A Most Ingenious Paradox
A Most Ingenious Paradox

Author: Gayden Wren

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9780195145144

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Most books written about Gilbert & Sullivan have focused on the authors rather than the works. With this detailed examination of all fourteen operas, Gayden Wren fills this void. His bold thesis finds the key to the operas' longevity, not in the clever lyrics, witty dialogue, or catchy music, but in their timeless themes, which speak to audiences as powerfully now as they did the first time the operas were performed. This volume is essential reading for any devotee of these enchanting works, or indeed for anyone who loves musical theater.

Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: Carolyn Williams

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 0231148054

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An examination of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, and how parody was used in the culture wars of late-nineteenth-century England.

Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: Andrew Crowther

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2011-04-11

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0752463853

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The author of The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore and the other great Savoy libretti, W.S. Gilbert was witty, caustic and disrespectful, one of the celebrities of the late Victorian era. He wrote the most brilliantly inventive plays of his time, and with Arthur Sullivan he wrote comic operas that defined the age. He became richer and more famous than he could have imagined, but at the price of his artistic freedom. In his time Gilbert had been many things: journalist, theatre critic, cartoonist, comic poet, stage director, writer of short stories, dramatist. Andrew Crowther examines W.S. Gilbert from all these angles, using a wealth of sources to tell the story of an angry and quarrelsome man, discontented with himself and the age he lived in, raging at life's absurdities and laughing at them. In this book Gilbert's glorious, contradictory character is explored and brought vividly to life.

The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan
The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: Arthur Sullivan

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 1224

ISBN-13: 9780198167105

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The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan are a performing arts phenomenon. Wildly popular when first produced, they are if anything even more popular today. The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan provides the complete text of all thirteen of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas still being performed today, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado. Each work is thoroughly annotated, with the text, including stage directions, given on the right-hand page, and the notes on the left. The annotations provide a wealth of information--everything from the identity of real-life people mentioned in the opera, to clear explanations of obscure words and phrases (such as legal terms) and other literary references, to comments from first-night critics, and much more. In addition, Bradley has written a marvelously informative introduction to the book as well as superb introductions to each piece, describing the genesis of the work, its performance history, and other fascinating tidbits. A goldmine of information, The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan will delight the hearts of Savoyards everywhere.

Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: Kurt Gänzl

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1438485476

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In this, the first book to focus on the original cast members of the classic Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, world-renowned musical theater expert Kurt Gänzl provides a concise history of the writing and production of each opera, vividly colored by the often little-known life stories of these early performers. Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated with rare photographs, Gilbert and Sullivan: The Players and the Plays delves into the professional and personal lives of the British and American actors and singers who created the celebrated "famous fourteen" Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: Michael Ainger

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2002-11-21

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 0195147693

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Illustrated with biographical as well as professional detail, this text suggests that Gilbert and Sullivan's creative partnership was fuelled by their ongoing personality clash, as each partner challenged the other to produce his best work.

The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan
The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan

Author: David Eden

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-08-06

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0521888492

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An international team of contributors, including film director Mike Leigh, presents fresh insights into the work of Gilbert and Sullivan.

W.S. Gilbert
W.S. Gilbert

Author: Jane W. Stedman

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9780198161745

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Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) was the most brilliant dramatist of Victorian England. A daring and cynical playwright, the forerunner of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, he was also a prolific journalist and humorous poet (his Bab Ballads are still widely read), and he achieved worldwide fame through his long collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan, a collaboration that created such classics as H. M. S. Pinafore, The Mikado, and all the other Savoy operas. Now the story of this remarkable writer's life - and of his stormy relationship with Sullivan - is here chronicled by a renowned authority on Gilbert and on the theatrical and literary scene in Victorian London. For this biography, Jane W. Stedman has returned to original sources, has interviewed survivors, and has scoured a whole variety of Victorian periodicals for reviews, and personal comment. Gilbert emerges as a much more complex and interesting figure than has previously been thought. The book is a worthy companion piece to Arthur Jacobs's recent biography Arthur Sullivan: A Victorian Musician.

The Borgias and Their Enemies, 1431–1519
The Borgias and Their Enemies, 1431–1519

Author: Christopher Hibbert

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2009-09-16

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0547350619

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This colorful history of a powerful family brings the world they lived in—the glittering Rome of the Italian Renaissance—to life. The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame—Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who inspired Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty’s dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale. From the author of The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici and other acclaimed works, The Borgias and Their Enemies is “a fascinating read” (Library Journal).