The first edition of this Discography was published in 1986 and the main labour of its compilation was undertaken by the late Dr. Terence Rees, assisted by the present writer. Terence also drew on information from the National Sound Archive (now the British Library Sound Archive), the late Frank Andrews, the late David Eden, David Jacobs, Alan Kelly, the late Len Watts, Roger Wild and many others. Since then information has continued to accumulate as further records and catalogues have been turned up by the small number of people who are still active collectors. These include Dennis Foreman, the late Peter Parker, the late Michael Walters and especially Chris Webster. I have also drawn on discographies of various individual singers published in The Record Collector magazine: these have been particularly useful in providing details of unissued takes.
This listing is confined to what is generically known as the 78 rpm disc, though there was little uniformity of recording speeds throughout the industry until around 1926. Among the records included here are some which play as fast as 120 rpm and an early attempt at long play made in the 1930s for use in the cinema and playing at 33.33 rpm.
Explanatory notes on the order of the discography and abbreviation used can be found here.
All known cylinder recordings of Sullivan’s music were listed in A Sullivan Cylinderography by Roger Wild, given to Sullivan Society members as a supplement to Society Magazine 66, Winter 2007. We hope to add the information to these pages in due course.
In cases where there is insufficient information to establish whether an item is by Sullivan, we have erred on the side of caution and omitted it. This frequently occurs with the hymns ‘Nearer, my God to Thee’ and ‘Lead, kindly light’, both of which have a tune by Sullivan, but also have other, perhaps more popular, tunes. ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’ is often sung to the tunes HORBURY or BETHANY; ‘Lead, kindly light’ to LUX BENIGNA or SANDON. If and when information confirms any of these as being by Sullivan, they will of course be added.
When the original Discography was published, the internet was a thing of the future, and nothing could be done to disseminate the information until it was all collected, printed and published between covers, a process which took some five years. Nowadays, however, information can be posted on the Society’s website as and when it becomes available. Consequently we will add details as and when we are able. At a later date an appendix will be added listing items known to have been reissued on compact disc.
None of this would be possible without the painstaking work of Christopher O’Brien, who digitised the entire original Discography, thus enabling us to work on the entries.
It is inevitable that a work of this scope will contain errors and omissions, and any information which tends to make the listings fuller and more precise will be welcome. It would be appreciated if anyone sending details, especially of unlisted recordings, would use the format adopted in this Discography. Please contact Stephen Turnbull at secretary@sullivansociety.org.uk.
Stephen Turnbull April 2024