Arthur Sullivan

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".

The son of a military bandmaster, Sullivan composed his first anthem at the age of eight and was later a soloist in the boys' choir of the Chapel Royal. In 1856, at 14, he was awarded the first Mendelssohn Scholarship by the Royal Academy of Music, which allowed him to study at the academy and then at the Leipzig Conservatoire in Germany. His graduation piece, incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest (1861), was received with acclaim on its first performance in London. Among his early major works were a ballet, L'Île Enchantée (1864), a symphony, a cello concerto (both 1866), and his Overture di Ballo (1870). To supplement the income from his concert works he wrote hymns, parlour ballads and other light pieces, and worked as a church organist and music teacher.

In 1866 Sullivan composed a one-act comic opera, Cox and Box, which is still widely performed. He wrote his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis, in 1871. Four years later, the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte engaged Gilbert and Sullivan to create a one-act piece, Trial by Jury (1875). Its box-office success led to a series of twelve full-length comic operas by the collaborators. After the extraordinary success of H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879), Carte used his profits from the partnership to build the Savoy Theatre in 1881, and their joint works became known as the Savoy operas. Among the best known of the later operas are The Mikado (1885) and The Gondoliers (1889). Gilbert broke from Sullivan and Carte in 1890, after a quarrel over expenses at the Savoy. They reunited in the 1890s for two more operas, but these did not achieve the popularity of their earlier works.

Sullivan's infrequent serious pieces during the 1880s included two cantatas, The Martyr of Antioch (1880) and The Golden Legend (1886), his most popular choral work. He also wrote incidental music for West End productions of several Shakespeare plays, and held conducting and academic appointments. Sullivan's only grand opera, Ivanhoe, though initially successful in 1891, has rarely been revived. In his last decade Sullivan continued to compose comic operas with various librettists and wrote other major and minor works. He died at the age of 58, regarded as Britain's foremost composer. His comic opera style served as a model for generations of musical theatre composers that followed, and his music is still frequently performed, recorded and pastiched.

Birth and Death Data: Born May 13, 1842 (London), Died November 22, 1900 (London)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1896 - 1953

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 226-250 of 524 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Columbia 754 7-in. ca. Jan.-Sept. 1902 Onward Christian soldiers Artists vary Male vocal quartet composer  
Columbia 754 10-in. between January and September 1902 Onward Christian soldiers Artists vary Male vocal quartet composer  
Columbia 945 7-in. ca. 1902-Oct. 1905 The emerald isle : Selection Columbia Band Band composer  
Columbia 945 10-in. ca. 1902 The emerald isle : Selection Columbia Band Band composer  
Columbia 3278 10-in. ca. Jan.-Nov. 1905 Willow song Louise Kirkby-Lunn Contralto vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 4086 10-in. ca. Jan.-June 1909 Farewell, my own Mixed vocal chorus (unidentified; Columbia Records) Mixed vocal chorus and dialogue, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4998 10-in. approximately 1910 Tit-willow Robert Lett Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 19105 10-in. 11/11/1910 Katisha's song Merle Alcock Female vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 38125 10-in. 7/8/1912 Poor wandering one Grace Kerns Female vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 39323 10-in. 4/14/1914 The long day closes Wyoming Seminary Glee Club Male vocal chorus, unaccompanied composer  
Columbia 46008 10-in. 9/10/1915 Onward, Christian soldiers Columbia Stellar Quartette Male vocal quartet, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 46116 10-in. 10/15/1915 The long day closes Columbia Mixed Quartette Mixed vocal quartet, unaccompanied composer  
Columbia 46196 10-in. 11/12/1915 The moon and I Grace Kerns Female vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 77150 10-in. 6/15/1917 Onward Christian soldiers Howard Kopp Chimes solo, unaccompanied composer  
Columbia 77395 10-in. 10/2/1917 Hail! Hail! The gang's all here Columbia Quartette ; Irving Kaufman Male vocal solo and male vocal quartet, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 77417 10-in. 10/5/1917 Onward, Christain soldiers Gatty Sellars Organ solo composer  
Columbia 77774 10-in. 4/17/1918 The lost chord Edna White Trumpet Quartette Trumpet quartet, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 78238 10-in. 12/30/1918 Onward, Christian soldiers Columbia Stellar Quartette ; Oscar Seagle Baritone vocal solo and male vocal quartet, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 79141 10-in. 4/24/1920 The moon and I Lucy Gates Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 79549 10-in. 12/3/1920 O tender loving shepherd Harry C. Browne Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 79575 10-in. 12/14/1920 The moon and I Alice Nielsen Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 80011 10-in. 9/28/1921 Onward, Christian soldiers Gatty Sellars Organ solo composer  
Columbia 140310 10-in. 1/30/1925 Heaven is my home Paramount Quartet Male vocal quartet, unaccompanied composer  
Columbia 30034 12-in. between January and October 1906 The lost chord Mrs. A. Stewart Holt Female vocal solo, with violin, flute, and organ composer  
Columbia 30218 12-in. between January and May 1909 Ho! Jolly Jenkin David Scull Bispham Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
(Results 226-250 of 524 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Sullivan, Arthur," accessed April 25, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102694.

Sullivan, Arthur. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102694.

"Sullivan, Arthur." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 25 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102694

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