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 126-150 of 524 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor B-18272 10-in. 8/9/1916 Fram, I Kristi stridsmän Swedish Male Quartet Male vocal quartet, with organ composer  
Victor C-18301 12-in. 8/11/1916 Pirates of Penzance : Selection Victor Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor B-18310 10-in. 8/29/1916 Mikado : Selection Victor Concert Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor B-18311 10-in. 8/29/1916 Mikado : Selection Victor Concert Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor B-18312 10-in. 8/29/1916 Pinafore : Selection Victor Concert Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor B-18313 10-in. 8/30/1916 Pinafore : Selection Victor Concert Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor C-18315 12-in. 8/30/1916 Iolanthe : Selections Victor Concert Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor C-18364 12-in. 9/13/1916 Patience : Selection Victor Symphony Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor B-18974 10-in. 1/10/1917 Medley of standard hymns, part 1 Francis J. Lapitino Harp solo composer  
Victor B-19312 10-in. 2/26/1917 O hush thee, my babie Lyric Quartet Mixed vocal quartet, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-20101 10-in. 6/11/1917 Onward Christian soldiers Billy Sunday Chorus Mixed vocal chorus, with 2 pianos composer  
Victor B-20632 10-in. 8/16/1917 Where do we go from here Victor Military Band Band composer  
Victor C-20673 12-in. 9/17/1917 The lost chord Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with violin obbligato and orchestra composer  
Victor B-20709 10-in. 9/26/1917 Framåt Kristi stridsmän Brooklyn Svenska Mans Kvartetten Male vocal quartet, with organ composer  
Victor C-20826 12-in. 10/2/1917 It came upon the midnight clear Victor Mixed Chorus Vocal chorus and soloists, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-21007 10-in. 10/25/1917 Hail! Hail! The gang's all here! Shannon Four Male vocal quartet, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-22184 10-in. 7/29/1918 Onward, Christian soldiers Ernestine Schumann-Heink Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-23158 10-in. 9/16/1919 Lullaby from Erminie Victor Orchestra Orchestra, with violin and clarinet solos composer  
Victor B-23185 10-in. 10/2/1919 Speed the Republic Victor Band Band composer  
Victor B-23972 10-in. 4/27/1920 Heaven is my home Mabel Garrison Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-26444 10-in. 5/1/1922 O tender loving shepherd Clifford Cairns Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-27043 12-in. 10/20/1922 The lost chord John McCormack Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-27649 10-in. 3/8/1923 O tender loving shepherd Trinity Mixed Quartet Mixed vocal quartet, unaccompanied composer  
Victor B-29871 10-in. 4/9/1924 Onward Christian soldiers John McCormack Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-30757 12-in. 9/9/1924 The lost chord Mark Andrews Pipe organ solo composer  
(Results 126-150 of 524 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Sullivan, Arthur," accessed March 29, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102694.

Sullivan, Arthur. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102694.

"Sullivan, Arthur." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 29 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

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

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