatrical profession; that they did not look upon it as a profession, but as even ungodly and profane. At the earnest request of Lord Garmoyle Miss Finney agreed that both her sister and she would give up their career upon the stage. On her visiting at Cromwell House, in London, she was affectionately greeted by Lady Cairns, who advised her, and finally led her into the library, where Lord Cairns received her as a daughter. She visited the family also in Perthshire. Although Miss Finney expressed her objections to a long engagement, it was finally arranged that Lord Garmoyle should return to Sandhurst and make an effort to pass a further examination. The only love-letter that was read in court was the following from Miss Finney: -

Dear old Sweetheart - I wore your present at dinner after you left, but I do want you to remember what I say when I beg you not to give me anything else for a long time. Sweetheart, you see that besides being a loving lad and lassie, we are a sensible man and woman, who, caring for each other more than for anything else in the world, have settled to pass our lives together. If this is to be successful the man must not get into the habit of thinking the woman a pretty plaything on whom jewels and toys are to be lavished, and that these things make her happiness. Dear old boy, you must face the fact that you have heavy expenses, and that you cannot put your income round my neck and arms without getting your affairs into a muddle. All the pretty things you give me are I know in some way a kind of public witness of your affection for me; but now you must give me what I do ask, your compliance with my wish in this particular. You see I am not a brainless doll, whose spurious love needs to be kept alive by all sorts of appeals to her vanity thinking of the pleasure of the moment, but I wish to see the future clearly on the same lines. Do not think I do not appreciate the sweet thoughts which prompt you to give the prettiest things. I would not have it otherwise; but I want you to look at this from my point of view, and to agree with me. You and I owe something to other people. What I meant is that we have done something a little out of the way. We are bound to make it a great success for each, so that every man and woman in perhaps somewhat similar positions may say, "These two took their lives into their own keeping, and gave up many things for the sake of each other. They have made it a success, and we will try also;" and it seems to me that it is rather a good thing in life to have been able to help other people to be strong, brave, and happy, doing what it right. Remember what you told me, that I am the only woman who ever told you to do that.

So matters went on, she being considered by every one as his fiancee, until, at the beginning of this year, he spent eight or nine days with Mrs. and Miss Finney at Brighton. On leaving them on the 21st January he expressed the usual professions of love and regard. But the same day he wrote from his father's home at Bournemouth breaking off the engagement. He still professed the deepest love and the greatest admiration, he still regarded Miss Finney as a person in all ways worthy of his respect and of his love, but he said that, looking to her profession, she would not be accepted by his friends and relations as his wife; and that, acting in the interests and upon the suggestions of others, he must put an end to the marriage.
These facts having been stated, the Attorney-General, who appeared for Lord Garmoyle, said that whilst many persons would shrink from commencing an action for breach of promise of marriage there were considerations in this case which would seem certainly to justify Miss Finney in having sought for money compensation. Lord Garmoyle was desirous that it should be said that there was throughout nothing in the bearing or the course of conduct pursued by Miss Finney but what was becoming a high-minded English gentlewoman, and that the breaking off of the engagement had in no way resulted from any act of hers, but was effected by considerations applicable to himself alone. Lord Garmoyle believed them to be paramount and imposing a duty upon him; but while they were such as he felt ought to affect his judgment above all others, they could not afford any answer to the just claim of Miss Finney.
The case was then brought speedily to an end with some complimentary allusions on Mr. Justice Manisty's part to the eloquence of the plaintiff's counsel and the "noble statement" of the defendant's.

Source: The Guardian, November 26, 1884, Page 1805

I will now continue the timeline for Sir Arthur Sullivan for the year of 1885:

January 17, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan has been interviewed by a reporter of one of the daily papers, and he has been rather hard on the Germans. I don't know whether the Germans have been hard upon him. I rather think they have.

The Germans were a great musical nation long before "The Lost Chord" was found, or "Patience," had become a virtue. And when I was at school in Frankfort, some twenty-four years ago, they used to teach us that England had no composers, and I could not then gainsay that statement. Of course, I know better now.

Source: The Putney and Wandsworth Borough News, Saturday January 17, 1885

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January 22, 1885

If the old proverb be true, Sir Arthur Sullivan can be neither happy, wealthy, nor wise, although common report credits him with being all these. For he has confessed to an "interviewer," sent by The Daily News that as a rule he begins work at midnight, and does not go to bed till between three and four in the morning. This is "early to bed" in one sense with a vengeance, but he is not early to rise in any sense whatever. In defence of these unearthly hours Sir Arthur pleads the necessity for quiet, which only comes in London after midnight. But probably he is also in better trim for composing during these small hours. The imagination works faster, and the brain is more active with most people late at night - a fact which makes us wonder that the general run of leading articles in the leading morning journals are not more brilliant. The Daily Telegraph is certainly imaginative enough; but some others seem to us to err on the side of the prosaic and the commonplace.

Source: The Nonconformist and Independent, January 22, 1885, Page 86

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February 8, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan does most of his writing or musical composition between midnight and sunrise, because at that time he can be absolutely quiet.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday February 8, 1885, Page 13

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February 24, 1885

The Philharmonic Society begins its season next Thursday at St. James's Hall. Sir Arthur Sullivan will be the conductor.

Source: The Echo, Tuesday February 24, 1885

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March 4, 1885

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Source: The Guardian, March 4, 1885, Page 351

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May 8, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan to "Sail the Ocean Blue."

LONDON, May 7. - Sir Arthur Sullivan, the composer, will start in June on a tour through the United States to California.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Friday Morning, May 8, 1885

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May 17, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan is expected to arrive in New York today on the Adriatic.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday May 17, 1885

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June 2, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan was to sail from London, Saturday, for New York. He proposes making a tour of the United States.

Source: The Agitator, Tuesday June 2, 1885

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A Lively Summer.

Lots of things are coming this summer. There are the grasshoppers, both of the seventeen-year and the thirteen-year breeds, and then there are Prince Albert Victor and Sir Arthur Sullivan, not to mention the cholera and several other little things. Oh, we're going to have a lively summer of it, even if it is an off political year. - Boston Globe.

Source: Alden Times, Friday June 12, 1885, Page 11

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June 15, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan is expected to conduct in person the first performance in New York of The Mikado.

Source: The Echo, Monday June 15, 1885

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June 16, 1885

Going to California.

LONDON, June 16. - D'Oyley Carte says that Sir Arthur Sullivan is going to California on private business, and will probably leave America before the production of the "Mikado."

Source: Manitoba Daily Free Press, Tuesday June 16, 1885

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June 23, 1885

How Van Zandt Offended the Prince.

LONDON, June 27. - The incident which has been so prominent a subject of recent gossip, the Mlle. Van Zandt has been ostracised from the aristocratic circles around the Prince of Wales, is owing to her refusal of an invitation to dinner given by Sir Arthur Sullivan before going to America, at which the lady was to have met his royal highness. Mlle. Van Zandt's explanation of her refusal was that she had herself arranged to give a dinner to a number of authors and artists at the same time, but this explanation is deemed insufficient to excuse her declination to meet the Prince of Wales, and his set is bitter against the singer.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday June 23, 1885, Page 2

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June 27, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan sailed from Queenstown on Sunday, on board the Cunard steamer Etruria, for New York. He is going to California on private business, and hopes to return in August.

Source: The Echo, Saturday June 27, 1885, Page 4

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June 27, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the composer, sailed from Liverpool Monday on the steamer Etruria for New York.

Source: Yates County Chronicle, Saturday June 27, 1885, Page 1

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June 28, 1885

THE THREATENED "MIKADO" LITIGATION.

D'Oyly Carte has been interviewed on the threatened litigation over "The Mikado" in America. He says the situation is clear and simple. Sir Arthur Sullivan sent a copy of the original score to a Mr. Tracy, of Boston, who skilfully made from it a pianoforte arrangement, and then purchased from Sir Arthur not only the exclusive right to said piano score, but also the exclusive right to the production of "The Mikado" upon the American stage, which rights Mr. Carte says can and will be enforced by legal process if anybody produces "The Mikado" without the consent of Mr. Tracy. Be it produced by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Carte or by any American citizen, it can only be done by the theft of Tracy's rights or the theft of Sullivan's unpublished score or by Tracy's consent. The question at issue, therefore, is, can an American citizen appropriate the acquired rights of another American citizen merely because his pianoforte arrangement is published? No rights whatever are claimed for Gilbert's libretto. Anybody may use it, but not with Sullivan's music. The American Consul-General in London took Gilbert's deposition in the matter on Thursday.

Source: The New York Times, Sunday June 28, 1885

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June 30, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the distinguished English composer, arrived in New York from England Monday. He is a short, thick-set little man with grey side whiskers and a genial face. "I am to stay in New York until Thursday next," he said, "when I leave for Chicago, San Francisco, and the Western country generally, returning here in a few weeks. My latest work, "The Mikado," is very popular at home, attracting great audiences. I hope America will be pleased with it."

Source: Daily Northwestern, Tuesday June 30, 1885

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June 30, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, of London, is at the Hotel Brunswick.

Source: The New York Times, Tuesday June 30, 1885, Page 2

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June 30, 1885

SIR ARTHUR ARRIVES.
The Etruria Brings the Composer to Our Shores.

He Will Make a Trip to San Francisco and the Yosemite Valley.
Confident of the Success of "The Mikado" in This Country.

NEW YORK, June 20. - Sir Arthur Sullivan landed in this country today. The distinguished composer has changed but little since his first visit to America. His hair and thick moustache are grayer, but he is still as "plump and pleasing" in figure as his own Little Buttercup; his monocle is worn with the same easy grace and is dropped with the same dexterity; the grasp of his hand is as warm and hearty and the tone of his voice as genial as ever.
"We had a splendid voyage in the Etruria," said he to a reporter, "and she is a magnificent vessel. The weather was generally pleasant, as far as any one can hope for on the ordinary ocean voyage, though we had very dense fogs off the Newfoundland coast, and were, I think, somewhat delayed by them.
"But I don't care for fogs, now that we are safely landed," Sir Arthur went on with almost boyish glee. "I am delighted to be in America again, and am looking forward to an even pleasanter time than when on my last trip. I intend to make this more of a pleasure than a business trip.
"Plans? Well, I hardly have any plans. I expect to be in New York not more than two or three days, and shall then start on an extended journey across to San Francisco. I shall hope to see the Yosemite valley and all the wonders of nature in the far West, but just where I shall go and what I shall see depends on my friends and on what we decide after we reach the West. I have made no plans about the length of time I shall remain in America, but am in no hurry, and shall see all I can and have just

As Pleasant a Time as I Can.

In all those things, however, I shall be in the hands of my friends, who will arrange all the minor points of the tour."
"Your latest opera, "The Mikado," has been a great success in London, according to all reports?"
"Enormous," was the reply. "The theatre is crammed every night, and it is almost impossible at times to secure places. Both the music and the libretto seem to please the audiences. The melodies are very popular, and some of Mr. Gilbert's jokes have become parts of conversation in London, just as some of those in "Pinafore" did. You know the costumes in the "Mikado" are very quaint and beautiful, and they have doubtless helped to win the success of the piece. I am very anxious to have my friends in America hear the opera. They have treated the others so well that I want to know their opinion of my latest work in that line.
"Do I think the opera will be equally successful in America? Certainly, if it is done by our own people and with all the original business and stage effects. But I have no fear on that score, knowing how my earlier operas have been mounted and sung in this country.
"Whether I shall be able to direct

The First Performance of "The Mikado"

I don't know, but I hope to. It will depend on where I am at the time. Whatever I can do to add to the success of the opera I shall be very glad to do, of course. America has done so much for me and has shown so kind an appreciation of all my compositions that I could not have anything but a very friendly feeling toward the country. I know how widely my songs are known here and have been gratified to learn that my orchestral works and oratorios have been performed. I have letters from America which seem to show that many of my writings are just as familiar here as they are in England. My festival "Te Deum," which I wrote for the recovery of the Prince of Wales, was given in Buffalo a few years ago, and my "Light of the World" and "Prodigal Son" have been, I understand, sung in some other cities.
"I do not know yet where I shall stay in New York, but am expecting to be entertained at a private house during the few days I remain. And now please tell all my friends that I shall be very busy during that time, and shall be obliged to deny myself the pleasure just now of seeing them. I want to rest a little, too. Tell my friends that, like a good fellow, and I will be awfully obliged to you. I shall be back in New York quite soon, and then I hope to see everybody, and the newspapers, if they want to, can interview me to their heart's content."

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Tuesday Morning, June 30, 1885

July 1, 1885

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN TALKS.
The Composer Speaks of the Presumption of Manager Duff.

NEW YORK, June 30. - Sir Arthur Sullivan says that he has not come to America solely to superintend the production of "The Mikado." His sister-in-law died recently in Los Angeles, Cal., and he is going there in the interest of a nephew and niece. He will start next Thursday and remain in California about a month. On his return he will visit the watering places in the vicinity of New York and sail for Europe in October.
Concerning Manager Duff's proposed production of "The Mikado," he said: "Duff has placed himself in a very unenviable position. He came to England and offered terms far below what we could afford to accept to permit the production of "The Mikado" in this country. He blustered, and wanted to dictate generally. Mr. Duff wanted his own terms, desired to employ his own company and to run things entirely his own way. We objected, and offered to play on shares. He scouted the idea, and said he would produce the opera in America anyway. Of course I shall get out an injunction against Mr. Duff, asking that he be prohibited from producing that which he has no right to by the laws of equity, if nothing else."

Source: Boston Daily Globe, Wednesday July 1, 1885

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July 1, 1885

Latest by Mail.

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the famous composer, arrived in New York, Monday on his second trip to this country. How long he will remain he does not know. He hopes to be able to conduct the orchestra at the first production in America of his new opera, "Mikado."

Source: Petersburg Daily Index-Appeal, Wednesday July 1, 1885

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July 11, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, of Pinafore fame, has been a guest at the Ocean House this week.

Source: Newport Mercury, July 11, 1885

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July 24, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the composer of "Pinafore" and "Patience," is now in New York. He will visit the Pacific Coast, and afterwards return to New York.

Source: The Anglo-American Times, July 24, 1885, Page 15

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July 26, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan paused in Chicago a day or two on his way to California, presumable to consult counsel there, as he has elsewhere done, about fighting unauthorized performers of the "Mikado."

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday July 26, 1885, Page 12

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August 13, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, of musical celebrity, lingers at Los Angeles, Cal., a place of delight, he thinks.

Source: Daily Bennebee Journal, Thursday Morning, August 13, 1885

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August 16, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan has been taking life very easily and lazily in San Francisco.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday August 16, 1885, Page 12

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September 28, 1885

There are two other customs of American society against which Sir Arthur Sullivan has recently been protesting. The first of these is what the Americans call smartness, but which in England would be plainly described as roguery; and the second is that hateful, petty, despicable practice of interviewing. On this latter point Sir Arthur says that he would not complain if the Press did not print as his utterances a lot of vulgar nonsense which he never even thought of expressing. That is just where the eminent composer is wrong. He does not understand the very fundamental principle of interviewing. The great American public look for spicy sayings, and the Press is bound to supply them. If Sir Arthur does not want the American reporter to put vulgar nonsense into his mouth, he has only two remedies; he must either utter the kind of trash the reporter wants or refuse to be interviewed at all. The latter would be the wisest plan. Indeed, a man who is vain enough or weak enough to admit an interviewer deserves whatever trouble his conduct brings him.

Source: Bell's Life in London, Monday September 28, 1885, Page 4

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September 29, 1885

YUM-YUM.
Sir Arthur Sullivan Said to be in Love With a Boston Girl.

NEW YORK, September 28. - It is now no secret around the Union Square Theatre, says the Sunday Journal, that Sir Arthur Sullivan, the celebrated composer of "The Mikado" and numberless other comic operas, is thoroughly in love. His acknowledged flame is Miss Geraldine Ulmer, the pretty young woman in the present production at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Mr. Sullivan spends all the time he conveniently can with this charming singer, and nightly, after the performance, takes her to supper either at the Hoffman or Delmonico's. It is believed around the theatre that before Sullivan's departure for Europe he will make a formal offer of marriage to the pretty little lady who so rapidly jumped into popularity by what is undoubtedly a very nice performance.
The attentions which Miss Ulmer has accepted from Sir Arthur Sullivan have caused some surprise among those who believed she was no longer fancy free, but had already engaged herself in marriage to another person. Throughout this matter, however, Miss Ulmer has acted with thorough honor to herself.
The fact of the matter is that she was engaged to marry a gentleman in Boston named Ivers, but during last summer she went to Mr. John Stetson, who is the owner of the Globe Theatre in Boston, and told him that she was exceeding doubtful whether she cared enough for her intended to marry him at that time. Mr. Stetson told her, very naturally, that if she was doubtful of her own feeling that it was best to hesitate, and that if she preferred to remain on the stage for some time longer it was a very easy matter to defer her marriage, and he could guarantee her an engagement. He already foresaw that she would prove a better Yum Yum than anybody D'Oyly Carte was likely to bring over.
It so turned out, and her success in this sort of opera has been so great that Miss Ulmer now takes high heaven to witness that she will never marry at all. What it is that caused her to hesitate and break off her engagement to Mr. Ivers is not known, but she makes no secret of the fact that that episode in her career is finished forever.
In the meantime Sir Arthur Sullivan's persistent suit may cause the young lady to change her mind. It is evident that she does not resent his respectful advances, and that to be Lady Sullivan might prove a prize far beyond her utmost expectations.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Tuesday September 29, 1885, Page 8

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October 4, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan don't like the Americans "You Know." He was advertised to lead the orchestra in a Mikado performance and seats sold for $25, which money was paid by some of the Anglo-Maniac dudes and dudeens with which this country abounds. He was angry because such a small audience assembled to see him, "t'was English, you know." They pay in this country to see art, and not dudes.

Source: The Sunday Critic, October 4, 1885

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October 10, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan is said to be in love with "Yum-Yum." That is what other people say. So far as he is concerned he is mum, mum about "Yum-Yum."

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Saturday October 10, 1885, Page 8

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October 18, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte sailed from New York Wednesday in the Ems. Mr. Stetson's Boston company are rehearsing daily at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, and a real genuine imported "Yum-Yum" arrived last week from England.

Source: The Boston Daily Globe, Sunday October 18, 1885, Page 13

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November 5, 1885

Sir Arthur Sullivan, composer, has put his nieces and nephews in Southern California, six in number, on a good business footing. They were his brother's children, and their business ventures unprofitable. The brother died, and shortly afterward the mother died, and the children were alone in a strange land.

Source: The Indiana Democrat, Thursday November 5, 1885

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November 22, 1885

When the composer of the "Mikado" was conducting the performances at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, his social attentions to the toothsome Yum-Yum were so marked that a New York paper felt called upon, probably through a gallant sentiment of kindness towards the young woman, to announce her engagement to the devoted escort. See what the person most interested writes:
"The rumor concerning Sir Arthur Sullivan and myself I assure you is thoroughly without foundation. Respectfully yours, GERALDINE ULMER."

In a Chicago paper Emma Abbott was reported to have said that the "Mikado" was written originally for her. To this statement the popular singer cries: "All my eye and Betty Martin!" She protests:
"I never declined to accept "The Mikado" for the potent reason that it was never offered to me. The rumor to which you refer has undoubtedly arisen from the publication of an interview I had with a newspaper reporter in which I stated that during the summer of 1884 I called on Sir Arthur Sullivan in London and had an interview with him concerning the writing of an opera which, when produced, would be under my sole control. During the conversation with Sir Arthur Sullivan I alluded to the success of my love-making scenes in the operas of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Paul and Virginia," and suggested that the proposed opera should contain scenes of the same nature as those in the operas mentioned. In replying to my proposal Sir Arthur Sullivan said that in the absence of Mr. Gilbert, and as neither of them really knew what the subject of their next opera was to be, he could give no definite answer.
"I also stated to the reporter during the interview that when in London last summer I saw "The Mikado" at the Savoy Theatre, and that when I recognized in it many scenes similar to those I myself had arranged in "Paul and Virginia," and particularly the "kissing duet," which was always greeted with cries of "Yum, yum" from the upper part of the house, it naturally occurred to me that as both Sir Arthur Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert were in America at the time I was playing "Paul and Virginia" that they might have seen my performances and might have adopted some of my original stage business."
(Though there is no apparent connection between Yum-Yum and babies, Miss Abbott seizes this opportunity to refute a quite serious charge:)
"I recall another notable instance of the enterprise of American journalists which occurred some time ago when on entering a city I found in the leading morning paper a statement to the effect that I was the proud mother of a fine baby, the writer going so far as to gravely describe an attack of croup from which the infant had suffered. Again, in Chicago, a newspaper published a cut of my alleged child, which was the first opportunity ever offered me of gazing upon the darling's face! Faithfully yours,

[img][/img]

Source: The World, Sunday November 22, 1885, Page 10

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December 9, 1885

THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC.

Professor G.A. Macfarren presides over a fully competent teaching staff, consisting of very highly distinguished members of the profession. The whole course of study is based upon the soundest principles. Ample proof of the pupils' progress is afforded in the concerts, nine of which are given every year by the students in St. James's Hall. Besides these, fortnightly reunions of masters and scholars are held; and this enables each one to judge of himself in comparison with his fellows, and leads to an honest emulation between one another. The number of students at present on the books is between 450 and 500. As may well be imagined, among these are some of very high promise, who are likely to be valuable acquisitions ere long to the concert-room and operatic stage. And as one reads the lists of scholarships and prizes bestowed in past years, it is interesting to look back on the foreshadowing distinctions won by our present musical favourites. Several well-known names appear to have gained every honour that it was possible to take there. Sir Arthur Sullivan was Mendelssohn Scholar in 1856, Mme. Valleria was the Westmoreland Scholar of 1867, while Miss Margaret Gyde, Miss Mary Davis, and several other equally popular performers, seem to have resigned one good prize merely to win a greater. Not the least pleasing feature of those who have studied at the Academy is their sincere affection for their old school, and the pride with which they point to the fact that they are members or associates. An esprit de corps of this kind is one of the surest means of raising a worthy standard and keeping it up to the highest level that earnest devotion to, and patient labour for, the best development of Art can attain. M.F.B.

Source: The Echo, Wednesday December 9, 1885

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December 16, 1885

An Awful Predicament.

To the Editor of The World:

I am really beginning to lose all faith in your paper. Two times have I asked for the address of Sir Arthur Sullivan and every time have I been disappointed. This is more than I thought THE WORLD capable of. MEMBER OF MIKADO CO.

[It would grieve us very much to have anybody lose faith in the infallibility of THE WORLD, but as a matter of fact we sometimes lose the track of the great people who move to and fro on the globe. We dislike very much to confess it, but we really do not know the present whereabouts of Sir Arthur. We are willing to advertise for him if he be lost. - ED. WORLD.]

Source: The World, Wednesday December 16, 1885, Page 5

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December 24, 1885

The circumstances under which that popular song, "The Lost Chord," was written, were singular indeed. Sir Arthur Sullivan has long been an admirer of the words and intended sometime to set them to music. One night, while watching at the bedside of his dying brother, Sullivan passed into a room next to where the sufferer lay, in which stood an organ. Chancing to sit down at the instrument the beautiful words surged through his mind and he did not rise until he had set them to music. - Ex.

Source: Iowa State Reporter, December 24, 1885

The following recording was made on October 5, 1888 and is the actual voice of Sir Arthur Sullivan:

http://www.cylindersontheweb.angelcities.com/rare_recordings.htm

Here is some information on the recording:

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN - Personal Record To Mr. Edison (5-Oct-1888)
Spoken by: Arthur Sullivan, composer
Introduction by: Col. George Gouraud
Record format: Edison yellow paraffine cylinder
Recording date: October 5, 1888
Location: Little Menlo, London, England
ENHS object catalog number: E-2439-7
** Transcript of Arthur Sullivan's message to Edison upon introduction to the phonograph:
" . . . For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening's experiment -- astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same, I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery." Copyright ©

You must have the RealPlayer downloaded on your computer to hear the recording. You can download the player here:

http://www.real.com/

Sullivan - A Phonograph Collection, 1899-1916 contains more historical recordings of Sullivan's musical compositions:
http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PASC147.php

Historic Arthur Sullivan Recordings:
http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/sullivan/html/historic.html

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/sir-arthur-sullivan

This is Geraldine Ulmer, the Victorian opera singer with whom Sir Arthur Sullivan fell in love. She played "Yum-Yum" in The Mikado:

[img][/img]
Geraldine Ulmer as "Yum-Yum" in The Mikado.

Here is a death announcement:

Geraldine Ulmer, Opera Singer, Dies.
With Boston Ideal Company For Six Years - Taught Singing in England Recently.

LONDON, August 14. - Geraldine Ulmer, actress and vocalist, who was born in Boston, Mass., died Saturday. She was 70 years old.

Miss Ulmer retired from the stage in 1904 and subsequently devoted herself to the teaching of singing. She lived in recent years at Merstham, Surrey, England.
Her first stage appearance was made in 1879 as a member of the Boston Ideal Opera Company, with which she remained for six years. Subsequently she played Yum-Yum in "The Mikado" in New York, and in 1887 made her London debut at the Savoy Theatre. During the ensuing years she appeared in several Gilbert and Sullivan operas in London.

Source: The Daily Gleaner, Thursday August 18, 1932, Page 22

Here is Geraldine Ulmer featured on a cigarette trading card:

[img][/img]

Manufacturer: W. Duke & Sons, Ltd.
This is one card from a series of 50 titled "Fancy Dress Ball Costumes" that were issued by the American tobacco company W. Duke and Sons Ltd. in 1887 and it features Geraldine Ulmer - "The Huntress."
Date of Issue: 1887

Sir Arthur Sullivan is suave and amiable, of marriageable age, and dame rumor insists that Miss Geraldine Ulmer is the yum yum of his affections. Somewhat in contrast is W.S. Gilbert, of Mikado fame, who is described as being hard, cold, and unsympathetic in manner, never missing an opportunity of saying rasping and cruel things of his contemporaries; his bows and nods being gauged by the social status of the individual to whom they are accorded.

Source: The Statesman, Friday Evening, February 19, 1886

[img][/img]

DEATH OF SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN.
(By Cable - Press Association. Copyright.)

LONDON, November 22.

Sir Arthur Sullivan, the famous musician is dead.
We published in Wednesday's "Star" a report that Sir Arthur Sullivan was in Paris in charge of two attendants, on his way to the Riviera, having been compelled by extreme weakness to break the trip and rest. He then realised that his case was past help and did not expect to live to return to England.
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born in London, 1842. His father was a military bandmaster. As a choirboy at the Chapel Royal he gained the "Mendelssohn Scholarship" at the Royal Academy of Music, in '56, and there continued his musical education. He went to Leipzig from '58 to '61. His music to Shakespeare's "Tempest" at once attracted public favour on his return in '62. Constantly writing cantatas ("Kenilworth," '64, etc.), oratorios ("Prodigal Son," '69; "Light of the World," ('73, anthems, songs, etc., he yet remained without any specially extensive popularity, till he hit upon a vein of burlesque operetta, which he produced in conjunction with W.S. Gilbert, who wrote the librettos. The first of these was "Trial by Jury" ('75), followed by "The Sorcerer" ('77); "H.M.S. Pinafore" ('78), which ran for 700 consecutive nights, and had probably the greatest success in England and in the United States of any work of the kind; "Pirates of Penzance" ('80); "Patience" ('81); "Iolanthe" ('82); "Princess Ida" ('84); "Mikado" ('85), revived in '88; "Ruddigore" ('87); and "The Yeoman of the Guard" ('88). For the Leeds Festival, in October '86, he wrote the "Golden Legend." "Ivanhoe" was produced in '91, and in September '92 a new opera, "Haddon Hall," the libretto of which was written by Mr. S. Grundy, was brought out at the Savoy, and gained fresh distinction for the great composer. The association with Mr. Gilbert was resumed in '93 with "Utopia Limited," and in '96 with "The Grand Duke." In '95 "The Chieftain" was produced at the Savoy, the libretto being by Mr. F.C. Burnand. Sir Arthur was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in '78, and knighted in '83. He was Mus. D. of both Oxford and Cambridge.

(M.A.P.)

When I was not more than four or five years old it became perfectly evident that my career in life must be in music, and nothing else. It was the only thing I cared for. When I was barely five I used to go to the piano and make discoveries for myself. I struck the keys, and found out what notes, when sounded together, were harmonious, and what were discordant. And so I gradually discovered certain harmonic progressions, my ear telling me what was right, though, of course, I could not possibly know the reason why.
My father, Thomas Sullivan, was the bandmaster at the Royal Military College, at Sandhurst, from 1845 to 1856. He was an Irishman by birth, and my mother was of an old Italian family named Righi. The band my father conducted was small, but very good, for he was an excellent musician.
I was intensely interested in all that the band did, and learned to play every wind instrument, with which I formed not merely a passing acquaintance, but a real, life-long, intimate friendship. I gradually learnt the peculiarities of each, and found out where it was strong, and where it was weak; what it could do, and what it was unable to do.
When I was about fourteen I heard that a competitive examination would take place at the Royal Academy of Music for a scholarship, founded in memory of Mendelssohn. The nucleus of the fund had been derived from the proceeds of a performance of "Elijah," given at Exeter Hall for this special purpose by Madame Jenny Lind, who was then in the full zenith of her powers. The examination was to take place in June, and as the minimum age of competitors was 14, and I had reached my fourteenth birthday on the thirteenth of the previous May, I was just qualified to enter. There was a large number of competitors, as was only to be expected, and when I saw them I almost gave up all hope of success. However, when it came to the last day of the examination it was announced that the scholarship lay between the eldest and the youngest of the competitors. Needless to say I was the youngest. The eldest was Joseph Barnby. During that long summer day Barnby and I were put through a most searching final examination. At the close the judges reserved their decision.
"We shall make known the result tomorrow," said one of them. "The successful competitor will receive a letter, announcing that he is the winner of the scholarship."
I was living at No. 6, Cheyne Walk, with Mr. Helmore, who was one of the chaplains to the Queen, and the master of the "Children of the Chapels Royal." I spent the day in a fever of excitement. Every time I heard a knock at the door my heart was in my mouth. The day wore on, but still no letter. Two o'clock came - three - four. I was beginning to lose hope. At last, tat-tat! The postman's knock! It was unmistakable. I crept into the hall. The maid-servant passed by me, and went to the letter-box. "A letter for you, Master Sullivan," she said.
I took it from her, tore it open, and then - I had won it! I don't think I ever felt such joy in my life. I have that precious letter now, framed and hung on my wall, with other pleasant reminders of happy bygone days.
It was arranged that I should continue in the Chapel Royal, as my voice had not yet "broke," and pursue my studies at the Royal Academy at the same time. My masters there were Sterndale Bennett and Arthur O'Leary for the pianoforte, and John Gloss for harmony and composition. I also attended, of course, the orchestral and choral practices under Charles Lucas. I worked fairly hard, and in the following summer I received a letter informing me that in consequence of the progress I had made my scholarship had been extended for another year. At the end of my second year at the Academy it was again allotted to me, in order that I might go abroad and study at the Conservatorium at Leipzig.
Early in 1862 I showed Sir George Grove and Mr. Manns "The Tempest" music I had composed at Leipzig. They decided to give it at one of the concerts. It was performed on Saturday, April 5, 1862. This was the great day of my life! It is no exaggeration to say that I woke up the next morning and found myself famous. The papers, one and all, gave me most favourable notices, and the success was so great that "The Tempest" music was repeated on the following Saturday.
I was ready to undertake anything that came in my way. Symphonies, overtures, ballets, anthems, hymn-tunes, songs, part songs, a concerto for the violoncello, and eventually comic and light operas - nothing came amiss to me; and I gladly accepted what publishers offered me, so long as I could get the things published. I composed six Shakespearian songs for Messrs. Meltzer and Co., and got five guineas apiece for them. "Cepheus with His Lute," "The Willow Song," "O, Mistress Mine," were amongst them. Then I did "If Doughty Deeds" and "A Weary Lot is Thine, Fair Maid," for Messrs. Chappell. I raised my price for these songs, and sold them outright for ten guineas each.
I was getting on, but by this time I had come to the conclusion that it was a pity for the publishers to have all the profit. My next song, "Will He Come?" went to Messrs. Boosey, on the understanding that I was to have a royalty on every copy sold. "And, oh, the difference to me!" I did very well with "Will He Come?" and never sold a song outright afterwards. After that I published "Sweethearts," "Once Again," "Looking Back," "Let Me Dream Again," and many other songs, and those all brought grist to the mill.
Somewhere about 1871 or 1872 John Hollingshead, who was at that time the manager of the Gaiety Theatre, asked Mr. W.S. Gilbert and myself to do a piece, with parts for J.L. Toole, Nellie Farren, and other leading Gaiety lights. The result was "Thespis: or the Gods Grown Old." The fact that most of the principals possessed voices with a compass of only six or seven notes somewhat restricted my creative efforts. But the piece was fairly successful all the same.
In 1875 Mr. D'Oyly Carte was managing at the Royalty Theatre for Selina Dolaro. She was not doing at all well, and Mr. Carte, meeting Gilbert and myself one day, asked us if we would write something which would give her a little help forward. Mr. Gilbert had previously suggested to me the idea of an operetta, with the scene laid in a court of law, and he now proposed that we should utilise the idea in a piece to play about half an hour. I agreed, and in a few days he brought me the book of "Trial by Jury." The whole thing, words, music, and all, was completed in about a fortnight, and was immediately put on at the Royalty. The result was a surprise to us all. Night after night rows of carriages drew up outside the little theatre, and the house was crammed. All London went to see it. The success was so great that not long afterwards Mr. D'Oyly Carte arranged to take the Opera Comique for the production of light English opera, and in 1877 Gilbert and I wrote "The Sorcerer" for him. This piece was founded on a story called "The Elixir of Love," which Gilbert had previously published. "The Sorcerer" did fairly well, but the public had not yet learnt to appreciate Mr. Gilbert's peculiar style. They were not quite ready for it.
After "The Sorcerer" came "H.M.S. Pinafore," which was produced in May, 1878, and fell rather flat at first. Business was so unsatisfactory, in fact, that in July it was determined to put up the notice, and bring the piece to an end. Just then, however, a sudden change took place, and the theatre began to fill so well that the notice was withdrawn. At this time I was conducting the Promenade Concerts at Covent Garden, and every night I played a most spirited arrangement of the "Pinafore" music, which had been prepared for me by Mr. Hamilton Clarke. It always went exceedingly well, and proved, I think, an excellent advertisement for the piece.
But besides this the play had caught on in America, and raged like a fever all over the States. In New York alone, eight theatres were performing it at the same time, and the words were so constantly quoted that at last it was decided to impose a fine each time a phrase from "Pinafore" was used in general conversation. My dear old friend, Frederic Clay, was in church one Sunday morning with the Barlows, one of the best known families in New York and the preacher concluded a most eloquent sermon with the impressive words, "For He Himself Hath said it!" Clay whispered into Sam Barlow's ear the continuing line: "And it's greatly to his credit," promptly took out half a dollar, and silently placed it in Mr. Barlow's hand!
Sir Arthur's success, like that of most celebrities in art, seems to have been won by good honest hard work and determination. At the time he wrote "Pinafore" he was racked with pain from an agonising malady from which he had suffered for nearly 30 years. It says much for the dogged courage of the composer that the jocund music of the opera was persisted within the intervals of the most acute suffering.

Source: Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 179, 23 November 1900, Page 5

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SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN.

Everybody familiar with the likely and inspiriting music of "H.M.S. Pinafore," "Patience," and "Iolanthe," will admit that Sir Arthur Sullivan has made the nation his debtor. On the eve of the production at the Savoy Theatre of the new comic opera this favourite musician has composed to the Girton or Newnham College theme of Mr. W.S. Gilbert, it will not be deemed unseasonable to present our readers with a lifelike portrait of Sir Arthur Sullivan, drawn by Mr. Thomas Scott from the photograph taken by Mr. Topley, of Ottawa, Canada.
One of the most brilliantly successful students of the Royal Academy of Music, Arthur Sullivan, has richly won his knighthood. He was a pupil of Sterndale Bennett and Goss, and at the Leipsig Conservatorium.

Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Saturday January 5, 1884, Page 4

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN'S LAST OPERA.
BEST SAVOY OPERA SINCE "THE GONDOLIERS."

The "Emerald Isle" - which was produced at the Savoy Theatre early in May - is the most delightful opera since "The Gondoliers" - and that is a long time ago.
Though the score has not that flow of uninterrupted melody of Sir Arthur Sullivan's earlier works, it approaches them more nearly than any since the joyous story of the King of Barataria, and there are numbers in "The Emerald Isle" as delicious, almost, as anything he has written. Mr. Edward German, too, has not only harmonised and orchestrated the airs of Sullivan in so sympathetic and observant a spirit that there is not the slightest sense of patchwork about them, but he has contributed original numbers, some of which, for pure "tune," might have been written by Sir Arthur himself.
With a score so delicate and dainty, often ear haunting, always graceful and refined; with a libretto so witty and so tender as that provided by the admirable Captain Hood; with acting and singing such as we obtain only at the Savoy - if there still be a public for genuine light opera, "The Emerald Isle" should achieve a success not recently known.
A spirited though not exceptionally striking introduction by Mr. German begins the work, and a capital Irish chorus, written and scored by Sullivan, shows at once that the right spirit will pervade everything. We soon arrive at the fine, vigorous refrain "Or your own shillelagh unhappily," a genuine Irish song; and then at the concerted number in which occurs the wailing, eerie, haunting phrase, which will linger for a long time in the memory, the cry of the Fairy Cleena. "Da Luan, da Mort, da Luan, da Mort Augus da Dardine!" - one could listen to Miss Louie Pounds singing this for a very long time. In the second act is the liveliest, catchiest thing in the whole opera, the song and chorus "Sing a Rhyme of "Once upon a time,'" which we shall be hearing all over the town before many weeks are over. These, with others less distinctive and inspired, are from the pen of Sullivan, and to them Mr. German has added several beautiful songs of sentiment, the prettiest of which, perhaps, are "Goodbye, my native town," charmingly given by Mr. Lytton, and "I cannot play at love;" also a rollicking semi-"topical" song for Mr. Pessmore, and a mock-serious number for Miss Rosina Brandram - all refined and sweet, as Mr. German's suites have led us to expect.
In his orchestration, and, indeed, writing for the voice as well, Mr. German has been more suggestively than insistently Irish, except, of course, in the jigs and the essentially "Paddy" numbers; he has not attempted to be humorous with individual instruments - but there is liveliness when appropriate, and breadth and vivacity throughout.

THE LIBRETTO.

Captain Hood has welded with most admirable effect the tenderness, the humour, the plaintiveness, and the espieglerie we look for in an Irish opera. Sometimes his humour is bold and free, and so funny that he who runs may laugh; now and again his wit is almost too fine to travel over the footlights. Above all, he is not "topsy-turvy" - there is real sentiment, and now and again real pathos in his story, in his dainty and agile verses, which are written with a skill and invention worthy of Gilbert himself.
Of plot there is not too much, but sufficient; there is very little that is anachronistic - except at the end, where, a hundred years ago, the Viceroy - the excellent Viceroy who speaks in blank verse to enhance the Vice-regal dignity - says to his daughter,

"Apart from being daughter of a Viceroy,
Remember you're of ten times royal birth;
For, as is generally now the case
Among the English aristocracy,
Some of the richest, if not bluest, blood
Of all America flows in your veins;
Your ancestors (upon the other side)
Comprise two Railway Kings, a Copper Queen,
And half-a-dozen Pork Pie Potentates."

His story, set in two beautiful outdoor Irish scenes - very lovely are the Caves of Carriecleena - tells us of the love of the young Irish patriot who is an English gentleman and who is indignant that his accent is quite British, having been acquired at Eton and Oxford, for the daughter of the Lord-Lieutenant. "Had not the grasping Government of England purchased my father's dilapidated estate, to serve, after extensive repairs, as a summer residence for their Viceroy, my parents would not have been lured to the luxurious lap of London, where I, their child, was taught by alien nurses to lisp a tyrant tongue!"
And Captain Hood has steered clear still further from the pitfalls of the Irish brogue, for the Lord-Lieutenant has persuaded the peasantry by the offer of money prizes at elocution classes "to speak Irish with an English accent."
Side by side with this is the story of the fascinating Irish "colleen," Molly, and the hereditary "blind" fiddler who is not blind at all, and who, anxious to pay Molly the necessary compliments on her beauty, yet fearful of telling her he has been a deceiver from the first, goes to the fairy haunt to get miraculously "cured." And intermingled with the action, too, are the comical adventures of Professor Gunn, conjuror, reciter, illusionist, "character impersonator," etc., a part giving comical Mr. Passmore splendid opportunity, of which he avails himself fully.
One is glad to chronicle that there was no cat-calling on Saturday evening to mar the enthusiasm of the evening. - "Daily Mail."

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Facsimile of the last piece of music scored by Sir Arthur Sullivan for "The Emerald Isle," now running at the Savoy Theatre. Although the song occurs at the beginning of the opera, the composer did not score it until he had finished some of the later pieces.

Transcription: "for their Son Will do! Borold - rebel O'Brian!
Hoorah For Brian Boru - Borold - rebel O'Brian!"

Brian of Boru was the King of Ireland, whose descendants were the O'Brian's/O'Brien's of Dromoland Castle.

Source: The Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 147, Saturday June 22, 1901, Page 1