Welcome to the website of the

Sir Arthur Sullivan Society

The Society aims to promote and generate interest in the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan through recordings, publications, festivals and the Society's magazine. We hope you find everything you need to know about Sullivan and the Society on this website including:

Society membership
up to date news of forthcoming performances and other events
music available for free download or hire
the Society's Shop selling recordings and books

and much more ...

Sir Arthur Sullivan

Born in London in 1842, Arthur Sullivan trained at the Chapel Royal, the Royal Academy of Music and the Leipzig Conservatoire. His incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest made him an overnight celebrity when it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862. He went on to compose in practically every musical genre: oratorio, cantata, symphony, concerto, ceremonial works, incidental music for the stage, piano and chamber works, songs, partsongs, hymns and anthems.

His celebrated collaboration with W. S. Gilbert produced fourteen operas, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, between 1871 and 1896. There were also ten operas with other librettists. Incomparably the greatest British musician of the nineteenth century, Sullivan held honorary doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge, was knighted in 1883 and died in London in 1900.

News

The Society’s First Online Talk

The Society held its first ever virtual meeting, appropriately enough, on 22 November, the anniversary of Sullivan’s death. Dr. Anne Stanyon‘s talk was entitled Hiding in Plain Sight, or, Seeking the Lost Arthur Sullivan. She says:

Biographies are dangerous things, often falling between hagiography and damnation, inevitably driven by context and the prejudices or sympathies of authorship.

Arthur Sullivan seems to have been the victim of such extremes,

Forthcoming Events

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players

The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players present: H.M.S. Pinafore 29 Dec 7.30, 30 Dec 2pm and 7.30, 2 Jan 3pm. The Pirates of Penzance 5/6/7 Jan 7.30, 8 Jan 2pm and 7.30, 9 Jan 3pm. The Gondoliers 7/8 Apr 7.30, 9 Apr 2pm and 7.30, 10 Apr 3pm. Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, New York. Full details www.nygasp.org.

Oper Wuppertal

Oper Wuppertal (Germany) presents Die Piraten in a new translation by Inge Greiffenhagen und Bettina von Leoprechting. Musical Director Johannes Witt, Director Cusch Jung. Opernhaus Wuppertal: 9 Jan 6pm, 13 Jan 7.30, 6 Feb 6pm, 19 Mar, 29 Apr, 14 May, 12/25 Jun 7.30. www.oper-wuppertal.de/oper/

Haddon Hall (complete without spoken dialogue) / Mr Jericho / Captain Billy

Arthur Sullivan: HADDON HALL (1892); libretto Sydney Grundy. Complete without spoken dialogue. First professional recording.

Ed Lyon (tenor) – John Manners; Henry Waddington (bass-baritone) – Sir George Vernon; Adrian Thompson (tenor) – Oswald; Ben McAteer (baritone) – Rupert Vernon; Donald Maxwell (baritone) – McCrankie; Sarah Tynan (soprano) – Dorothy Vernon; Fiona Kimm ( mezzo-soprano) – Lady Vernon; Angela Simkin (mezzo-soprano) – Dorcas; BBC Singers (chorus master Matthew Morley); BBC Concert Orchestra; John Andrews (conductor).

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