Presented to the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the
ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Life Story,
Letters, and
Reminiscences
From, the Portrait
Painted in 1888
by Sir John Millais.
Sir Arthur Sullivan
LIFE STORY, LETTERS
AND REMINISCENCES
BY
Arthur Lawrence
WITH CRITIQUE BY B. W. FINDON AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
BY WILFRID BENDALL
on FAR jo
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1907
49356
COPYRIGHT 1899, BY
HERBERT S. STONE ft CO
Tke Trow Press, N. Y.
'
PREFACE
IT is of importance to Sir Arthur Sullivan and
myself that I should explain how this book came
to be written. Averse as Sir Arthur is to the
" interview " in journalism, I could not resist the
temptation to ask him to let me write something
of the sort when I first had the pleasure of meet-
ing him not in regard to journalistic matters
some years ago. That permission was most
genially granted, and the little chat which I had
with him then, in regard to the opera which he
was writing, appeared in The World. Subsequent
conversations which I was privileged to have
with Sir Arthur, and the fact that there was
nothing procurable in book form concerning our
greatest and most popular composer save an
interesting little monograph which formed part
of a small volume published some years ago on
6 PREFACE
English Musicians by Mr. Charles Willeby
gave me the notion of writing this book.
Sir Arthur's only objection to my proposition
was one which did credit to his modesty : that he
hardly thought a record of his life and recollec-
tions would be of interest to the public ; but as
an item of the vast number, all the world over,
who know Sir Arthur Sullivan's work, and who
may therefore desire, so to speak, to have better
personal acquaintance with the composer, I
excused myself from sharing this modest
opinion, nor have I any fear that the music-
loving public will fail to justify me in regard
to my attitude upon this particular point.
So much by way of explaining that the respon-
sibility of writing and publishing this book is
entirely my own. On the other hand, having, I
hope, made this reservation clear, I must add
that throughout a work which has been in the
doing of it so pleasant to me, I have had Sir
Arthur's heartiest co-operation, and the book
is published with his goodwill and sanction.
PREFACE 7
Indeed, I have been given every facility. Sir
Arthur has placed in my hands the letters which
he wrote home over a period of some thirty
years, as well as letters which have been written
to him, and the like. Throughout the book
and more especially in Chapter XIII. will be
found my transcription of notes made during
the many conversations which I have had with
Sir Arthur Sullivan for this special purpose,
including anecdotes and so forth which he has
given me on the understanding that I could
make use of them or not, as I saw fit. More-
over, Sir Arthur has revised and passed the
proofs of those chapters dealing with incidents
in his life, thus enabling me to claim accuracy
and authenticity for this work, and, I need
hardly add, leaving me with a debt of gratitude
which, if I had the ability, this is not the place
to express.
I shall not be guilty of any immodesty in
suggesting that much utility and interest apper-
tains to this book by reason of the complete and
8 PREFACE
accurate appendix compiled by Mr. Wilfrid
Bendall, and by the three chapters on " Sullivan
as a Musician " contributed by a musical critic of
Mr. B. W. Findon's ability and experience.
If the reader, unhampered by any short-
comings of my own as biographer, shall find
the life-story of the composer as interesting and
refreshing as I have found it, I trust I need
make no apology for having written the biog-
raphy of a man during his lifetime, whilst there
is an obvious and not to be over-estimated
advantage in having it added to and revised
by no less an authority than the subject of it.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
FAOE
PREFACE vii
CHAP.
I. BOYHOOD (1842-1857) i
Chapel Royal Mendelssohn Scholarship Leaves
Chapel Royal for Leipzig
n. AT LEIPZIG (1858-1861) 24
Musical Stagnation in England Catholicity at Leip-
zig Hard Work and Holidays Writes "Tempest"
Music
III. FIRST PUBLIC SUCCESS (1861-1866) 49
Charles Dickens First Visit to Paris Rossini
Organist St. Michael's and at Covent Garden
Opera Visits Ireland Germ of English Comic
Opera
IV. SECOND VISIT TO PARIS (1867-1871) .... 69
Tennyson Paris in the time of the Commune
"The Prodigal Son" Emperor and Empress
Napoleon Prophetic -words from Prince Henry of
Battenburg
x CONTENTS
CHAP, PAGE
V. SULLIVAN MEETS GILBERT (1872-1875) ... 83
Musician Laureate Meeting with W. S. Gilbert
"Thespis" "The Lightbf the World" Sims Reeves
"Trial by Jury" Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
Desbarrolles
VI. IDLING IN ITALY (1875-1877) no
Conductorship Visits Italy Death of Fred Sulli-
van "The Lost Chord" "Henry VIII." "The
Sorcerer" Sir Coutts and Lady Lindsay Princess
Louise
VII. AMERICAN REMINISCENCES (1878-1880) ... 126
"H.M.S. Pinafore" Promenade Concerts "The
Pinafore" Fever in America First Visit to America
American Reminiscences American Piracy and
the "Pirates of Penzance"
VIII. THE MOST POPULAR OPERA (1878-1885) . . 154
"lolanthe" "Princess Ida" "Patience" "The
Mikado" His Mother Dies Knighthood "The
Golden Legend" Visits Salt Lake City
IX. SIR ARTHUR'S FAVOURITE OPERA (1886-
1889) . . 174
"Ruddigore" "Yeoman of the Guard" Emperor
and Empress of Germany "The Gondoliers"
X. DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP (1889-1898) . 191
Sullivan and Gilbert Part Company "Haddon
Hall" "Utopia" "The Foresters" "The Chief-
tain" "The Beauty Stone"
CONTENTS xi
CHA.P. FAGE
XI. OUR LACK OF PATRIOTISM IN MUSIC ... 200
The Jubilee Procession Letter to the Times Con-
Usensus of Opinion on the Subject Apathy of the
Press
XII. PERSONALITY AND METHODS OF WORK . 212
Preferences and Recreations Hard Work before
"Inspiration" Rhythm before Melody How the
Operas have been Produced
XIII. ANECDOTAL 232
In the Auction-room Thirty years afterwards
Old Church at Sandhurst Rev. Thomas Helmore
and the Boys Battle of the Alma Early Composi-
tion Sterndale Bennett Bach's room at Leipzig
Amateur Choral Societies Gladstone and Disraeli
Burnand and his Book Byron and Palgrave With
the Duke of Edinburgh on the Hercules The Ger-
man Emperor Peterhof In the Baltic Buffalo
Etiquette "The Mikado" plagiarised in real life
Water and Good Society The Gentlemanly Guide
Earthquake at Monte Carlo Coincidences Ten-
nyson Sullivan's Grand-parents and Napoleon I. at
St. Helena
XIV. "ABOUT MUSIC" 262
An Address Delivered at the Town Hall, Birming-
ham, on October 19, 1888, by Sir Arthur Sullivan
SULLIVAN AS A COMPOSER 290
His Place among Contemporaries Sacred Music
Secular and Dramatic Music. By B. W. Findon
arii CONTENTS
MM
APPENDIX 329
Comprising a Complete List of Sir Arthur Sullivan's
Work. Compiled by Wilfrid Bendall.
Sir Arthur Sullivan
HIS LIFE STORY
CHAPTER I
BOYHOOD
(1842-1857)
Chapel Royal Mendelssohn Scholarship Leaves
Chapel Royal for Leipzig.
ARTHUR SULLIVAN was fortunate in
regard to two circumstances which I
deem to be the best incentives to hard
work and achievement he had the best of good
parents, to whom he was devotedly attached, and,
although there was no unpleasant straitment of
means, he knew that he would have to earn his
own living.
The word "prodigy" is an unpleasant one.
The infant phenomenon may prove interesting,
but whether the prodigy produces in one a feeling
of interest or of boredom one can scarcely claim
that the prodigy shall be congratulated as such.
2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Too often exceptional ability at a tender age
implies an abnormal and unhealthy development
of powers which, by reason of the hot-house
processes which have attended their growth, are
subject to premature arrest and decay. Innumer-
able instances will come to mind of great men in
every profession, artists in every sense of the
word, who have been dunces at school and whose
powers, to say the least of it, have not been
apparent during the time of their earlier develop-
ment. On the other hand, it is not surprising if
the extreme ability which we call genius should
manifest itself early, and this was certainly the
case with young Sullivan.
Born in London, on May 13, 1842, Arthur was
the younger of two sons, the elder of whom,
Frederic, is frequently referred to in this work.
His father, Thomas Sullivan, an Irishman and
a musician, was bandmaster at the Royal Military
College, Sandhurst, from 1845 to J 856, and took
part in the Military School of Music at Kneller
Hall, from 1857 until his death. The mother,
Mary, daughter of James Coghler, was of an old
Italian family, named Righi. Here one might
make almost any deduction one pleased on the
HIS LIFE STORY 3
score of heredity, or the peculiar advantage of this
admixture of Celtic and Italian blood in this most
English of Englishmen.
The band which his father conducted was
small, but extremely efficient, for Thomas Sullivan
loved his craft and was a first-rate musician. His
elder son Frederic, although very fond of music,
was educated and brought up as an architect, 1
possessing also a good voice and a penchant for
using it, more especially in the effective delivery
of comic songs, but, on the other hand, almost
from infancy Arthur showed that he had different
qualities and ambitions and gifts. An enthusiast
in his art; all his efforts were directed towards
composition, in which aim, it is needless to say,
his father gave him every encouragement. It
would seem that while there is no art which asks
more of good education than music there is no
faculty which is of a more instinctive character
than the melodic faculty, but, whether or not this
1 Lord Russell of Killowen tells a little anecdote of young
Frederic Sullivan. It seems that at that time our Lord Chief
Justice, who was then, of course, Mr. Charles Russell, had occa-
sion to examine Frederic as a witness, in the course of which he
said to him, "You are an architect, I believe, Mr. Sullivan?" to
which Frederic replied, " I have been an architect, but am now
on the stage," and added, "you see, I still draw big houses."
4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
holds good by way of generalisation, how early
young Sullivan's genius found some expression
may be realised from the fact that, at the age of
eight, he had written his first piece of boyish and,
of course, immature composition, which Sir
Arthur smilingly tells me was an anthem, " By
the Waters of Babylon," while his first mature
composition, the music to Shakespeare's " Tem-
pest," which brought him fame and an assured
position in the appreciation of the public, was
written at the age of eighteen. It should be
added that before the first-named piece had been
written the eight-year-old boy had learned to play
almost every wind instrument in his father's band
with some facility.
In his own words his knowledge of these in-
struments, among them the flute, clarionet, horn,
cornet, trombone, and euphonium, was not " a
mere passing acquaintance, but a lifelong and
intimate friendship." It was, indeed, an acquire-
ment by no means necessarily included in the
curriculum of every would-be composer. In this
way he had gradually learnt the peculiarities of
each instrument, where it was strong and where
it was weak first steps, indeed, in the branch of
HIS LIFE STORY 5
his art and an acquirement of knowledge which
must have assisted very practically his ability in
orchestration.
There can be little doubt that even in those
days, before the boy had attained his ninth birth-
day, his tendencies, his aptitudes, as well as his
professed inclinations, prevented any sort of
parental uncertainty as to the career of the
younger boy, and though no doubt maternal
affection might account for the circumstance, I am
inclined to think that the scrupulous care with
which Mrs. Sullivan preserved all his boyish
epistles sent to her when he had left home "is
some evidence that, even then, they had good
hopes, beyond those born of parental fondness
and pride, that his career would be a distinguished
one.
Young Arthur Sullivan wrote to his father and
mother very regularly on all the occasions that he
was away from home, from the time he first went
to school, until his mother's death, a blow which
fell upon him long after he had obtained a posi-
tion which, even in their most sanguine moments,
neither Mr. nor Mrs. Sullivan could have antici-
pated, and from those letters, although only brief
6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and of course very boyish effusions, I shall quote
presently.
It is no small credit to the father perhaps
one may be forgiven for commenting upon it
that, notwithstanding any temptation, he avoided
anything in the nature of that forcing process to
which I have already alluded. On the contrary,
he decided to send the boy away from all sound
of music for a time, and placed him in a private
school at Bayswater, where he remained until he
was nearly twelve years old.
During those earlier school-days, however,
there could be but one subject which ever re-
mained uppermost in the minds of father and
son, and at last the boy confessed that his great
ambition was to become a member of the choir
of either the Chapel Royal or Westminster Abbey,
but the wish was opposed on the ground that
the education was not the best to be had. For a
time he gave up the attack, but then tried the
powers of persuasion on his Bayswater school-
master, a Mr. Plees, until with the assent of
Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Plees finally consented to take
him to see Sir George Smart, the organist and
composer to the Chapels Royal, who lived at
HIS LIFE STORY 7
that time in the house in which Weber spent his
last moments in Great Portland Street. Sir
George received him very kindly and heard him
sing " With Verdure Clad," in which the would-
be chorister accompanied himself; with the re-
sult that he was sent down to see the Rev.
Thomas Helmore, the master of the Chapel
Royal boys. The address given then was a house
in Onslow Square. Mr. Plees went with him, but
only to find that the master of the boys had
moved. However, the agitated youth, always
practical, bethought himself of inquiring of a local
tradesman, and finding that Mr. Helmore had
moved to Cheyne Walk, Mr. Plees and he went
there together. Arthur Sullivan had an ex-
ceptionally good treble voice, and had learned to
sing those arias which he had heard at home, so
that the result of Mr.Helmore's examination was
well-nigh a foregone conclusion. Two days
afterwards he received a note saying that he
might take up his work as a Chapel Royal
chorister and enter the school. This was on
Tuesday in Holy Week, 1854. On the following
Thursday he had learned and sung the treble
part in Nares' anthem " Blessed is He," and not
8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
only the purity, sweetness, and strength of his
voice, but the sympathetic quality of his render-
ing as against the usual boyish rendering of
solos called forth some very decided approval
on the part of his master and of many others
amongst those who heard him.
Apart from the musical education, the fellow-
ship with the boys of his own age, many of them
intending to adopt music as a profession, must
have been of considerable value to him, and, not
least, he must have benefited by the esprit-de-corps
which Mr. Helmore did so much to inspire.
From the letters which he wrote home, dated
from Cheyne Walk, it is not difficult to see that
the tone of the place was a healthy one. Truth
compels me to add that the treatment of the boys
did not err on the side of laxity, for in one letter
there is the terse information that " M. was caned
because he did not know the meaning of for-
tissimo."
There are one or two sentences in the letters
written home during the Chapel Royal period
which, although they cannot be of a particularly
momentous character, are interesting in so far as
the names mentioned remind one that these letters
HIS LIFE STORY 9
were written in the early fifties, and in so far as
they help us to form a picture of the bright-eyed,
dark, curly-haired boy who was destined to be-
come the most popular composer of our own time.
It would he purposeless to give any of these
letters in their entirety, or, indeed, to do more
than quote very briefly from letters extending over
a considerable period, but it may be interesting to
note that throughout they are curiously restrained
and mature for a boy of twelve, a remark which
applies also to the handwriting. Throughout one
is sensible that they are from a boy with a strong
sense of duty, and of the importance of making
the best use of the short time before him, and of
doing everything to the very best of his abilities.
With an intense appreciation of home, there is
an abiding anxiety to give his " people " a clear
account of everything that goes on. Here and
there one gets a glimpse of his little economies,
and more often a touch of ironic humour, but
every letter bears the same impress of seriousness
and restraint.
In one of them he writes to his father: " We
have got the gold clothes to-day. . . . Will you
come to chapel on that day? If you do, you will
io SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
have the double pleasure of seeing me togged out
and hearing me sing a solo." In another letter he
explains, "We" (the Chapel Royal Choristers)
" were going home for a party. Before we got to
Buckingham Palace, we were attacked by a lot of
boys, but a man taking our part, and we making a
desperate defence, / managed to get home safely"
The stress on the last words is a good-humoured
allusion to the fact that they had to execute an
undignified, if strategic, retreat. These attacks
were of constant occurrence. It would seem that
the gold coats were a perpetual irritant to the
canaille.
" We went to the Bishop's party (at Fulham
Palace) on Thursday and had such a jolly time. I
sang ' With Verdure Clad,' with which the Bishop
was very much pleased, and patted me on the
head; he then gave us half a crown each. So I
bought ' Samson ' when I went to Novello's, as
one of the boys owed me sixpence. Shan't I be
well stocked with Oratorios?"
In another there is an allusion to his stock of
wealth and the intellectual refreshment which his
brother Fred had provided. " I want some more
stamps sent me. I have expended nearly all my
ARTHUR SUXJLJVAN
AS A. CHAl'EI., KOVAr.. CHOR18TEH. KROM A PHOTOGKAPII.
HIS LIFE STORY n
money, only Captain Ottley gave me a shilling for
running a race, but I have paid a good deal of that
to the Cricket Club. Fred often comes to see me
of a night and sings us comic songs," one of which,
according to quotation, seemed to have contained
an allusion in quite a Dickensy manner to " free
spots of brandy on a lump of sugar, which was
the rewing of him."
" Has Helen learned any fresh races on the
piano, one hand after the other? The young
ladies' letters were very nicely written and indited.
I hope they are getting on well with their re-
spective studies. I shall give them a lesson or
two on religious instruction when I get home."
On October 6, 1856, he writes to say that he is
now "first boy," and presumes that a bottle of
"champagne stuff" will be drunk on the strength
of it, and the year before, Apropos of Guy Fawkes
Day,"Theytalk of doing away with the services for
that day altogether, and let the poor fellow sleep
in his grave in peace, and only remember that it
was the day the battle of Inkerman was fought,
since the Roman Catholics helped us to win the
day, and we speak so badly of them in the serv-
ice."
12 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
" Yesterday I had to sing a long solo in the
Chapel Royal," and naming the then Duchess of
Sutherland, the late Lord Wilton, and others who
were present, he continues : "Watch the Times
every day, and most likely you will see all about
it, for there was a reporter from there, and he
took down my name and a good deal else." In
another he reports that he is being taken to Drury
Lane to hear Grisi and Mario.
In another letter, dated May 20, 1857, there is
a fairly decided statement of opinion for a boy of
fifteen. " I enjoyed the Philharmonic very much
last Monday, all except Rubinstein. He has
wonderful strength in the wrists, and particularly
so in octave passages, but there is a good deal of
clap-trap about him. As for his composition, it
was a disgrace to the Philharmonic. I never
heard such wretched, nonsensical rubbish ; not
two bars of melody or harmony together through-
out, and yet Mr. E. thinks him wonderful."
The following extracts will give a glimpse of
the more serious and of the lighter side of affairs
with him at the Chapel Royal :
" When I had composed my anthem I showed
it to Sir George Smart, who told me it did me
HIS LIFE STORY 13
great credit, and also told me to get the parts
copied out, and he would see what he could do
with it. So I copied them out and he desired the
sub-dean to have it sung, and it was sung. The
dean 1 was there in the evening and he called me
up to him in the vestry and said it was very clever,
and said that perhaps I should be writing an
oratorio some day. But he said there was some-
thing higher to attend to, and then Mr. Helmore
said that I was a very good boy indeed. Where-
upon he shook hands with me, with half a sov-
ereign" which was very satisfactory and the
first money earned by composition.
In another letter comes a reference to a special
form of recreation : " Every time I have made
up my mind to sit down and write to you some
fellow or other is sure to turn me away from it by
asking me to come and lead our 'band,' which,
by-the-bye, consists of two French speakers,which
by singing through them produce a twangy sound
like the oboe; two combs, and the cover of a book
for a drum I am organist: or else they ask me
to go on composing something for the band."
It could not but happen that the enthusiasm
1 Ex-officio Bishop of London. This was Dean Bloomfield.
i 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and activity of the young chorister should attract
just the sort of attention which was destined to
prove most useful to him. One incident of his
somewhat precocious ability is worth relating.
When he was thirteen he came home from the
Chapel Royal for his holidays, much exercised in
mind concerning a work by Sir Frederick Ouseley,
entitled " The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp." Sir
Frederick had written it as an exercise for his
degree of Doctor of Music at Oxford. Arthur
Sullivan sang the solo soprano part in the per-
formance at Oxford, and " thought there never
was such music." As soon as he reached home,
he said to his father, " There is a splendid march
in ' The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp.' You really
ought to get it for the band." Mr. Sullivan
replied that he could do nothing, as the music had
not been published. However, the boy was not
to be overcome by a difficulty of that sort, and
beginning work early one morning, by night-time
he had written out the march from memory in full
military band score, and it was played with great
success by the band at Sandhurst. The success
of this experiment a wonderful effort of memory
for a boy of thirteen reached the ears of Sir
HIS LIFE STORY 15
Frederick, and the pleasure which he expressed
was no doubt mixed with some gratification at
what was, in effect, though not in intention, very
practical flattery.
He had been two years at the Chapel Royal,
when, in the early part of '56, it was announced
that the Mendelssohn scholarship would be
thrown open for competition. The movement in
favour of this form of memorial to Mendelssohn
in this country had been initiated some ten years
before, with the result that a committee had been
convened to formulate the nation in London. In
order to raise the necessary funds it had been de-
cided to take advantage of the generous offer of
Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, who proffered
her services at the performance of "Elijah," which
she gave with the aid of the Sacred Harmonic
Society and Mr. Julius Benedict, and which took
place at Exeter Hall on December 15, 1848.
The result of the performance was eminently
satisfactory, the pecuniary outcome being a thou-
sand pounds, which was invested and formed the
nucleus of what is now the Mendelssohn scholar-
ship. The original plan of amalgamating the
London and Leipzig projects had fallen through,
16 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and, as I have already stated, it was not until '56
that the scholarship was actually offered for com-
petition.
The suggestion that Sullivan should compete
would seem to have emanated from his own
parents, for in one of his letters home, dated from
Cheyne Walk, in the early part of '56, he writes:
"I should like to try above all things for the
Mendelssohn scholarship, but you had better
speak to Mr. Helmore first about it;" while in
another, dated June 24, he states that "Saturday
is the examination day for the Mendelssohn
scholarship. There are seventeen candidates for
it, all clever fellows, so Mr. Porter says, so that I
stand a poor chance. I wish you would come up
that day. Besides, it is the grand rehearsal of
Jenny Lind's last concert, and you would have a
chance of hearing her."
It was one of the conditions that no pupil
under fourteen years of age could compete, but
luckily for him, his birthday falling on May 13,
he just escaped disqualification on account of his
extreme youth by five or six weeks! When it
came to the last day of the examination it was
announced that the scholarship lay between the
HIS LIFE STORY 17
eldest and the youngest of the competitors. The
youngest was Arthur Sullivan. The eldest of
the competitors was Joseph Barnby. The result
being a tie between them, it was decided to put
them both through a severe final examination.
At the close of that long summer's day, which
must have been a trying ordeal for both of them,
the judges reserved their decision. The result,
they were told, would be communicated by letter
to the successful competitor.
The next day was one of feverish excitement
for at least one of the " Children of the Chapel
Royal," living at No. 6, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
It was not a prize that could be reckoned out and
assessed at any definite monetary value. To
young Master Sullivan it meant a continuance of
his musical education under the most favourable
circumstances. It meant also that the winner of
the first Mendelssohn scholarship in this country
would receive just that amount of publicity that
would prove of almost immediate advantage. It
would mean the friendly attention of those best
able to help him, and, not least, infinite pleasure
to his best of good friends, his own parents. The
letter which he received announcing the result,
i8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and the first paragraph intimating that result to
the public in the Illustrated London News, were
promptly framed, and are at the present moment
among his most cherished possessions. Young
as he was, he must have been conscious that no
subsequent success would ever afford him such a
keen sense of pleasure. It was his real start in
life, and it would be his own fault if he did not
make the best use of it.
During the time of his stay at the Chapels
Royal there had been no lack of interesting
incidents. With the rest of the choir he was
present at the opening of the Crystal Palace in
1854 by the Queen and the Prince Consort, an
occasion no less memorable for the fact that it
was the first time that an enormous number of
singers and instrumentalists were gathered to-
gether upon the scale afterwards developed by the
Handel Festivals. He was present also, as
chorister, at the baptismal service of Princess
Beatrice, the last-born child of the Queen.
There is also another link with the past pro-
vided by the mention of the name in one of the
boyish letters home which I have already quoted
Jennie Lind-Goldschmidt. She is, of course,
HIS LIFE STORY 19
no more than a name to this generation. Sir
Arthur tells me that the occasion when he first
heard her sing was the greatest event of his
boyhood, and yet remains the deepest musical
impression of his life. When he came home
from that concert he was in a state of enchant-
ment. For two or three hours after the other
boys had gone off to bed he sat on the staircase
dreaming and thinking about it. Sir Arthur tells
me that she was altogether the greatest singer he
has ever heard, or so far as an opinion can go
the greatest the world has ever seen. Yet the
reason for the enchantment is difficult of defini-
tion.
" Her voice," says Sir Arthur, " which, as an
organ, has been equalled and surpassed, had an
individual quality about it totally unlike anything
else I have ever heard. She sang with a spirit-
uality and intensity which moved one strangely.
Her vocalisation, phrasing, and interpretation
were absolutely perfect, but her power over one
was due to something more than these qualities.
There was an indefinable something in her
beautiful voice which called forth the high tribute
of deep emotion and real tears of sympathy. She
20 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
was a rare woman and a great artist. I remember
one occasion when she was quite an old woman,
she came to visit me. It chanced that in the
course of conversation I ran my fingers over the
keys of the pianoforte, playing a little song of
Mendelssohn, and I assure you that the sound of
her voice had the same magical effect upon me
the tears came to one's eyes so deep and true
was the rare spirituality of her temperament."
" Helmore," Sir Arthur tells me, " was enthusi-
astic for the revival of old church music, and was
at the head of the movement for the use of
Gregorian music in the church. He published
two works which are of permanent value, the
1 Hymnal Noted ' and a ' Psalter,' both of which
are really monuments of research. The words
are mostly translations by the Rev. J. M. Niel,
the great hymnologist. I assisted in the work a
good deal in harmonizing tunes during the time
that I was a chorister there. The knowledge and
experience I gained in this way in regard to hymn
tunes assisted me materially in making my
big collection of hymn tunes for the Society for
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, entitled
1 Church Hymns/ and for this collection I wrote
HIS LIFE STORY 21
a great many tunes." Many of which, one may
add, are like household words in the church.
" It is perhaps a curious fact," Sir Arthur adds,
"that one of my best-known hymn tunes was
written as a result of a quarrel. The quarrel was
between the proprietors of ' Hymns Ancient and
Modern' and the firm of Novello who printed it,
and who then gave way to Messrs. Clowes, who
still print it. Novello's then proceeded to compile
a collection of hymns, and for that Hymnary I
wrote * Onward, Christian Soldiers,' which, you
see, was thus the indirect outcome of a quarrel."
He remained for some time at the Chapel
Royal, and did his work at the Academy con-
currently. His masters there were Sterndale
Bennett and Arthur O'Leary for the pianoforte,
and John Goss for harmony and composition.
He has ever been an exceedingly hard worker,
and that he did not belie himself upon this occasion
was shown by the fact that, in consideration of
the progress he had made, the committee awarded
him an extension of the scholarship for two years
in succession, although it was not until the end of
the first year that his voice "broke" and he left
London for Leipzig. This was in the June of
22 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
'57 (aetat. 15), and his work and experience in
Leipzig must be reserved for the next chapter.
They were happy days, and among the children
of the Chapels Royal it maybe doubted if any of
the boys enjoyed the work more than young
Arthur Sullivan. He had been there three years,
had become " first boy," had written two or three
anthems, one of which had been sung in the
Chapel, and for which he had received his first
earnings ten shillings; had alternated his spare
time between the Catch Club and the Cricket
Club, and the wonderful Choir " band," of which
he had been the conductor, organist, and com-
poser, and the bright-eyed, eager boy, with his
assiduous attention to duty, had made many
friends. He left the Chapel and the Academy
well equipped in the rudiments of his profession.
Nor was this all, for, better still, he had acquired
much the same sort of practical knowledge of the
voice and the requirements of choral music that
he had already gained in regard to instrumental
music from the military band which his father
controlled at Sandhurst. So we find that up to
this point he had gained not the least valuable
part of his education the personal knowledge of
HIS LIFE STORY 23
each instrument and each voice, without which, it
goes without saying, and may well be emphasised
here, no man can be considered qualified for the
post of conductor, nor hope to do effective work
as a composer. It was a knowledge which I
think the most adverse critic will not deny has
proved fruitful, and it is knowledge which, added
to his rare melodic faculty, has enabled him to do
work which has not only achieved unique popu-
larity, but will also help to secure for the greater
part of his composition the permanent interest of
posterity.
CHAPTER II
AT LEIPZIG
(1858-1861)
IT was in the autumn of 1858 that he left
London for Leipzig. He carried with him
letters of introduction which would find him
very acceptable friends, and the fact that he was
the first Mendelssohn scholar would be sure to
gain him some little attention in the Conserva-
torium at Leipzig, but, best of all, he brought no
prejudices with him. He worked hard and formed
opinions and came to some definite conclusions,
but, as one would expect, the sixteen-year-old lad
was unprejudiced and receptive. On this side of
the water, in those days, there was no god but
Mendelssohn, and the lighter form of music in-
dulged in as an alternative was almost too banal
for description. Apart from appreciation of Men-
delssohn, the taste of the musical public in
24
HIS LIFE STORY 25
England was at a low ebb, vapid pianoforte
pieces, insipid ballads, and songs characterised by
nothing better than blatant vulgarity sufficed to
keep the more intelligent folk away from the
concert room, and, unfortunately, by the will of
the majority, similar stuff was made to serve as
the staple after-dinner refreshment. At Leipzig
there was, if anything, rather a prejudice against
Mendelssohn, in the shape of a reaction against
the notion that if the out-and-out admirers of
Mendelssohn were right, then the admirers of any
other composer must be wrong. Schumann, at
that time unknown in England, was enjoying a
great vogue in Germany. Schubert, too, had
" come to his own," and the admirers of Wagner
were giving vent to that enthusiasm which, in
its later developments, has done that great
master the ill service of the suggestion that to be
unable to regard everything he has written as
being on the same plane of excellence is to argue
that one is without education, or that one has a
weakness for indulging in heresy At any rate,
up to the time of which I am writing, the work
of Wagner, Schumann, and Schubert had been
ignored in this country. Not the least important
2 6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
part of the education he received during his two-
and-a-half years in Leipzig was this breadth of
appreciation and knowledge of even more impor-
tance than the practical tuition he received at the
admirably managed Conservatorium.
Here he had for masters Moscheles and Plaidy
for the pianoforte, Hauptmann for counterpoint
and fugue, Julius Rietz for composition, and
Ferdinand David for orchestral playing and con-
ducting. He was extremely fortunate in his
masters. Rietz was an excellent conductor, who
never allowed his own strong personal prejudices
to stand in the way of a good performance, while
Plaidy's instruction (pianoforte) was eagerly
sought after from all parts of the world, for he
had a remarkable gift for imparting technical
power.
"Amongst my fellow-students at Leipzig who
afterwards distinguished themselves," Sir Arthur
tells me, " might be mentioned John Francis
Barnett, Franklin Taylor, Professor Ernest
Rudolph, and Greig, the celebrated composer.
His younger brother was also there, and it is cu-
rious to remember that he was thought to be very
much more gifted and more likely to achieve
HIS LIFE STORY 27
celebrity in the world than his elder brother; but
the younger brother has done nothing since. To
continue the list of my fellow-students, there was
Carl Rosa, Dan Reuter, the late Walter Bach,
and many who are better known in Germany than
here.
"At that time Leipzig was a most interesting
old town, with some of the most picturesque
German architecture in the world, of which noth-
ing now remains but a few old houses in the
market-place
" In 1860, whilst I was there, the wonderful
hailstorm occurred. It lasted less than ten
minutes, but it broke every window in the town
that looked to the west, and it was a curious thing
that, in the post-office, which faced west, every
pane of glass looked as if it had been clean cut by
the glazier. The hailstones were about the size
of a bantam's egg, and many of them were of a
most beautiful pattern and shape. A good many
cattle, but, luckily, no human beings, were killed,
although a number of people were badly injured.
The stones were swept up at the sides of the
streets, and a few days afterwards the King of
Saxony came over to look at them. It was cer-
28 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
tainly the most curious thing I have ever wit-
nessed in Europe."
The story of young Sullivan's work and experi-
ence at Leipzig can best be told from the letters
which he wrote during that period.
In September of '58 he writes to his father to
tell him that he is now " safely housed two floors
high, and that the bed-sitting room contains a
grand piano." He has already had several plea-
sant walks with Moscheles and David.
" The first of the twenty subscription concerts
will begin next week, but I shall not go to the
first two, as they are on Sunday."
The first question Sir George Smart put to him
on his return from Leipzig was, " Did you go to
any concerts on a Sunday?" and was delighted to
have a reply in the negative.
" I am obliged to work tremendously hard here.
No sooner is one master dispatched than I rush
home to prepare for another. In fact, to tell the
truth, the great fault of this institution is that there
are too many lessons not enough time given to
the student to work at home." The same letter
(dated November) contains an amused reference
to the influence of what he has so far seen and
HIS LIFE STORY 29
heard around him. " I had filled two sheets of
paper with a letter to Mr. Helmore the other day,
but tore it up again, as it contained heresy, as
Captain Ottley would call it."
There are two letters to his brother Frederic to
congratulate him on his birthdays. In December
of '58 his brother Frederic was twenty-one, and
Arthur was six months over sixteen.
"I shall treat myself to a 'Halbe-Flasche' of
Hocheimer on Saturday to drink your health in,
old chap, and for which you can pay me in your
next letter. This is the best time to be in Ger-
many. Every one gives presents to each other.
It is an old Christmas custom, and all is mirth and
jollity. I walk perhaps into the Augustus Platz,
and the whole square is filled with Christmas trees
of all sizes for the inspection of the buyer. Every
one has a tree, even the poorest in the town. It
is not Christmas without it. Walking a little fur-
ther up the Grimmasche Strasse I am attracted
by shops filled with the most exquisite bonbons
and sweetmeats of all shapes and patterns.
Houses, trees, animals, human beings, ham, sau-
sages, and all kinds of cunning devices, cut out in
the most beautiful manner, and in all colours, from
30 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
sugar and all of it eatable. These are put on the
trees."
In the letter to his brother in the same month
of the following year ('59) he alludes jocularly to
his student importance: "I was writing a little
piece for the violoncello in honour of your twenty-
second birthday, but was obliged to give it up on
account of my important public duties! in connec-
tion with the Conservatoire festivities. I have
been unanimously elected President of our Music
Committee. The operetta one of Reinicke's
is only written for pianoforte accompaniment, and
as that is not strong enough, I am obliged to
arrange a great part of it for string instruments,
and, besides that, I have to conduct the whole
piece. I anticipate great fun at the rehearsals!
The dresses have been lent us by the theatre.
My orchestra consists of three first violins, two
second, one 'cello, and one contrabass, with the
grand piano, and perhaps I shall have two or
three more violins and another 'cello. We have
eighteen in the chorus and six solo singers, so I
shall have enough to do to keep them all to-
gether." It was a favourite trick of his to append
to his signature some sort of title. This time he
HIS LIFE STORY 31
proudly adds, " Conductor of the Royal Opera at
Leipzig!"
Writing in the previous September to his
father he remarks, "I have written a little
romance for four stringed instruments which I
will send you over to play, if you promise to
observe the pianos, fortes, and staccatos in a
marked manner, as the thing loses its effect
without them.
" We had what they call a Landpartie the
other day that is, all the students of the
Conservatorium, accompanied by the directors,
masters, and various visitors, walk out to a little
village, eat and drink in the Gasthof, or an inn,
and then amuse themselves in a free-and-easy
manner. I, with my usual luck, happened to be
elected on the Committee of Arrangements,
thereby losing three days' work, and finding
myself minus two-and-a-half thalers at the end.
How we four wretched creatures worked and
slaved those three days! First day concocting
and writing notices to be hung up in the hall,
running about the town buying ingredients for
'punch,' flowers for the ladies, decorations for
the salon, &c. Another committee meeting at
32 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
eight next morning. Rode over to Wahren to
tell 'mine host' that eighty people were coming
to dine with him the next day, and that he must
be provided. Then we decorated the room in
the most brilliant manner, each in his shirt
sleeves, and a pot of 'Baieresches Beer' before
him Germans can do nothing without beer!
That done, back again to Leipzig, went round to
invite the masters, directors, &c., according to
etiquette. Next day committee meeting at eight,
rushed two miles out of town to buy the fireworks
and illuminated lanterns. Brought them home in
triumph, went home, dressed and ate, and went
back to the Conservatorium before two, in time
to receive the people. At Wahren they drank
coffee and played games in the meadow, danced,
ate supper, saw the fireworks, and finally drank
an immense quantity of punch. Had you come
in at about a quarter past ten you would have
seen Albrecht and me with two gigantic bowls
ladling it out to the company."
30th March, 1860. "Tell Jack [his brother]
I will sell him the copyright of the Overture for
twenty pounds, or you shall have it for the same
price for the great band! What a swindle
HIS LIFE STORY 33
that thing is! Cheating the public to go to Exeter
Hall in order to hear a set of wretched muffs
blowing themselves to pieces and labouring under
the delusion that they are entertaining the public.
But I must say that you have shown great
judgment in discarding bassoons, for what earthly
use are they amidst the noise of trumpets, trom-
bones, euphoniums, &c.? Besides, the bassoon
is a purely orchestral instrument, and, in my
opinion, utterly out of place in a military band.
The althorn, on the contrary, although of a very
sweet and charming tone, tells much more, mixes
better with the other instruments, and is capable
of quite the same, if not more, execution. Your
selections seem to be very judicious, but of course
I cannot speak on that subject as you are far in
advance of me in such things. I must get you to
teach me more about military instrumentation
when I come back. . . . Most of the bands I have
seen in Germany seem to be all brass. I must
confess they do play splendidly, and it has a
most glorious effect. You cannot tell how much
superior it sounds to ours in England."
June 4, 1859, he writes to his father: " I have
been here eight months, an immense advantage to
34 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
me" although "it is only now" that the improve-
ment was manifesting itself in young Sullivan
" for, of course, I had to work back again to this
system, besides having to struggle against the
difficulties of the language, for I lost half the
benefit of my former lessons through not under-
standing what was said. . . . You will be pleased
to hear that I have made my first public appear-
ance as a player, as the enclosed programme will
show you, though I certainly had not much cause
to be nervous, there being four of us playing
together. I do not much mind playing in public
now, as I have got over my nervousness, and for
which I may thank the Abend Unterhaltung.
My quartette was played in the Abend Unter-
haltung a fortnight or so ago, and went capitally.
I mean it played well. I was congratulated by
the director and professors afterwards. They
wanted it performed in the Priifung (public ex-
amination), but Mr. Rietz would not have it, for
reasons which were quite proper ; besides, I have
no doubt he thought I should become idle after
it, as is very often the case with them here.
"This has been a very gay week for Leipzig
in consequence of the great ' Tonkiistler-Ver-
HIS LIFE STORY 35
sammlung,' or meeting of musical artists, got up
principally by the 'Future Music' people. Through
it I have formed the acquaintance of Liszt, who
has been the ' Lion.' My first introduction to
him was last Tuesday, when Mr. David gave a
grand musical matinee to which he invited me.
Liszt, Von Bulow (Prussian court pianist) . . .
and many other German celebrities, musical and
non-musical, were there. In the evening when
nearly every one was gone, Liszt, David, Bronsart,
and I had a quiet game of whist together, and I
walked home with Liszt in the evening. . . .
The next evening a grand concert in the theatre,
Liszt conducting. . . . Liszt is a very amiable
man, despite his eccentricities, which are many.
What a wonderful player he is! Such power and
at the same time such delicacy and lightness.
. . . We have had 40,000 Austrians passing
through here this last fortnight, on their way to
the war. They are not bad-looking men. The
general feeling of hatred against Napoleon
throughout Germany is tremendous. The papers
are daily filled with the most raving animosities
against him, and no effort is made to stop them.
I do not think that it is possible for Germany to
36 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
help mixing up in the war. There are now
16,000 men out of work in Leipzig alone, and if
things do not mend soon there will be revolutions
everywhere.
" I had a letter from Sir F. Ouseley the other
day. He writes so kindly, and wants to know if
I will write him another anthem for his book, but
the words he has sent me are so unmusical that I
cannot set them. . . . Tell Fred, with my love,
that he is a brick, and that I will write him some-
thing for his violoncello."
June 5, 1860. " I enclose you a programme of
our last Prufung. You will, doubtless, on looking
over it, recognise one of the names. Translated,
the thing stands as follows: Overture to T.Moore's
poem, ' The Feast of Roses,' from Lalla Rookh
(E Major), composed by A. S. from London
(conducted by the composer). ' The Feast of
Roses , is the German name for the ' Light of the
Harem.' It was such fun standing up there and
conducting that large orchestra! I can fancy
mother saying, ' Bless his little heart! how it must
have beaten! ' But his little heart did not beat at
all. I wasn't in the least nervous, only in one
part where the drum would come in wrong at the
HIS LIFE STORY 37
rehearsal, but he did it all right in the evening.
I was called forward three times at the end and
most enthusiastically cheered. I shot the bird, as
Mr. Schleinitz said z.e., had the greatest success
in the whole Priifung. The newspapers have
also treated me very favourably, much better than
I expected, for the Overture being written in
Mendelssohn style, and there being such a clique
against Mendelssohn, I thought they would have
treated me roughly. The Leipzig Journal says,
'With respect to the compositions, we were
gratified at finding in the youthful Sullivan a
talent which we many venture to say, by the aid
of active and continued perseverance, gives prom-
ise of a favourable future. His Overture was
certainly a little spun out, but, nevertheless, suc-
cessful by the aid of well-selected materials, in
mastering the expression of the one definite aim
held in view.' The General Anzeiger says,
speaking of the applause which followed Fisher's
1 Quartette,' ' Still more was obtained by Herr
Sullivan in the second part for his Overture,
which was conducted by himself, and which,
striving towards a new direction, transported
us into the Persian plains of Moore's lovely
38 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
poem, and gives us great hopes for the young
composer."
August 22, 1859. "Where do you think I
have been? To no less a place than Schandau.
You sent me five thai., I saved up five, and my
landlady, who wanted to get me out of the house
in order to clean it, lent me five. It was too hot
to live in Leipzig. Fancy having 113 Fah. in
the shade. . . . Well, I set out at nine in the
morning for Dresden and got there about twelve.
But, alas! I had chosen an unfortunate day.
There was no opera that night, the picture gallery
was closed, and all that I could do was to walk
about the town till the boat for Schandau went.
I was altogether delighted with Dresden: it is a
beautiful town, and well deserves the name of the
1 German Florence.' The streets are clean and
the houses fine and well built, and the river Elbe
so clear that you can almost see the bottom of
it. ... At two I took my place in the steamer,
and we jogged quietly up the river. It was a
beautiful day and we were enabled to see all the
lovely scenery as we passed, for, by taking
the river, you go through the whole of the
Saxon-Switzerland. The first part consists prin-
HIS LIFE STORY 39
cipally of woods and hills sloping down to the
river, interspersed with cottages, all built in the
Swiss style. But when within about five or six
miles of Schandau it grows grander and grander,
immense rocks, some with foliage, rising one
above the other to a tremendous height. . . .
" I put up at the Bath Hotel, as being the best
and most reasonable. What a glorious week we
had! We made excursions into all the neigh-
bouring ' Lions.' . . . Payne, a young English-
man studying in the Conservatorium, and staying
with me in the hotel, came up to me and said,
' Sullivan I should like to see our bills; we have
been here just a week, and I don't think we can
hold out any longer.' ' I have just told the waiter
to bring them,' I said, ' for I am getting anxious
too.' The bills were brought, and after paying
mine I found I had just a thaler left! ' How am
I to get back to Leipzig?' was naturally the
question that came to my head. Payne had five
thalers left, and we agreed to start off the next
morning at six o'clock and make a joint-stock
purse! With six thalers we found we could come
through very well. All went off very jollily till
we came to the pier at Dresden, when Payne,
40 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
who was cashier, discovered that he had lost both
boat tickets, when, of course, we had to pay again.
'Pleasant/ thought I. 'This is the height of
human enjoyment,' said Payne, with a melan-
choly attempt at a smile. We hadn't enough to
pay for the train to Leipzig. So we stood by the
Roman Catholic Church, looking at the theatre
and the Royal Palace, and wondering if the King
knew we hadn't money enough whether he would
send us out any. It was one o'clock, and in
another hour the train would start for Leipzig.
A thump on the shoulder, and ' Hullo, old
fellow! ' made me look away from the Palace,
and there, to my joy, stood W., who, with his
mother, was just going on to Schandau. To
explain the state of the case and borrow two
thalers was the work of a few seconds. That
fellow always conies everywhere at the right
moment. He has the best and kindest heart in
the world, and is the confidential friend and
adviser of all the English in Leipzig. Well, we
got back to Leipzig at last, after having bullied
all the porters, guards, and railway officials on
the line, who naturally thought us young ' Milords'
with hundreds of pounds in our pockets instead
HIS LIFE STORY 41
of a few groschens. ... I was in high good
humour to-day, for the sight of that thaler has
done me good. I shall immediately go to the
orchestra lesson, conduct the symphony, which I
haven't done for two or three weeks, and bully the
band, in tolerably bad German, for hurrying so.
Dr. David laughs at me and says I shall make a
capital conductor." Referring to his brother:
" Captain Ottley saw him sawing away with a zeal
that would have done honor to half a-dozen
Lindleys put together at the Handel Festival. I
do wish he could come over here for a week or
two."
October 30, 1859. " My quartette was per-
formed again last Friday in the Abend Unter-
haltung. Herr Veit, an amateur of talent and
celebrity, having had a symphony performed in
the Gervandhaus Concert, honoured us the next
evening with his presence in the Couservatorium,
and the directors wishing him to hear some
pupil's composition selected my quartette. When
it was over Veit called me to him, shook hands
with me, and practically repeated what Spohr said
to me: ' So young, and yet so far advanced in
art.'"
42 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
September 1860. " How shall I thank you
sufficiently, my dearest father, for the opportunity
you have given me of continuing my studies here ?
I am indeed very grateful, and will work very
hard in order that you may soon see that all your
sacrifices (which I know you make) have not been
to no purpose, and I will try to make the end of
your days happy and comfortable. I had given
up all idea of studying longer, and, indeed, was
making preparations for my journey home.
Therefore the surprise was greater for me."
October 28, 1860. "The director has ex-
empted me from paying for the Conservatorium
dnring the next six months I am going to stay
here. When I went up to thank him for it he
said, ' Oh, yes, we will let that be entirely. You
are a splendid fellow (parchtiger Kerl) and very
useful. We all like you so much that we can't let
you go: ' is it not very kind of him? "
Writing to his brother Christmas '60 : " We
were wishing for you to come over and give us
your valuable assistance here a short time ago.
We had a grand nigger performance at Mrs.
Barnett's and all the English and Americans in
the Conservatorium invited to witness it. The
HIS LIFE STORY 43
performers were four in number. Taylor, 1 banjo
(played upon my tenor)', Barnett, 8 bones, deficiency
supplied by castagnets; Wheat, violin, and myself,
tambourine. We composed the whole entertain-
ment amongst us, and a very good one it was too;
most of the audience had never seen anything of
the kind before, and the consequence was they
were most of them ill with laughing. In the same
sort of case, in fact, that father and I were in after
we had seen Christy's. In our rehearsals, when we
were at a standstill or in a difficulty, the general
exclamation was, ' Now, if Sullivan's brother were
here he'd be the fellow. Yes, write to Fred
Sullivan and tell him to give us a few hints,' so
you see your reputation is firmly established in
Leipzig.
October 31, 1860 : " Mother, my great hobby
is still conducting. I have been told by many of
the masters here that I was born to be a conductor
and consequently have been educating myself to
a high degree in that branch of the art. If I can
only once obtain an opportunity to show what I
can do in that way I feel confident of my success
1 Professor Franklin Taylor.
2 John Francis Barnett.
44 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
afterwards. Do not mistake this for conceit. . . .
but I am getting of an age now when I shall be
obliged to have confidence in myself and my own
resources. I often try to think what would have
become of me had I never come to Germany. In
England there was very little more for me to
learn. I had heard and knew well almost all the
small stock of music which is ever performed in
London (and it is very little compared to what one
hears here). I should have made very little im-
provement in pianoforte playing, whereas now
thanks to Messrs. Moscheles and Plaidy, I am a
tolerably decent player. . . . Besides increasing
and maturing my judgment of music it has taught
me how good works ought to be done. They
have no idea in England of making the orchestras
play with that degree of light and shade to which
they have attained here, and that is what I aim at
to bring the English orchestra to the same per-
fection as the Continental ones, and to even still
greater, for the power and tone of ours are much
greater than the foreign."
Writing of the English attitude at that time
towards new work: "If something does not
please them (tickle their ears) the first time they
HIS LIFE STORY 45
hear it they throw it aside and will not have any-
thing more to do with it, forgetting that really
good music is seldom appreciated by one the first
time of hearing, but that it grows on one and one
sees its beauties gradually. Take Beethoven, for
instance. His fifth symphony was poohpooh'd
and laughed at when it was first tried at the
Philharmonic; Carl M. von Weber said of his
eighth (or seventh) that the composer was fit for
the madhouse. The Choral Symphony is only
just now beginning to be understood in England.
And yet what do we think of Beethoven now?
Suppose they had cast him aside, as they do
Schumann (the most popular German composer),
Schubert, Gade, and other less distinguished
composers. Look at the programme for to-
morrow night's concert. . . . Fancy seeing
Schumann and Wagner in the same programme
in England. The time will come yet I hope. . . .
The fact is I am letting out now all the rage
which has been concentrated in me ever since I
began reading that wretched Musical World. It
is my opinion that music as an art in England
will go to the devil very soon if some few enthu-
siastic, practical, and capable young educated
46 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
musicians do not take it in hand. I get so savage
sometimes when in company here and talking to
great artists who have been to England at the
sneering way in which they talk of ' England's
art,' English taste. . . . and yet I ought not to
be angry with them, for I feel that they are quite
right. However, hope and persevere is my
motto."
November 26, 1860. Writing to his father on
various musical matters, more particularly with
regard to military band music, he goes on to say:
" I have given up the symphony. I finished the
first movement, but did not like it when it was
done, for whatever way I turned the second
subject it always sounded like the Quintette of
Schumann, a piece you do not know, of course,
being an Englishman. I cannot understand why
the critics, and, in consequence, musicians them-
selves, should be so prejudiced against that un-
fortunate composer. At the very name of
Schumann an English musician draws back
alarmed, shrugs his shoulders, and mutters a few
words about Zukunftsmusik, Weimar, &c.,
and doubtless with fine judgment will point out
the marked difference between Schumann and
ARTHUR
IN 1857, AETAT. \S. l,KIIV.l<i I'OK'I'KAIT.
HIS LIFE STORY 47
Handel! Yet, if you ask that man to tell you
conscientiously if he ever heard a note of
Schumann's music, he will probably be obliged
to answer. No.
" P. S. Here is a little choice bit. . . . My
friend W., happening to be writing to the
Athenceum newspaper, also thought he might
give a little news respecting the Gervandhaus
concerts this year. Amongst other things men-
tioned as being performed was Schumann's music
to Lord Byron's ' Manfred,' which, being one of
his first works, and acknowledged as great music
by all musicians, was commented upon by him in
terms of highest praise. They took the article
and printed it with the exception of the whole
paragraph about Schumann, which the musical
editor had cut out! This a fact from W.'s own
mouth. Is it not very paltry?"
At the foot of this letter comes a modest line
marked "P.S. Private. I am writing music to
the ' Tempest.' "
February 10, 1861. "Very much occupied
with my 'Tempest,' which does not proceed as
quickly as I could wish. I have already com-
pleted two entr'actes, two dances, and a song,
48 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
besides parts of the melodrama, but it is in the
overture I have come to grief, for I cannot get it
into form to please me. ... I am very anxious
to know if you will like my music. It is very
different to any you have heard. For instance
[bar quoted]. But, of course, it is not often I go
into such extremes as that. At first it may sound
rather harsh, but you will soon grow accustomed
to it, and most probably like it very much."
His father in January 1861 begs him to finish
his " Tempest " music before returning to Eng-
land, but adds: " Make up your mind to be cut
to pieces by the knowing ones when you produce
anything in London. If you escape you will be
lucky indeed. Even Handel himself has been
catching it lately from Chorley. ' Prodigious! ' as
the Domine would say."
Arthur writes, April n, 1861, that his "Tem-
pest" was performed with great success in Leipzig
the previous Saturday, and that he will be in
London on the following Monday or Tuesday.
CHAPTER III
FIRST PUBLIC SUCCESS
(1861-1866)
Charles Dickens First Visit to Paris Rossini Organist
St. Michael's and at Covent Garden Opera Visits Ireland
Germ of English Comic Opera.
ON his return from Leipzig Sullivan added
several numbers to his " Tempest "
music, and it was produced at the
Crystal Palace Concert on April 5, 1862. This
was his debut. His previous successes were in
the direction of scholastic achievement, and had
brought his name before the public in but a minor
degree. The winning of the Mendelssohn scholar-
ship, of course, appealed mainly to a more or less
intimate musical circle, and so far, the by no
means unenviable reputation which he had gained,
more especially as being a conscientious worker,
and a young man of considerable promise, had
been confined to his immediate associates, and
49
50 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
those concerned in the direction, or criticism, of
the work done at the Conservatorium in Leipzig.
The production of the " Tempest " proved a
veritable triumph for the youthful composer.
The musical critics were enthusiastic, and it is no
exaggeration to say that, like the poet, Sullivan
woke up the next morning to find himself famous.
Sir George Grove and Mr. Manns, who con-
ducted the concerts at the Crystal Palace, decided
to repeat the performance on the following
Saturday. On that occasion there was a record
attendance. All musical London would seem to
have gone down to hear it. After it was over
Charles Dickens, who had gone down with
Chorley, waited in the artists' room until Sullivan
came out, and with a characteristic grip of the
hand, said: " I don't profess to be a musical
critic, but I do know that I have listened to a
very remarkable work." This was the beginning
of a firm friendship between them, and one which
was only severed by death.
It is from this time, April 1862, that Sir Arthur
dates his public career as a composer. The
" Tempest " music had been written when he was
HIS LIFE STORY 51
eighteen and its successful production in England
took place before he was twenty. Whatever
doubts and fears he may have entertained up to
that time, he then definitely decided to avoid
teaching and to rely upon composition. As he
has said :
" I was ready to undertake everything that
came in my way. Symphonies, overtures, ballets,
anthems,hymn-tunes, songs,part-songs, a concerto
for the violincello, and eventually comic and light
operas, nothing came amiss to me, and I gladly
accepted what the publishers offered me, so long
as I could get the things published. I composed
six Shakespearian songs for Messrs. Metzler
and Co., and got five guineas apiece for them.
' Orpheus with his Lute,' ' The Willow Song,'
' O Mistress Mine,' were amongst them, the first
having been since then a steady income to the
publisher. Then I did ' If Doughty Deeds', and
a ' Weary Lot is Thine, Fair Maid,' for Messrs.
Chappell."
These were sold outright for ten guineas each!
With the next song, however, entitled, " Will he
Come," published by Messrs. Boosey, a royalty
system was inaugurated, and the previously pub-
52 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
lished songs having attained by this time a well
deserved popularity, the result of the royalty
system proved eminently gratifying to the com-
poser.
It was towards the close of this year that he
made his first visit to Paris, in company with
Charles Dickens, H. F. Chorley, the eccentric
critic of the Athenaeum, and Mr. and Mrs
Frederic Lehmann.
In one of his letters from Paris he writes: " I
am to play the ' Tempest ' (with Rossini) on
Friday. . . . We called upon Dickens, and then
all dined together (the Dickens, Lehmanns, and
selves) at the Cafe Brebant and then went on to
the Opera Comique to see David's new opera,
' Lalla Rookh.' It is very pretty, but rather
monotonous.
"The particular purpose of our visit," Sir
Arthur tells me, " was to hear Madame Viardot
in Gluck's ' Orfeo.' She was intensely emotional
and her performance was certainly one of the
greatest things I have ever seen on the stage.
Chorley, Dickens, and I went together, and I
remember that we were so much moved by the
performance, and it was of so affecting a character,
HIS LIFE STORY 53
that the tears streamed down our faces. We
vainly tried to restrain ourselves.
" I went about a good deal with Dickens. He
rushed about tremendously all the time, and I
was often with him. His French was not par-
ticularly good. It was quite an Englishman's
French, but he managed to make himself under-
stood, and interviewed everybody. Of course he
was much my senior, but I have never met any
one whom I have liked better. There was one
negative quality which I always appreciated.
There was not the least suspicion of the poseur
about him. His electric vitality was extreme,
but it was inspiring and not overpowering. He
always gave one the impression of being im-
mensely interested in everything, listening with
the most charming attention and keenness to all
one might say, however youthful and inexperi-
enced one's opinion might be. He was a delight-
ful companion, but never obtruded himself upon
one. In fact he was the best of good company.
" It was on his return from Paris on this
occasion that the train accident occurred alluded
to in Forster's biography. Dickens told me that
he did not feel anything until he got back to
54 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
London, then he felt quite shattered and broken
up, and Dickens added: ' I felt I should never be
able to go in the railway train again and that I
must take some strong measure to fight against
my own nervous weakness.' The next day, or
the day after, he went to Paris and back
again over the same ground. If he had not
faced the trouble in this way he thought that
his travelling days on the railway were over.
As it was he never got over it completely.
The sensation would come upon him at inter-
vals.
" It was in December that I called on Rossini :
Madame Viardet introduced me. Rossini re-
ceived me with the greatest kindness and took
great interest in my composition. I had with me
my music to the ' Tempest,' arranged as a piano-
forte duet, and this we Rossini and I used to
play, or a part of it, nearly every morning. This
was because he had taken such a fancy to the
music in question, and I must say that I felt
greatly pleased, as one could never accuse Rossini
of insincerity, nor did he ever fear to say what he
thought, however unacceptable his verdict might
be. When I left him he begged me to send him
HIS LIFE STORY 55
a copy of everything I wrote and to keep him
au courant with all that I did.
" One morning when I called in to see him, he
was trying over a small piece of music as I
entered. 'Why, what is that?' I exclaimed.
He answered me very seriously, 'It's my dog's
birthday, and I write a little piece for him every
year.'
" I induced Chorley to let me take him to meet
Rossini. Chorley hesitated a good deal because
he had sometimes expressed his opinions very
freely in the Athenceum, and not always favour-
ably, about Rossini's music." Sir Arthur adds
smilingly : " I suppose that Chorley thought that
Rossini had read every word that he, Chorley,
had written. However, I overcame his scruples
with regard to that, and took him with me one
morning to meet the composer. Rossini, as you
will see in the miniature which he gave me, was a
stout man, with a prominent stomach. Chorley
was as thin as a lath, and looked as if he had no
internal organism worth mentioning. As soon as
I came into the room I said 'Voila, Maitre, je
vous presente M. Chorley.' To which Rossini
replied with a courtly bow, ' Je vois, avec plaisir,
5 6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
que monsieur n'a pas de ventre.' Chorley was
completely taken aback.
"Up to the time of his death I continued to
visit Rossini every time I went over to Paris,
and nothing occurred to interfere with the cor-
diality of our friendship."
There can be no doubt that this intimacy with
Rossini influenced Sullivan greatly. This, added
to the impression made by Madame Viardet
Garcia's impersonation of "Orfeo," had the
immediate effect of making him desirous of know-
ing more about the opera and things operatic.
He determined to write something suitable for
dramatic presentation, but not until he had
mastered the technique of the stage. He spoke
to his friend Michael Costa, who was the con-
ductor of the opera at Covent Garden, asking
that he might be allowed to attend the rehearsals.
Costa refused on the ground that he could make
no exception to his rigid rule in this matter.
Nevertheless, Costa finally effected a handsome
compromise, and offered Sullivan the duties of
organist in the opera. This offer the young
composer gladly accepted, little dreaming of what
great importance this experience would ultimately
HIS LIFE STORY 57
prove. He had been there but a short time
when at the conductor's request, he wrote a ballet
for the opera. It was entitled " L'ile Enchantee."
To quote Mr. Willeby's monograph : " From it
alone he learnt much that was of value to him.
The mere fact of having to subordinate his music
to the requirements of the inventors, the scene
painters, stage machinists, and premiere danseuse,
each of whom had not one, but many, words to
say, was of itself a valuable lesson the more so
as these people were the best of their kind, and
the suggestions they made were generally the
outcome of knowledge and experience. Certainly
the things that he was called upon to illustrate
musically were not lacking in variety.
"On one occasion," says Sir Arthur, "I was
admiring the ' borders ' that Beverley had painted
for a woodland scene. ' Yes,' he replied, ' they
are very delicate, and if you could support them
by something suggestive in the orchestra, we
could get a very pretty effect.' I at once put
into the score some delicate arpeggio work for
flutes and clarionets, and Beverley was quite
happy. The next day probably some such scene
as the following would occur. Sloman, stage
58 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
machinist (log) : ' That iron doesn't run in the
slot as easily as I should like, Mr. Sullivan ; we
must have a little more music to carry her
(Salvioni) across. Give us something for the
'cellos, if you can ? ' Certainly, Mr. Sloman ; you
have opened up a new path of beauty in orchestra-
tion,' I replied gravely, and I at once added six-
teen bars for the 'cello alone. No sooner was
this done than a variation (solo-dance) was re-
quired, at the last moment, for the second
danseuse, who had just arrived. ' What on earth
am I to do ? ' I said to the stage manager, ' I
haven't seen her dance yet I know nothing of
her style.' ' I'll see/ he replied, and took the
young lady aside. In five minutes he returned.
'I've arranged it all,' he said. 'This is exactly
what she wants (giving it to me rhythmically) :
Tiddle-iddle-um, tiddle-iddle-um rum-tirum-tirum,
sixteen bars of that ; then rum-turn rum- turn,
heavy you know, sixteen bars, and then finish up
with the overture to "William Tell" last move-
ment, sixteen bars and coda.' In ten minutes
time I had composed it, and written out a
repktiteurs part, and it was at once rehearsed."
Sullivan had also been appointed organist of
HIS LIFE STORY 59
St. Michael's Church, Chester Square, soon after
his return from Leipzig, and held this post until
1867. In regard to this Sir Arthur remarks :
"When I was organist of St. Michael's, my
friend, Cranmer Byng, was appointed vicar of a
new church, and I designed the new organ for
him and undertook to find an organist. When
the day arrived for the consecration I hadn't
obtained the organist for him, so I volunteered
to play for two or three Sundays until I could
find some one else, with the result, however, that
I played there for two or three years. I re-
member that at the consecration of the church by
the then Bishop of London, the hour fixed was
twelve o'clock, and by some misunderstanding the
Bishop didn't arrive until one. Consequently I
had to play the organ the whole time in order to
occupy the attention of the congregation. As
the minutes went by and the Bishop didn't arrive
I began to play appropriate music. First I
played " I waited for the Lord," and then went
on with a song of mine which is entitled "Will
he come?" The appropriateness of the pieces
was perfectly apprehended by the congregation."
Choir practice and Covent Garden rehearsals
60 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
filled up a great part of his time, but he never
deviated from the determination to earn his living,
not as an organist, nor as a teacher, but as a
composer. In such intervals as occurred in the
performance of his duties as organist he wrote
many delightful songs, some of which have
already been mentioned. It was during a visit
to Ireland that he wrote his well-known sym-
phony in E, his only contribution to this great
form of musical art.
There is an allusion to it in one of his letters
home dated from Richmond Lodge, Holywood,
Belfast, August 30, 1863: " I have been dread-
fully idle, but already I feel my ideas assuming
a newer and fresher colour, and I shall be able to
work like a horse on my return. Why, the other
night as I was journeying home from Holestone
(fifteen miles from here) the whole first movement
of a symphony came into my head with a real
Irish flavour about it, besides scraps of the other
movement. I shall get it ready for the Musical
Society next season. I have been photographed
here, yielding to the entreaties of my friends
and very successfully I think."
In another letter, written from Belfast soon
HIS LIFE STORY 61
afterwards, there is an interesting allusion to his
first operatic attempt, " The Sapphire Necklace,"
for which Mr. Chorley had written the libretto.
" A note has just come," he writes, " the joint
production of Miss Dickens and Mrs. Lehmann,
to tell me that Dickens is perfectly enchanted
with the minuet theme in my opera at the be-
ginning of the overture, and which Mrs. Lehmann
continually plays to him at his request. He even
thinks it quite sufficient to make the opera a
success."
Mr. Chorley's libretto, however, proved quite
unsuitable for stage presentation, and most of the
music has been since utilised in other works.
Then came his cantata "Kenilworth." Here
he again suffered at the hands of his librettist, as
he has suffered since it may be remarked, inter
alia, on much more recent occasions.
"Kenilworth" was produced at the Birmingham
Festival (1864), and in spite of the libretto it
received very enthusiastic recognition. The
interpolated scene from " The Merchant of
Venice," "How sweet the moon-light sleeps,"
will probably be best remembered and is often
heard now in the concert room.
62 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
The year 1866 was an eventful and a busy one
for him. At an evening party in a friend's
house he had seen Du Maurier and Harold
Power play Offenbach's farce, " Les Deux
Aveugles," and it occurred to him that a similar
extravaganza in English might not be less happy.
On his way home from that party he discussed
the idea with his friend F. C. Burnand, who
promptly proposed an adaptation of Morton's
then extremely popular farce, " Box and Cox."
Soon after that the MS. was handed to the com-
poser, under the inverted title of " Cox and Box."
Speaking of the genesis of " Cox and Box,"
Sir Arthur tells me: "There was a society of
amateurs who met for the purpose of singing
part-songs and so forth at Moray Lodge, Kensing-
ton, the house of Arthur J. Lewis, who after-
wards married Kate Terry, and this little society
called itself the Moray Minstrels. They were all
picked voices and they really sang to perfection.
Mr. Lewis gave four evening entertainments at
his house, on the last Saturday in January,
February, March, and April; on these occasions
he issued invitations to many of his friends, and
these parties were really attended by all the best
d
80
8*
Ji
H^
. Q
SK
31
HIS LIFE STORY 63
people of that time, particularly in the various
professions judges, lawyers, literary men, and
great painters. And then we had a light supper
afterwards, of oysters and refreshing drinks.
One season (1865), on one or two occasions,
after supper, instead of any more singing, they
performed 'Les Deux Aveugles/ played by
Du Maurier and Harold Power, the son of the
celebrated actor who went down in the ill-fated
President. The performance of the play was so
successful that it was suggested that I should do
one expressly for them, and so Burnand and
myself came to write ' Cox and Box.' "
After the piece had been performed privately
in this way on several occasions it was decided
to produce it in public at the Adelphi Theatre,
for the benefit of a fund organised by the staff of
Punch, on behalf of their late colleague, C.
Bennett, with G. Du Maurier, Harold Power,
and Arthur Blunt ("Arthur Cecil") as Box,
Cox, and Serjeant Bouncer, respectively. The
way in which the accompaniment was left to the
last moment, and the extraordinary energy,
physical endurance, and rapidity manifested in
the work of orchestration is so characteristic of
64 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
the composer's methods and resourcefulness, in-
stanced on many other occasions, that I must
reserve the description of the way in which the
music came to be written for a special chapter
on the subject, to be found at the end of this
book. " Cox and Box," and a still further de-
velopment, " Contrabandista," in the following
year (1867), the libretto in both instances being
by Burnand, are of special interest, historically,
for, as far as the music is concerned, they were
the germ from which has sprung the English
comic opera of the past memorable twenty-five
years.
Nor was the more professional side of his work
allowed to remain in abeyance, as he was afforded
plenty of scope for his incessant activity. On
September 17, 1866, he writes: " I am to
conduct the Ballad Concert on behalf of Manns
it may lead to greater things," and " I have
received a letter from Sterndale Bennett offering
me the Professorship of Composition in the Royal
Academy of Music."
Occasionally the multiplicity of his engage-
ments necessitated being at work day and night,
and how the diurnal programme occasionally
HIS LIFE STORY 65
worked out is exemplified in a letter dated from
Manchester, December 6, 1866. "Sim sat up
with me "(" Sim " was Sim Egerton, the late
Lord Wilton, reputed to be the best amateur
musician in England) " until four o'clock this
morning, and, after he went to bed, I dressed
myself in morning clothes and packed all my
things together, smoked a cigarette, and waited
till the cab came, which it did at five o'clock, and
then I drove to Euston Square, and waited about
until the train started at 6.15 A. M. I slept a good
part of the way, but was nevertheless awfully
tired when I got to Manchester at twelve mid-
day. The rehearsal was at half-past, so I was in
ample time. We worked very hard for two
hours-and-a-half at the symphony, and the band
cheered me, and I made them a short speech,
and Halle was very kind, and in fact, everybody
was delighted with themselves and each other.
We dine at six and the concert is at half-past
seven."
He returned to town the same night to attend
a rehearsal next morning at ten o'clock, feeling
more dead than alive. The year 1866 had been
one of activity and great musical achievement,
66 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
but it was saddened by an event which inevitably
comes to young and all, but is often tragic beyond
expression to those who love them. He had
accepted an invitation to write a work for the
Norwich Festival. As the time approached for
its completion he had written nothing which was
in any degree satisfactory to himself. About a
month before the Festival he was in despair, and
told his father, to whom he was passionately
attached, that he really felt he would have to give
up the Norwich work. He could think of nothing.
" No," said his father, " you mustn't give it up,
you will succeed if you stick to it. Something
will probably occur which will put new vigor
and fresh thought into you. Don't give it up."
His words were prophetic, but how grievous was
the event that should give the young composer a
subject, and the needful momentum, neither of
them knew. Three days after this discussion
(September 22, 1866) the father died suddenly.
On the evening of the day after the funeral the
grief-stricken son sought relief from his thoughts,
and some expression of his feelings, in his work.
Within a week of that date was completed his
" In Memoriam " overture, with its solemn, long-
HIS LIFE STORY 67
drawn strains of a funeral dirge, working into a
passionate movement, as if an overwhelming
sorrow was carried up to a climax of exultant
hope. When it was produced at the Norwich
Festival it provoked not less emotion in those
who were ignorant of the origin of the Overture
than in those who knew.
There are many matters of too delicate and too
sacred a character to be discussed publicly, but,
quite inferentially, it may perhaps have been
gathered that the teaching of Sullivan's home-life
had been of such a nature (and his own attitude
being very far removed from that of the
materialist) that the death of those he loved best,
after the first pang was passed, had its loftier and
consoling side, and I cannot forbear quoting a
letter which he wrote to his mother from Lucerne
on September 20, 1868, two years after his
father's death, in which he writes: " But I want
you to have this on Tuesday, so that we may be
all together in spirit. I shall be spending the
day happily and peacefully in the mountains,
which is what I shall like best. I know you have
thought me hard and perhaps unfeeling some-
times, dear mum, but I could never trust myself
68 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
to speak of the dear one. I always get so sick
and ' chokey/ and it was no good scolding you if
I myself were to show weakness. Now I am
much stronger, and can talk and think of him
quite calmly and peacefully, and like to do so."
CHAPTER IV
SECOND VISIT TO PARIS
(1867-1871)
Tennyson Paris in the time of the Commune "The
Prodigal Son" Emperor and Empress Napoleon Pro-
phetic words from Prince Henry of Battenburg.
IN the autumn of 1867 Sullivan accompanied
Sir (then Mr.) George Grove to Vienna on
a successful voyage of discovery for Schubert
MSS. Sir George Grove has already described
in his appendix to Kreissler's " Life of Schubert "
the way in which the then almost forgotten, but
now well-known, music in " Rosamunde " was
discovered, how delighted they both were at the
unearthing of this practically buried treasure, and
the good time that he and Sullivan had in playing
over the dusty MSS. together. The owner
would not permit them to be taken away, and the
two sat up all night copying the parts. They
then went on to Paris, and Sullivan, writing
July, 1867, says: "We met Strauss on board,
69
70 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
going to Frankfort, and we fraternised and sat on
the deck together, and suffered agonies in com-
pany, so that it was quite jolly," and after a
description of a day spent at the Exhibition with
Grove perhaps Sir George Grove will forgive
my quoting the f ollowingcomplimentary reference
in consideration of the saving clause at the end of
it. " What shall I say of Grove? It would be
painting the lily to try and describe his goodness
and charm, so I refrain. We take great care of
each other, are very economical, haggle over
centimes, and get on famously. I shall read this
part to him, so have made it strong! "
" In 1867," Sir Arthur tells me, " I received a
special appointment to help in the musical ar-
rangements, and the opening of the Exhibition
was celebrated by a banquet held at the old Hotel
de Louvre (which does not exist now), and there
were present the various Royal Commissioners of
different countries, with the late Lord Granville
in the chair. The banquet consisted of dishes
from all parts of the world, at least they were so
described on the tremendously long menu. I
was requested to secure some glee singers from
England to sing glees during the dinner as they
ARTHUR SULLIVAN
AKTAT. 26*
HIS LIFE STORY 71
do at most English public banquets, and so,
following our custom here, directly dinner was
over, they sang the grace, "Non Nobis Domine."
At the end of it Lord Granville's face was a
study, for the grace was greeted with a universal
burst of enthusiastic applause, and cries of ' Bis!
bis! bis!' came from all parts of the room! I
didn't feel justified in giving it a second time, and
the fact that no encore was given must have
mystified the Russians, Chinese, and others who
had called for it."
" Granville was a perfect master of the French
language, and spoke admirably on this occasion.
I remember that, acknowledging the fact that
ladies were present, he entreated their pardon for
the weariness the speeches must have caused
them, although it was impossible to pardon them
for the distraction which they had caused to the
various plenipotentiaries by their beauty, and so
he went on in this delightful manner, although I
confess that which sounds so fine in French conies
rather flat in translation."
On his way back to England the Leipzig
Concert Direction, hearing of Sullivan's presence
in the town, invited him to conduct his " In
72 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Memoriam" overture, than which they could have
paid him no greater compliment.
An overture entitled "Marmion" had been
commissioned by the Philharmonic Society, and
had been produced by them in June. This, with
" Contrabandista " and a concerto for the violin-
cello, comprised his output for the year, in addi-
tion to a number of songs, hymn-tunes, and minor
pieces.
Not the least of his good fortune was the
friendship of Tennyson, who had occasionally
visited him at his house in Claverton Terrace,
and on February 10, 1867, Sullivan writes home
from the Isle of Wight to say: " When I got
here I had a cup of tea and then went and
smoked with Tennyson until dinner-time. He
read me all the songs (twelve in number), which
are absolutely lovely, but I fear that there will be
a great difficulty in getting them from him. He
thinks they are too light, and will damage his
reputation, &c. All this I have been combating,
whether successfully or not I shall be able to tell
you to-morrow."
He was not unsuccessful, though there was a
slight rift in the lute by reason of a preface which
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HIS LIFE STORY 73
Tennyson felt it incumbent upon him to write to
the songs in question, and which was construed
by many of those who read it as a reflection upon
the musician. The point is not one which need
be revived now, and the accompanying letters
from Tennyson to the composer, reproduced in
facsimile, will suffice for elucidation.
Sir Arthur has told me that he always felt that
Tennyson " was the one great man whose per-
sonal appearance seemed to correspond with his
work. He always appealed to me as being the
rugged old prophet Isaiah of this country. I
really owed much to his gentleness and patience.
I actually had the audacity to lecture him about
rhythm! 'Don't mix up your iambics and
spondees' I would tell him, and then continue
my dissertation in pretty much the same strain!
Of course one reason of his good-nature in this
matter was that he knew that I was not discussing
his verse from the point of view of a critic of
poetry, but merely in regard to certain musical
difficulties. You see he would write a simple
song or ballad wherein the music to each verse
should be the same, but which really required a
separate setting, and would make strong accents
74 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
in one verse, where in the corresponding place in
another verse he would place a weak one, so that
the ballad became most difficult for setting to
music. It is a glaring fault with most hymn-
writers also."
In 1869 was produced his first important
clerical work, "The Prodigal Son," with Titiens,
Trebelli, Sims Reeves, and Santley in the solo
parts. It was a piece of work which did much to
firmly establish his reputation as a composer.
It is no lack of compliment to him to say that,
beyond and apart from the extreme ability dis-
played in the work he had already done, the field
had been singularly open to him, for music in this
country stood in no small need of rejuvenation.
The occasion demanded the man, and with the
genius which is expressed in the better part of
his work, and the grace and distinction which
characterizes everything he has set his hand to, it
is not surprising to recollect that from the first he
had come to his own, and his work had received
immediate recognition everywhere. In this one
respect he had certainly been exceptionally fortu-
nate, for genius has often had long to wait for its
recognition. Seven years before, the young man
HIS LIFE STORY 75
of twenty had come over from Leipzig and had
taken the ear of the public with his " Tempest "
music, and had never since lost it. Yet even this
receptivity on the part of the public, with a corre-
sponding absence of rivalry and professional
jealousy, had another side, and there is no doubt
that, up to this point, so unaccustomed were
English critics to anything like versatility in com-
position, that the mere fact that the author of the
" In Memoriam " overture had written " Cox and
Box" and "Contrabandista" must have added
not a little uncertainty to their hopeful expect-
ancy, which such a work as the " Prodigal Son "
did much to set at rest.
If I may use a not very pretty Americanism he
had now fully " arrived " and in the following year
(1869) set the seal to his reputation by one of the
most beautiful of his lighter works, the " Overture
di Ballo," which was written for the Birmingham
Festival. To adopt the opinion of a sound
musical critic, "While couched throughout in
dance rhythms the overture is in strict form, and
for melodic charm, graceful fancy, and delicacy
of treatment it is difficult to rival it amongst
modern music."
76 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
The Press had already learnt to write of him as
promising to be one of the foremost, if not the
foremost, composer this country has ever pro-
duced.
Notwithstanding the work which he managed
to get through, he found time to do what he has
hardly ever omitted to do during a busy life to
get away into fresh scenes for a month or so, and
recruit his energies whilst thinking out fresh com-
positions.
In the October of '68 he is at Munich, having
visited Madame Schumann at Baden-Baden, who
had many autographs and MSS. of her husband's
to show him, and in the corresponding month of
the following year we find him at Brussels, al-
though the experience, in this instance at all
events, does not seem to have been particularly
refreshing.
" This is awfully dull," he writes from Brussels.
" We are dragging out our time wearily here, wait-
ing for Bentham's debut, which is fixed for Sun-
day, to the great disgust of all his English friends,
and his mother and sisters, but we shall all go of
course. Directly he does appear I'm off. I have
serious thoughts of going to Paris for a month.
HIS LIFE STORY 77
I am just beginning to get into the sound and
feeling of the language, and I think a month's
work would enable me to speak it tolerably well.
Not to be able to do so is an intolerable nuisance.
Arthur Blunt turned up last night from Boulogne,
with a complete guide to Brussels, drawn for him
by a friend, and which has had the effect of utterly
confusing him, as he can't find any single place in
the town. He always goes in the opposite direc-
tion. We have been to all the respectable places
of entertainment, and having exhausted that
resource have begun the more disreputable ones.
These are, if anything, more depressing than the
theatres, and we sit with solemn faces until the
very end of an evening, and then go home slowly
and sadly to bed."
From thence he went to Aix-la-Chapelle, drove
to the principal hotel, asked if " M. Burnande"
were there, and " found Frank at the table cChote
in the midst of a circle of merry listeners."
Later on, from Lyme, in Cheshire, he writes:
" Biggest house that I have ever been in that is
comfortable. Very old, Elizabethan. Full of his-
torical and interesting traditions. Room I sleep
in is the chamber once occupied by Mary, Queen
78 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
of Scots, and the bed, a marvellous piece of wood-
carving, was slept on by Bradshaw, the regicide.
The people in the house now are Lord and Lady
Norris, Val Prinsep, Lord and Lady Skelmers-
dale, Lord and Lady Denbigh, and their daughter,
Lady Ida Fielding.
When the news came of the distress in Paris,
consequent on the seige in 1871, a Mansion House
Relief Fund was inaugurated. Arthur Sullivan's
name was among those placed on the Committee,
and a day or two days after the Versailles troops
had entered the city and vanquished the Commu-
nards, he rushed off to Paris, immediately pre-
ceded by Sir George Grove and W. Von Glehn.
His experience there can best be told in his own
words. The only letter which I can find written
from Paris at that time June 5, 1871 may be
found interesting.
"After a series of thrilling adventures, not un-
accompanied by danger, I just find time amidst
the rattling of the shells and the thunder of the
cannon, to write and say that hitherto I am safe
and unwounded. I found Grove and Willie Glehn
just dressing, and their surprise was only equalled
by their delight. We hired a small open carriage
HIS LIFE STORY 79
and drove all through the city to see the ruins it
is something too shocking to see the result of the
uncontrolled, devilish spite of these ruffians of the
Commune. The people all wear a miserable look,
and this, added to the wet, nasty day and the
absence of the greater part of the population,
makes a very dismal effect. Grove paid me that
sovereign, but borrowed it again an hour after-
wards at a barricade to give to Paschal Grousset,
who would otherwise have shot him.
" The whole place looked as if it had been
stricken with the small-pox the bullet-marks on
the white walls of the houses," Sir Arthur tells
me. " In many of the houses the front wall and
some of the floors had been torn down, and it was
so pathetic to see the little pictures and household
gods remaining on the other three walls and over
the fireplaces. While I was in Paris all the lights
had to be put out at half-past ten. We went to
the Gymnase and saw two celebrated people,
Ravel and poor Aimee Desclee. There were
about eighty people in the house, and it was lit in
the most dismal manner; whether the gas had
been partly cut off, or what, I don't know, but
with so few people about in this sombre half-light,
8o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
the whole performance produced a most weird
effect. However, we had to get out of it and get
home early, in order to avoid being arrested in the
streets. Of course it was a very bad time for pro-
fessional people in Paris, and a great many French
people took refuge in England, among them
artists like Gounod, with whom I became ac-
quainted and whose work interested me a good
deal.
" Dr. and Madame Conneau were great friends
of mine, and they came over to England, in attend-
ance, as it were, upon the Emperor and Empress
Napoleon. Through the Conneaus I became
more intimately acquainted with the Emperor and
Empress at the time they were staying atChisle-
hurst. They were exceedingly kind to me, and
frequently invited me down to Chislehurst. The
Emperor was always sad and somewhat silent, and
wore the air of a man who had suffered great pain.
In fact, he had been a martyr to the same com-
plaint to which I have been such a victim, and I
rarely saw him smile. On the other hand, the
Empress was bright and cheerful, and after lun-
cheon she would ask me to play to her, and
Madame Conneau would sing. One could not but
HIS LIFE STORY 81
be struck very forcibly with the love and devotion
that both of them had for their son, the little
Prince Imperial. He was of a most sweet and
patient disposition, as well as very intelligent and
high-spirited. When he and young Louis Con-
neau entered as cadets at Woolwich, they often
came up on Saturday afternoons and spent their
half-holidays either with me at my house or with
Madame Conneau. The Prince spoke English
exceedingly well, and in every way seemed to me
to have the tastes and accomplishments of a young
Englishman, fond of riding, hunting, and.indeed,
all out-door exercises. Since the Emperor's death
I have always been privileged to keep up my
acquaintance with the Empress and often see her
at Farnborough."
" I well remember an incident which occurred
when I was lunching there one day with Prince
Henry of Battenburg. After lunch the Empress
took us to the Prince Imperial's room, so that we
might see the relics and things reminiscentof him.
She broke down and could not go into the room,
leaving the Prince and me to go in together. We
were looking at the Prince Imperial's coat, with
the bullet-hole in it, when I made the remark about
82 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Africa: ' How many had gone out to Africa/ I
said; ' only to find the graves of themselves or
their reputations in that country!' I had no fore-
knowledge, of course, of what would happen to
my companion, but I remember that as we stood
in the darkening room, I was curiously impressed
with the gravity of his tone, as he replied, ' Yes,
and it is not over yet. There are still many more
lives to be sacrificed there ! ' The Prince had no
idea of going out to Africa at that time."
CHAPTER V
SULLIVAN MEETS GILBERT
(1872-1875)
Musician Laureate Meeting with W. S. Gilbert
" Thespis " "The Light of the World" Sims Reeves
"Trial by Jury" Lord Chief Justice Cockburn
Desbarrolles.
IT should be observed that since 1863, when
Sullivan was asked to compose the music on
the occasion of the marriage of H. R.H. the
Prince of Wales, he may be said to have held the
unofficial position of Musician-Laureate. " On
Shore and Sea' ' was written for the opening of the
International Exhibition at South Kensington in
1871, for which Gounod also wrote " Gallia," and
in 1872 Sullivan wrote the Festival "Te Deum"
in celebration of the recovery of the Prince of
Wales from his serious illness. It might be
thought that the music written in this way almost
" to order " would be found lacking in strength
and spontaneity; but that this is not the case a
reference to the music written in connection with
83
84 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
various public functions, and which will be found
tabulated in their date order in the Appendix to
this book, will sufficiently prove. Nor will it be
denied for one moment that in the case of the
greatest of our Poets Laureates the work done in
virtue of the office he held was among the best
work which he did.
Sullivan's " Te Deum " was produced at the
Crystal Palace on Thanksgiving Day, May i,
1872. Upwards of 30,000 people were present,
among them the Princess Louise, the Duke of
Edinburg, Prince and Princess of Teck, and the
Duke of Cambridge. The performance was in
the hands of the London contingent of the Handel
Festival Choir, the orchestra of over 2,000 per-
formers being conducted by Mr. Manns, Mdlle.
Titiens taking the solos.
It was in the preceding year (1871) that Arthur
Sullivan had been introduced to W. S. Gilbert.
" I was introduced to him," Sir Arthur tells me,
" by Frederic Clay at one of the German Reed
entertainments. Of course he had done a good
deal of work, and I knew him by name very well
before that occasion."
"Some little time after our meeting, John Hoi-
HIS LIFE STORY 85
lingshead wanted a piece (in 1872) for Nelly
Farren and J. L. Toole, and asked Gilbert to do
the piece and asked me to write music for it. The
piece was ' Thespis; or The Gods Grown Old,'
and both music and libretto were very hurriedly
written."
" Until Gilbert took the matter in hand choruses
were dummy concerns, and were practically noth-
ing more than a part of the stage setting. It was in
' Thespis ' that Gilbert began to carry out his
expressed determination to get the chorus to play
its proper part in the performance. At this
moment it seems difficult to realize that the idea
of the chorus being anything more than a sort of
stage audience was, at that time, a tremendous
novelty. In consequence of this innovation, some
of the incidents at the rehearsal of ' Thespis '
were rather amusing. I remember that, on one
occasion, one of the principals became quite indig-
nant and said, ' Really, Mr. Gilbert, why should
I stand here? I am not a chorus-girl!' to
which Gilbert replied curtly, ' No, madam, your
voice is not strong enough, or no doubt you would
be.' However, he always carried his point, and
incidents of this sort became more infrequent.
86 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
" One day, at a rehearsal, a girl came up to us
crying and Gilbert asked her the cause of it.
Between her sobs she told us that she had been
insulted. We at once assured her that we would
look into the matter, and that no girl should be
insulted in our company, but what was it all about ?
She said that Miss X., one of the costumiers'
assistants, had been very rude to her, and had said
to her, 'You are no better than you ought to be.'
Gilbert immediately looked very sympathetic and
said to her, ' Well, you are not, are you, my dear?'
to which she replied promptly, ' Why, of course
not, Mr. Gilbert! ' 'Ah, that's all right! ' he said,
and she went away perfectly comforted."
"On the occasion of our visit to America, Gilbert
discovered that some of the dresses were out of
order, and told the American assistant that they
were to be shortened in time for the next morn-
ing's rehearsal. ' That can't be done,' he ex-
claimed. ' But it must be done,' Gilbert replied.
The young man then expectorated with great ve-
hemence and we sprang aside hastily. The young
man was sent out of the theatre directly, and we
called for his superior, who afterwards said to us,
1 All right, the work shall be done, and, by the
HIS LIFE STORY 87
way, you don't seem to like that young man I sent
up to you this morning?' ' I don't object to the
young man' Gilbert said, ' he may possess every
virtue imaginable, but I do object to his spitting
on my boots.' ' Waal,' replied the man, not lik-
ing to condemn an American citizen, ' his man-
ner is fresh.'
" There were other difficulties, among the more
important being the fact that, in those days, there
were comparatively few actors or actresses who
could sing, and of those who pretended to, hardly
any could be said to compass more than six notes.
Naturally I found myself rather restricted as a
composer in having to write vocal music for people
without voices! Notwithstanding all this, the
piece was fairly successful, and ran a good many
nights."
No one could have then imagined that two men
had met who were to destroy the vogue for French
opera-bouffe in this country, and who would make
an English comic opera possible. All sorts of
rubbish, translated from the French, and set to
still more rubbish dance music, had held the
boards up to that time, and, on the production of
"Thespis" (1872), the dramatic critic, not being
88 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
blessed with prophetic vision, remarks somewhat
patronisingly, "Mr. W. S. Gilbert and Mr. Arthur
Sullivan have attempted, with not a little success,
to imitate French comic opera, concerning which
we have heard so much for the last half-dozen
years," but goes on to say: "In these days when
the French critics are savagely turning round on
us, and calling us pickpockets it is not disagree-
able to find that we have authors and musicians
quite as talented as our neighbours," and in the
same critique there is one significant sentence:
" Mr. Sullivan has certainly persuaded us of one
thing that a musician can write to any metre."
I imagine that " Thespis" will be best remem-
bered by the exquisite musical setting to the sim-
ple little Gilbertian ballad, "The Little Maid of
Arcadee."
During this period Sullivan conducted the so-
called "Classical Nights" at the Covent Garden
Promenade Concerts; travelled on the Continent
in order to get a permanent orchestra for the
Royal Aquarium, and, in 1873, wrote his great
oratorio, " The Light of the World."
Meanwhile, perhaps I may be forgiven for
quoting one of his letters, in which he describes
HIS LIFE STORY 89
the rapid movement necessary to fulfil his engage-
ments, written September 16, 1872, from Cossey
Hall, Norwich:
" I hadn't a chance of writing to-day," he writes
to his mother, "as I passed all the day at St.
Andrew's Hall, and, being very hungry, went and
dined with Titiens and Trebelli and so missed
the post. ... I got to town at ten o'clock yes-
terday, wrote three letters at the Garrick, went
home, found Godfrey 1 hanging about Pall Mall,
got into his cab, then up to Montagu square, and
sat for some time, back to the Garrick for my lug-
gage, and got to Shoreditch about two o'clock. I
found a heap of the orchestra and singers going
down, and divided my journey between Santley
and others in a smoking carriage, and Trebelli
and others in a non-smoker. I got a bed at an
inn, went and sat an hour with Titiens and Tre-
belli, and was up fresh for rehearsal this morning.
4 St. Peter' was rehearsed first, and then the 'Te
Deum,' which went well at rehearsal, and even
better at the concert to-night. Then I drove out
here in the moonlight (five miles) and met with a
most kindly reception from Lord and Lady Staf-
1 His cabman who drove him about for many years.
90 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ford, who had got some supper for me. They
were dancing when I arrived, and a priest was
playing a choice selection of waltzes. I can't
describe the place because I only got a glimpse
of the exterior as I drove up, but it looks magni-
ficent, a lot of towers and turrets, and the inside
is certainly royal. There is a fine chapel which
Lord Stafford took me to see in the moonlight,
and a little dim lamp was burning in front of the
altar. I must drive into Norwich in the morning
to rehearse ' Guinivere,' as there was no time to
do it to-day."
These excursions into the country were not
always so busy. Here is another side of the
picture. In a letter dated from " Grieve's Hotel,"
Langholm, N. B.:
" Fancy me getting up at six this morning,
going into the stables and getting a gamekeeper
to pour buckets of water over me (as there are no
baths in this little inn), then breakfast, cigarette,
&c., and starting at eight for the moors in a wag-
gonette and beginning shooting at a quarter to
nine. That is what I've done to-day and have
got to do two days more. We have been shoot-
ing eight hours, or, rather, walking up and down
HIS LIFE STORY 91
these awful, endless hills they call moors and never
a bird of any sort could we get near. The rain
and wind kept them off. I was drenched through
without by the rain and soaked inwardly by whisky .
I never thought I could have drunk so much raw
spirit,and it has about as much effect as cold water.
As there is no house we live in this little inn and
are very comfortable."
From Pembroke College, Oxford, May 5, 1873:
" Yesterday I called on the Liddells (he is Dean
of Christ Church and Chancellor of the Univer-
sity), and they asked me to dinner, but I went in
after dinner instead, and found a good many nice
people, and they had a little music. Miss Liddell
sang ' Orpheus,' charmingly. To-day I lunched
with them and went to Ruskin's lecture after-
wards. Then Prince Leopold met us, and after
the lecture he and I walked back to the Liddell's
and had tea. We chummed together and he gave
me his photograph."
Later on, writing from Eastwell Park, Ashford,
Kent: " I had a lot of musical letters to write for
H.R.H. to-day, so missed the post for you. This
morning we were to have gone out shooting, but
92 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
it was wet. The duchess and I played some
duets after dinner Schubert's marches. She
plays extremely well. Princess Christian asked
me to try and help a prottgb of hers at Windsor.
I wish I had a quarter the influence that folks
think I have. To-night is New Year's Eve in
the Russian calendar, so there was service in the
chapel, M. Popoff coming down from London for
it, and there will be a grand service to-morrow."
From Ingestre, Stafford:
" Dicey and I played cribbage under great
disadvantages as far as Blisworth, when he arose
and departed, the winner of one shilling! Jack 1
and I then got on very well until within half-a-
mile of the house, when the horse of the fly fell
down and cut its knee badly, so I had to run on
to the house and send up assistance, a stableman
and a donkey cart to fetch the luggage. Then
Lady Shrewsbury, Lady Theresa, and I walked
up to the scene of the disaster and watched the
operations."
In the autumn of 1874, he is in Paris with the
view of meeting a librettist (Albert Millaud), and
on arrival writes: " All right. Train upset three
1 His black servant.
HIS LIFE STORY 93
times, and ran off the rails twice, but beyond
upsetting a tea-table no damage was done."
On February 25, 1874, he writes home: "If
you are bothered again by newspaper reporters,
just say that so far as I am concerned I know
nothing about the proposed knighthood beyond
what I have seen in the papers. I don't see why
I should be 'interviewed' on everything that may
be said about me. There is, of course, no foun-
dation for such a thing, and it only grows out of
the good-natured fancy of the Hornet!'
Part of the summer of 1874 was spent in Ger-
many, and in August he writes home from Coburg
that he is " en route for Dresden, where the
Lindsays have invited me to be their guest for a
few days, and then we all return to London
together. We have been going on pretty much
the same way as usual excursions, dinners, &c.
Monday was the Duchess's name's day, and there
were great doings. . . . Yesterday the Rouz-
landts, 1 Captain Clerk, Lady Mary Butler, and
myself went over to Niirnberg to see the place. . . .
We had four hours to see Niirnberg in, and got
home at eleven at night awfully tired. But it is
1 Madame Christine Nilsson and her husband.
94 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
worth seeing. It is, I should think, the most
beautiful and picturesque town in the world.
Every house is a picture to study all old-fash-
ioned and high-roofed, with wonderful gables and
beautiful ironwork about them. It was a very fine
day, and the Duke took care of our comforts,
sending a luncheon basket which we discussed in
the train. . . . Everything had been telegraphed
for and arranged beforehand, On Monday the
Grand Duke sent one of his Privy Councillors
with the order of the Coburg House for me
(Knight, 2nd class), so that I swagger about with
a ribbon and star. He also sent the Order of
Merit for Art and Science to Nilsson. So we
are both very pleased, as he is very sparing with
his decorations." The most interesting guest was
Field-Marshal von Roon, who was the great
Prussian Minister of War.
Rosenau where they stayed is a small
country house where the Prince Consort was
born very pretty, and lying in a beautiful park.
The Queen stopped there when she came to
Coburg. " After dinner we went all over the
house and saw all the rooms .... billiards all
the evening .... fortunately brought a lot of
HIS LIFE STORY 95
work here and shall write some songs that will
fill up my time every morning." " London is
emptying itself, of course, which will be a comfort
for me when I get back. I hate the season
heartily."
At the Duke's castle at Carlenberg he remarks
that in the evening " Nilsson sang and I accom-
panied her both by heart. She is quite in
earnest about singing an opera for me next
season, and we are the best of friends and com-
panions."
Franzensbad, August 8, 1874. " Our party
broke up on Friday. We kept the Duke's birth-
day as I told you we should. There was a grand
dinner in the evening at which we wore our
orders! . . . Next morning we had a general
breakfast at 11:30 and 12:30; the Rouzlandts and
I took leave of the Duke and Duchess .... we
arrived here at 5 -.30, and were met at the station
by Mrs. G , an American lady staying here
with her three children. She is the lady whom
the Rouzlandts have come to see, and is a perfect
specimen of a high-bred, charming American
woman .... very intelligent, well educated,
pretty manners, and as cheery as a bird. I am
96 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
writing this in her sitting-room, which is the
general room for us. This place is a typical
specimen of the Bohemia Baths. Quiet, pretty,
arid unexciting, every one living more or less out
of doors, taking their meals and listening to the
music under the shade of the trees. ... It is
rather a relief after the life we have been leading
to be perfectly free and unfettered, and not to
have to dress in different costumes three or four
times a day; not that I can say one word of
complaint, for H.R.H. was really so kind and
thoughtful for us that it would be ungrateful.
He really is one of the nicest men in the world.
He is so remarkably clear-headed and thoughtful
and very clever. He is quite idolized in Coburg,
and I don't wonder at it."
Hotel Bellevue, Dresden, August 12, 1874.
" I am glad to be in Dresden again; it is such a
whiff of the old times, and I am enjoying it
immensely, for our party is the pleasantest and
most agreeable to be wished for. I wrote to you
last from Franzensbad. . . . We took it into our
heads to drive over to Eger, about three or four
miles distant, the oldest town in Germany, they
say, and I can well believe it, for it is the most
HIS LIFE STORY 9 7
ramshackle, tumble-down, queer-looking place I
ever saw. And yet it is extremely picturesque,
and historically of great interest, for here Wallen-
stein was murdered during the Thirty Years' War.
We went into the room where he was killed (it is
now filled with relics of him a sort of museum),
and I stood like 'Sein, the astrologer' don't you
know the photograph in the drawing-room close
to the door? Then there was the old castle, built
as usual about eleven hundred years ago. The
chapel is in perfect preservation, built in two
storeys, the upper one for the lords and ladies,
the under one (where the mass was performed)
for the servants a nice distinction to draw, which
is even now preserved in a good many country
churches! I tried the organ in the church, but it
wasn't a good one at all. There were, however,
two splendid knockers and handles (carved brass)
on the door magnificent pieces of work, and
when I am very rich and build my palatial resi-
dence, I mean to have them copied for the great
hall doors! However, enough of Eger. . . . On
Monday we all left for Dresden ... a large and
cheery party, the Rouzlandts, Mrs. G. and her
three children, myself, and four servants. I was
98 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
the only one who spoke German fluently, and so
was paymaster, courier, and keeper of order. 1 . . .
The next day Sir Coutts and Lady Lindsay
arrived, and we have all been one party ever
since. We go to the picture gallery and other
museums, and visit all the old china and bric-a-
brac shops, of which we are good customers. I
have been rather extravagant and bought two or
three lovely old Dresden cups, &c. Mrs. G. has
given me a delicious little old tea service, and
to-day Sir Coutts gave me a grand old piece of
German pottery (about two hundred years old),
which I had taken a great fancy to."
Balcarres, Fife, September 9, 1874. "We had
a heavenly day yesterday and drove in the morn-
ing to the English Church, six miles distant.
There was a very nice service, and we all sang
the hymn lustily, to the accompaniment of a small
organ, played by one young lady and blown by
another. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Goschen arrived
yesterday, Colonel and Lady Florence Cust came
1 Sir Arthur tells me: "I telegraphed in my own name for rooms.
At the station the pile of luggage was tremendous. One port-
manteau only belonged to me, and I was immensely amused when
the driver of the fly said, 'Do all these things belong to the Sulli-
van family?' "
HIS LIFE STORY 99
to-day. To-morrow the Yorkes go, I am sorry
to say. I am doing my songs, and am getting on
pretty well, but wet weather is more favourable to
composition than fine!"
Balcarres, Fife, September 21, 1874. "I
finished and wrote out my song, ' Thou art pass-
ing hence, my Brother,' and dated it the 22nd.
It is very curious that I should have done it just
now. Time passes very quickly. It doesn't seem
eight years ago since dear father died."
Washington Hotel, Liverpool, September 29,
1874. "The streets were all alive and bunting
flying about everywhere, and thousands of people
waiting by the station yesterday when I arrived,
but it was not in honour of me, but of the Duke,
who was going about on all sorts of ceremonies
with the Mayor and a guard of honour. I
couldn't go to the banquet last night because I
had a full rehearsal of my oratorio. Every one
was there except Reeves, who telegraphed to say
he could not come until Wednesday. I hope he
will come, not for my sake alone, but for his own.
The Duke arrived punctually this morning at the
concert and stayed to the very end. I didn't see
him to speak to, as he was upstairs and I down.
ioo SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Davison, Bennett, Ryan, Patey, and Patti, are all
staying in this hotel."
In August his oratorio "The Light of the
World " had been written, and produced at the
Birmingham Musical Festival. It created tre-
mendous enthusiasm, record attendances and so
forth wherever produced. It was barely nine
months since he had written the music to the
light and fantastic " Thespis," produced as we
have seen, in the December of the preceding
year, and although the critics received the new
oratorio with almost unanimous approval, there
were many who seemed to feel somewhat irritated
by the fact that both productions had been the
work of one man. The public, generally speak-
ing, detests the indefinite. It is always anxious
to tear aside anything in the nature of mystery.
It has no reverence for it. We love to label a
man, and are indignant if he does not deliver his
goods as per the bill of lading with which we
have invested him. Here was the composer of
" Contrabandista " and " Thespis " taking the
grandest possible theme for his work and appar-
ently challenging comparison with Handel and
Mendelssohn! The general opinion, however,
HIS LIFE STORY 101
would seem to have been very fairly expressed
by the critic of The Standard when he wrote:
" After due reflection the general opinion is
that in his oratorio Mr. Arthur Sullivan has
enriched the world's musical library with a fine
work, distinctly representative of the modern
school of composition, and calculated to exist in
that sphere where it holds a prominent position
as a specimen of the new type of oratorio, the
dignity of which it upholds. Considering the
difficulties of precedent with which Mr. Sullivan
had to deal, in Handel's ' Messiah ' and Bach's
' Passion Music/ not to mention Mendelssohn's
unfinished ' Christus,' he may be said to have
entered the lists against an array of giants. To
say that in the face of these he has held his own
ground, if he has not encroached on theirs, is to
bestow praise of the highest significance; and to
Mr. Sullivan belongs the acknowledgment that
he has incontestably secured great honours to
himself without robbing his predecessors of a
single laurel. The ' Light of the World ' has
nothing whatever in common with the ' Messiah';
it borrows neither style nor ideas from the
'Passion Music'; and it even steers clear of
io2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
that magnetic rock, Mendelssohn, upon which so
many fair and well-freighted barks have been
lured to their doom."
The composer was certainly to be no less con-
gratulated upon the vocal interpretation which he
secured. Titiens, Patey, Trebelli and Santley,
Foli and Sims Reeves carried a by no means
light burden triumphantly, and, without making
any invidious distinction where all were so good,
Sims Reeves particularly distinguished himself.
No one could hope to outrival him in the sacred
fervour which he infused into his rendering, and
in the management of his voice, expression, and
perfection of phrasing, which he had added to the
magnificent gift which nature had given him. It
may be doubted if this country cannot well afford
to boast that in Sims Reeves happily still with
us we can lay claim to the fact that this country
has given birth to the finest vocalist tenore
robusto that the world has ever known.
This is not the place for detailed criticism of
the oratorio, if I were at all competent to furnish
it. It would be very fairly suggested that, apart
from raising the question of competence, the
HIS LIFE STORY 103
biographer and other friends of a composer are
possibly prejudiced in his favour. In any case it
is always desirable to avoid the use of the super-
lative, and throughout the book, wherever it may
seem necessary to refer to the merit or otherwise
of a production, I shall content myself with quot-
ing the opinion of others. The only definite and
complete judgment, of course, is that of posterity,
and that is an issue which every one is free to
discuss. The point of view of a biographer must
needs be that of a contemporary historian, and so
I am more concerned with the nature of the
reception of each composition and the conditions
under which each composition was produced,
contented to leave to others the task of discussing
and, perhaps, prematurely deciding upon, the
merits or demerits, and the permanance or other-
wise, of the work under review.
In pursurance of this intention I do not think I
can do better than quote one paragraph from the
long notice in the Observer of that date (August
31, 1873) as being a fairly typical expression of
opinion on the oratorio contemporary with its
production.
" If we have spoken at some length of the
io 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
1 Light of the World,' it is merely because the
occasion amply justified our doing so. The orato-
rio is one of imagination, of not only clever ideas,
but of really devotional religious thought. The
orchestra is handled throughout in a manner which
only one who is fully acquainted with each instru-
ment, its individual capabilities, and its effect in
combination, is able to appreciate. The instru-
mentation is never obtrusive, but it is always deli-
cate and expressive, while many orchestral pas-
sages are notable for the beauty of the scoring.
The vocal parts, solo and choral, are written with
the object of producing the fullest effects by the
most legitimate means. They exhibit great talent
in treatment, and, considering the nature of the
subject, are written with considerable variety. In
conclusion, ' The Light of the World ' is a great
production, and we may safely look now to Mr.
Sullivan for sacred works of the highest class,
since the originality of his genius has escaped the
siren-like influence of Mendelssohn, whose fasci-
nating style has proved too frequently the de-
struction of original talent."
It was not until the beginning of 1875 that Mr.
D'Oyly Carte, who was then managing for Miss
HIS LIFE STORY 105
Selina Dolaro, then playing " Perichole," at the
little theatre in Dean Street, Soho, finding
that they were not doing "good business,"
approached Gilbert and Sullivan.
" It was on a very cold morning," Sir Arthur
tells me, " with the snow falling heavily, that
Gilbert came round to my place, clad in a heavy
fur coat. He had called to read over to me the
MS. of ' Trial by Jury.' He read it through, and
it seemed to me, in a perturbed sort of way, with
a gradual crescendo of indignation, in the manner
of a man considerably disappointed with what he
had written. As soon as he had come to the last
word he closed up the manuscript violently, appa-
rently unconscious of the fact that he had achieved
his purpose so far as I was concerned, inasmuch as
I was screaming with laughter the whole time.
The words and music were written, and all the
rehearsals completed within the space of three
weeks," and all London went to see it. As the
Times had it, " Mr. Sullivan, in fact, has accom-
plished his part in the extravaganza so happily
that to ascend some steps higher towards the
empyrean it seems, as in the great Wagnerian
operas, as though poem and music had pro-
106 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ceeded simultaneously from one and the same
brain."
Penley, unnamed in the programme, filled the
modest rdle of Foreman of the Jury, while the
elder brother, Fred. Sullivan, who had been for
some little while in the Dolaro company, played
the Judge with such humourous seventy and all-
round ability that he contributed not a little to the
original success of the piece. It was produced on
March 25, 1875, ran f r some considerable time,
and was the first joint production of Gilbert and
Sullivan, which showed definitely that there were
two men who could produce something which
should be mirth-provoking without lacking the lit-
erary and artistic element. " There is a genuine
humour in the music," the Times continued "as for
instance, in the unison chorus of the jurymen, and
the clever parody on one of the most renowned
finales of modern Italian opera; and there is also
melody, both fluent and catching, here and there,
moreover, set off by little touches in the orchestral
accompaniments which reveal the experienced
hand."
The run of the comic " Trial by Jury " was
practically contemporaneous with another trial of
HIS LIFE STORY 107
a more serious character, the memorable Tich-
borne Claimant case.
Sir Alexander Cockburn was Lord Chief Justice
at that time, and Sir Arthur tells me, " Although
he was very fond of me personally, being very
fond of music, he did not like the notion of our
' Trial by Jury ' at all, as he thought the piece
was calculated to bring the bench into contempt!
He went to see the piece once, remarking after-
wards that it was very pretty and clever and
' all that sort of thing,' but he would not go again
for fear he should seem to encourage it.
" I used to go and sit on the Bench with him,
however, at the time of the trial of the Claimant,
and occasionlly I would sleep at his house over-
night, so that I might be in time in the morning
to drive down with him to the Court. The
incidents of the trial and Cockburn's masterly
summing-up are, of course, matters of history,
but I was greatly struck by the effect of the
adverse verdict on the Claimant. He was, as you
know, a big burly fellow, but the moment the
verdict was given he seemed in some unaccount-
able manner to decrease promptly in bulk, so
that his clothes appeared to hang loosely about
io8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
him. I certainly never witnessed a more curious
sight."
Speaking of the various people he has known,
among them Lord Chief Justice Cockburn,
Tennyson, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Leighton,
and Millais, Sir Arthur remarks that with Millais
he was always on the most affectionate terms.
" When I was very young and didn't have much
to do I used to spend a good deal of my time in
his studio playing on the pianoforte while he
painted.
"One night when I was at Gounod's house in
Park Place, there came in after dinner a venerable,
white-haired, handsome old man. He sat down
and talked to some people in another part of the
room. I asked Gounod who he was, and Gounod
exclaimed, ' Oh, he is the celebrated Desbar-
rolles.' Of course I knew him by reputation
with regard to his work on the hand, so-called
palmistry being then a new thing to the public.
Gounod took me across the room, and, without
introducing me, or mentioning my name, said,
' Here is a subject for you. Look at his hand.'
The venerable old man took up my hand, looked
at it, and in a moment said, ' Oh dear, you have
HIS LIFE STORY 109
had a yery great shock in your life so many years
ago.' I said, ' No, you are mistaken/ but he in-
sisted, adding that it was the death of some one I
loved, and in a moment I remembered that the
year he mentioned would be the year of the
extremely sudden death of my father. He then
went on to mention many details which could
have been known to no one else but myself, and
I must confess that this rather staggered me
There was nothing of the charlatan about him '
CHAPTER VI
IDLING IN ITALY
(1875-1877)
Conductorship Visits Italy Death of Fred Sullivan
'The Lost Chord" "Henry VIII." "The Sorcerer"
Sir Coutts and Lady Lindsay Princess Louise.
SHORTLY after the production of "The
Light of the World " Sullivan received
from the University of Cambridge, in com-
pany with his old master, Sir John Goss, the
honorary degree of " Doctor of Music," and in
the year under consideration (1875), after a great
deal of pressure had been put upon him, he
accepted the post of Principal of the National
Training School of Music. It was a post which
he accepted very unwillingly as he had always
been adverse personally to teaching in any form.
In reference to the school, its history and
development under the new name are interesting
and important, especially as Sir Arthur Sullivan
was so completely identified with it, and I venture
to quote his own words in regard to it. " The
no
HIS LIFE STORY m
Royal Academy of Music had fallen into very
low water at that time, and Sir Henry Cole
thought it was a favourable opportunity to estab-
lish an institution for musical education. It was
his desire to get everything centered at South
Kensington, so as to bring all the art schools
together. He experienced a great deal of diffi-
culty, and one reason was that he seemed to think
that such an institution could be carried on as if
the art of music were an exact science. Even-
tually they wanted me to become principal of it,
but I declined because I didn't approve of the
principles which had been adopted. However,
very great pressure was brought to bear on me,
and after some mutual concessions I very un-
willingly accepted the post of principal and held
the position for six years.
" I got a very fine teaching staff about me, and
we certainly turned out a number of first-rate
practical musicians, who, without doubt, exercised
great influence in the cause of music throughout
the country, having in their turn become teachers,
organists, and so forth. Difficulties arose with
reference to the establishment of the school on
a permanent basis, and eventually the Prince of
ii2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Wales and the then Duke of Edinburgh took the
matter up with great zeal, and so the Royal
College of Music was founded on the basis of the
Training School which I had conducted. It was
to all intents and purposes the same institution.
They took over our building, our library, and our
teaching staff. Sir George Grove was appointed
Director, and carried on the institution on the
lines which I had already laid down. So you
see that the National School of Music was really
the forerunner and parent of the Royal College
of Music."
In the winter of the same year he also con-
ducted the Choral Union Orchestral Concerts in
Glasgow, and, as reflecting the opinion of that
time just a quarter of a century ago it is inter-
esting to note that & propos to these concerts,
one paper remarked : " The committee have
acted wisely in gaining the services of a con-
ductor of Mr. Sullivan's reputation and position.
England has produced but few musicians whose
names are likely to live. That Mr. Sullivan
belongs to this small number he has given us
strong reason to hope. We do not know how
far a recent statement that his name is a uni-
HIS LIFE STORY 113
versal drawing-room favourite, maybe gratifying
to a composer of high and earnest aspirations,
but we are quite certain that work of another
sort ought to occupy Mr. Sullivan, and that the
accomplishment of really great things in his art
must be to him simply a matter of choice. The
very first essential for a good orchestral conductor
is that of perfect familiarity with his music, and
this Mr. Sullivan's training and experience have,
of course, insured. The orchestra is, in the
main, the same as that of last season, yet last
night it was often difficult to believe this ....
the result was in every way such a complete
expression of the composer's intentions."
Not the least service which, throughout his
busy life, Sir Arthur Sullivan has rendered to the
revival of musical work in this country is indicated
in the paragraph which I have quoted. Much
more is required of a conductor than that he shall
wave a baton in front of an orchestra. One
cannot refrain from paying one's modest tribute
of praise to the fact that on the thousand-and-one
occasions on which he has been called upon to
conduct, he has evinced his extreme catholicity of
taste. He has ever shown a musicianly " radical-
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ism" in full sympathy with the purpose and
method of each individual composer, and each
item in his musical programme has been given
the care and attention which he would have
demanded in the case of his own work. More-
over, he has never been lacking in good general-
ship in a matter which involves more tact and
trouble than one can imagine, while his own
painstaking enthusiasm has, on all occasions, so
communicated itself to the executants that, even
after an exceptionally long and arduous rehearsal,
the spectacle of the orchestra applauding the
conductor has become almost a convention.
" Trial by Jury" having been produced, as we
have seen, in the early part of 1875, there is no
further production to record until two years after-
wards. In the summer of 1875 he visited Italy,
where his companions were Sir Coutts and Lady
Lindsay, to whom he owes the pleasure of a long
and close friendship. Writing from Cadennabia,
on August 25, he says: "I have been to Milan
at last! Visetti was there at the station to receive
me. . . . He behaved in a princely manner to
me the whole time, treating me as his guest. My
visit was a real success, and I am very glad I
HIS LIFE STORY 115
went. On Monday morning after breakfast we
went out and called on Mazzucato (the director
of the Conservatoire), Ricordi, the publisher, and
Filippi, the ' Davison ' l of Italy. . . . We went to
the Conservatoire to listen to a performance by
the students. Mazzucato welcomed me with
great warmth. To my extreme gratification he
came to the station with me to bid me farewell.
I cannot speak highly or warmly enough of
Visetti. He was kindness itself, and almost more
gratified than myself at the success of my visit."
Writing again from the hotel at Cadennabia on
the Lago di Como: " The heat is so great as to
make it almost impossible to do anything but sit
about without movement in a chair until the
evening, when we manage to saunter out a little
or to be paddled about in a flat-bottomed boat.
Then it is delicious, absolutely lovely. The still-
ness of the water, the brilliant moon, throwing its
glittering light on the lake and making a long
trail of little diamonds, the mountains all round
looking grave and calm, little boats filled with
men and women, some of them with mandolins
1 The celebrated critic of The Times.
n6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and singing popular melodies, and the light from
the villages and towns dotted round the lake
contribute to form a scene which is enchanting,
and unlike anything one has dreamed of I
have an advantage that not every Englishman
has i.e., of being here in the summer. People
do not often brave the heat, and consequently
lose the magnificence of the luxuriant foliage
and the beautiful colours and lights, which can
only be seen at this time of the year."
Shortly afterwards Lady Lindsay sends a
sketch to Mrs. Sullivan, reproduced in these pages.
I quote the letter with its ironic postscript: "Dear
Mrs. Sullivan, I enclose you a drawing, by which
you will see that your son is not overtiring him-
self here. He spends the day, and so do we, sit-
ting on the balcony in rocking chairs, sometimes
going through the exertion of reading a novel."
" P. S. [in Sullivan's handwriting] This is written
forme, as I am overworked(l), and consequently
cannot write to-day."
Perhaps I may be excused for quoting another
little epistle sent soon afterwards from Cologne.
" I have been out with the children; we went to
the cathedral and heard a pretty children's serv-
FREDERIC S
AS THK JUDGK IN
HIS LIFE STORY 117
ice. It is a blazing hot day, and the cathedral
was so peaceful and cool it did me good, and took
me out of the world for a time. When the serv-
ice began the organ struck up, and then in the
far distance the boys' voices were heard singing,
and they came nearer and nearer, singing all the
while. The result was I burst out crying, as I
always do at children's voices. I have no doubt
that the music was weak, and the boys' voices
execrable, but the whole thing moved me and
did me good."
The year '77 was saddened by the death of his
brother Fred Sullivan, who died on January 18,
aged 36. His cleverness as a comedian and his
unfailing good spirits had made him much liked
by all who had known him, and during his brief
career as an actor he had already achieved repu-
tation. Best known to the public for his perfect
performance of the Judge in " Trial by Jury,"
he was a skilled musician and an actor of great
ability.
It was during the distressing three weeks,
mainly occupied in watching by the bedside of
the elder brother, that Sullivan wrote " The Lost
Chord." The account which has already been
n8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
given in Mr. Willeby's monograph of the way in
which it was written is accurate, and will, I hope,
bear repetition. " One night the end was not
very far off then while his sick brother had for
a time fallen into a peaceful sleep, and he was
sitting as usual by the bedside, he chanced to
come across some verses of Adelaide Procter's
with which he had five years previously been
much struck. He had then tried to set them to
music, but without satisfaction to himself. Now
in the stillness of the night he read them over
again, and almost as he did so he conceived their
musical equivalent. A sheet of music paper was
at hand, and he began to write. Slowly the
music grew and took shape, until, being quite
absorbed in it, he determined to finish the song.
Even if in the cold light of day it were to prove
worthless, it would at least have helped to while
away the hours of watching. So he worked on
at it. As he progressed he felt sure that this
was what he had sought for and failed to find on
the occasion of his first attempt to set the words.
In a short time it was complete, and not long
afterwards in the publisher's hands." Thus was
written " The Lost Chord," perhaps the most
HIS LIFE STORY 119
successful song of modern times, at all events
one whose sale has, up to now, considerably
exceeded several hundred thousands.
In the autumn of 1877 the composer's activity
was manifested in two directions. In the first
place he had supplemented his list of incidental
music to Shakespeare's plays with the music for
" Henry VIII.," first produced in the splendid
revival of that play at the Princes Theatre by
Charles Calvert.
On the strength of the success of " Trial by
Jury," and in the confidence inspired by hopes of
a prosperous collaboration between Gilbert and
Sullivan, Mr. D'Oyly Carte had formed a small
syndicate, known as the Comedy Opera Com-
pany. Its first production was " The Sorcerer,"
first played at the Opera Comique on Nov. 18,
1877. The result was by no means discouraging,
for it drew large audiences for the space of six
months. It was everywhere regarded as "another
attempt to establish native opera as a legitimate
and permanent institution in this country," and
while the public was delighted at the rare com-
bination of humorous and scholarly music with
the fun of a skilful libretto, those whose duty it
lac SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
had been to pay attentive ear to operatic music
from foreign sources were particularly pleased
with the clever parodies of conventionality in
serious opera which ran through " The Sorcerer,"
parodies skilfully interwoven with purely origi-
nal melody, allied to good taste, fancifulness, and
command over orchestral resources.
Sir Arthur has mentioned the difficulty which
he experienced in the beginning, of finding any
actor or actress who could sing, but the demand
soon created a supply, and "The Sorcerer" was
responsible for the introduction of Mr. George
Grossmith and Mr. Rutland Harrington to the
stage.
About this time " Lewis Carroll" wrote to him
in the following terms:
" DEAR SIR, I thank you for your letter. I
thought it needless to trouble you with any par-
ticulars till I knew if my proposal were at all
possible. And now, though your answer gives
little or no ground to hope, I think I may as well,
before giving up all hope, tell you what it is I
want, as perhaps it might change your view of
my question. I am the writer of a little book for
children 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland '
HIS LIFE STORY 121
which has proved so unexpectedly popular that
the idea of dramatising it has been several times
started. If that is ever done, I shall want it done
in the best possible way, sparing no expense, and
one feature I should want would be good music.
So I thought (knowing your charming composi-
tions) it would be well to get two or three of the
songs in it set by you, to be kept for the occasion
(if that should arrive) of its being dramatised; we
might then arrange for publishing them with
music. In haste, faithfully yours,
" C. L. DODGSON.
" (' Lewis Carroll.')"
"CHESTNUTS, GUILFORD, MARCH 31, 1877.
" MY DEAR SIR, I have again to thank you
for a letter which, like the last, is nearly final, but
just leaves the gate of Hope ajar. Excuse my
troubling you with more questions, but I should
much like to know what the sum is, which you
say you thought ' absurdly extravagant ' for the
copyright of the musical setting of a song, and
also what the terms would be, supposing you had
a ' royalty ' for every time it was sung in public.
122 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
For my own part, I think the ' royalty ' system the
best of the two, usually, but the other has the
advantage of finality.
" You speak of your readiness to enter on the
matter, if I should ever carry out the idea of
dramatising ' Alice,' but that is just what I don't
want to wait for. We might wait an indefinite
time, and then, when the thing was settled, have
to get our music prepared in a hurry, and, worse
still, you might not then be able or willing to do
it. That is my reason for wishing to get some-
thing ready beforehand, and what I know of your
music is so delicious (they tell me I have not a
musical ear, so my criticism is valueless, I fear)
that I should like to secure something from you
now, while there is leisure time to do it in. Be-
lieve me, very truly yours,
" C. L. DODGSON."
During the summer of '77 he is once more in
Paris, and in making brief quotations from letters
dated from Paris and elsewhere my apology is
that they are particularly interesting in so far as
they indicate a mental attitude toward people
whom he met, and contain allusions to them.
HIS LIFE STORY 123
" It seems as if I had never left Paris. When
I went into the buffet at Victoria last night to get
a mouthful of cold meat before starting I saw
J. S. Forbes, the Chairman of the L. C. and D.
Railway. He was going to Paris, so he took me
as far as Calais for nothing, shared his cabin with
me, and we got a carriage all to ourselves to Paris
undisturbed. It was luxury combined with
economy."
He is back in London a month later. " Last
night was the dinner at the Lindsays to Princess
L . It was very pleasant. To-day the
Princess called whilst I was out and left me a
beautiful photograph of herself, which she had
promised me. It was very kind of her," and
" Grove says he does not wish to be critical in the
matter of tamarinds, but they cut out like pieces
of negro hard and black. I thought the pot I
sent him was in beautiful condition. How difficult
it is to please all mankind!"
In February of 1878 he writes: " Here I am in
' Genoa the Proud,' having arrived here late last
night. I took affecting farewell of all my friends
at Nice on Friday, and on Sunday morning
started off with a very nice fellow, in a little car-
i2 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
riage with two capital little horses. Silva 1 went
by train with the luggage, and we drove along the
far-famed Cornice road which runs all along the
Riviera from Nice to Genoa. It was a heavenly
day, and I never enjoyed anything so much in my
life. I cannot give a description, but refer you to
Doctor Antonio for it. We stayed an hour and a
half at Mentone for lunch, and then resumed our
journey as far as Bordighera, where we stayed the
night. Yesterday morning we were up betimes
and on our way again, winding for miles along the
picturesque route, mountains on one side of us, the
Mediterranean on the other,through the quaintest,
dirtiest, most picturesque old towns as far as
Albenga. There we parted from our carriage, it
being late in the evening, and took a parliamen-
tary train, which seemed to be wandering about
listlessly, on to Genoa. . . . The thing that most
interested me was the church of St. Lorenzo, the
finest here. It was shut up, but we got in at the
side door, and found the interior magnificently pre-
pared for the funeral mass for the Pope, the day
after to-morrow. All the pillars and other stone
work were covered with red satin, damask, and
i Valet.
HIS LIFE STORY 125
gold a great catafalque in the centre, draped in
scarlet, black, white, and gold, and nothing but
scarlet, black, and gold everywhere. The effect
was magnificent."
CHAPTER VII
AMERICAN REMINISCENCES
(1878-1880)
"H.M.S. Pinafore "Promenade Concerts " The Pina-
fore " Fever in America First Visit to America
American Reminiscences American Piracy and the
"Pirates of Penzance."
SINCE 1872 Sullivan had been suffering at
intervals from an agonising malady. It
would lie dormant for a considerable period,
and then rouse itself to an attack which would
last for some time. " H.M.S. Pinafore " was pro-
duced at the Opera Comique, May 28, 1878. It
was the musician's ill-fate to be racked with pain
during the period when this delightful opera was
written. As usual it had to be written against
time, and it says much for the dogged courage of
the composer that the exquisite and jocund music
was persisted with in the intervals of the most
acute suffering
Strangely enough, " H.M.S. Pinafore," eventu-
126
HIS LIFE STORY 127
ally so tremendously popular, at first failed to
attract. There was the crowded and enthusiastic
audience on the first night, and the press cried
approval; of course well-meant suggestions ap-
peared here and there to the effect that " our
representative English composer should confine
himself to more serious work." Truth to tell,
the "business" done at the theatre became so
unremunerative that the management decided
to withdraw " H.M.S. Pinafore" not many weeks
after production.
At that time Sullivan was conductor of the
Covent Garden Promenade Concerts, and one
night he put into the programme a brilliant
arrangement by Hamilton Clarke of the " Pina-
fore" music, for the orchestra and military band.
Although the piece was running to poor houses
at the time, and was on the eve of withdrawal,
this selection from the music at the concerts
created quite a sensation. The selection was
invariably encored, and parts of it sometimes
played over two or three times, before the
audience would permit the programme to be
proceeded with. It was apparently as the result
of this that the receipts at the Opera Comique
izS SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
gradually crept up, and that nearly two years
afterwards "H.M.S. Pinafore" was still in the
bill and flourishing hugely. Instead of failing
dismally, it had the stage for seven hundred
nights. Meanwhile the piece had become the
" rage" throughout America, about which there
will be much to say presently.
The Promenade Concerts, at one time under
the sway of Jullien at the time of which I am
writing August, 1878 were controlled by
Messrs. Gatti. The orchestra numbered eighty
of the best English players, and one of the
papers, commenting on the fact that " Mr. Arthur
Sullivan is the conductor," remarked that "it is the
first time that he has assumed such an office at
entertainments of this kind. . . . The man who
has given us not only ' Cox and Box,' the ' Con-
trabandista,' 'Trial by Jury,' 'The Sorcerer,' and
' H.M.S. Pinafore,' each in its way unsurpassed,
but also the ' Tempest ' music, ' Kenilworth,' the
'Symphony in E Minor,' the overture ' In Memo-
riam,' the ' Te Deum' to commemorate the recov-
ery of the Prince of Wales, and last but not
least, such an oratorio as 'The Light of the
World,' is no common labourer in the field of
HIS LIFE STORY 129
art, and merits all the distinction that may be
conferred upon him."
Taking the lighter side, I have included in the
illustrations the sketches produced in the Sport-
ing and Dramatic News of the time, anent which
"The Captious Critic" remarked, "It was, I
believe, the custom of at least a few of the
Chapel Royal choristers those little Bee-flaters
who dispense sweet music for the saving of
high-born souls to proceed from St. James' to
Hungerford market and waste their substance
in the consumption of Gatti's far-famed ices.
Amongst these ardent devotees of Gatti were
little Arthur and Alfred. Their pocket money
was quickly consumed in the form of the cool and
refreshing ice. These two little boys are grown
up, and are now receiving those pennies spent in
reckless frigidity back from the coffers of the
Gatti family, for they are none other than Mr.
Arthur Sullivan and Mr. Alfred Cellier, the
conductors of the Promenade Concerts."
In America "H.M.S. Pinafore" had caught
on, and raged furiously. In London it had been
successful beyond anything of the kind, but in
the States it created the tornado-like furore for
i 3 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
which, amongst many other big things, that great
nation is celebrated. It was not an uncommon
thing for one individual to have seen the piece,
say, a dozen times; church choirs added it to their
repertoire; thousands of sturdy Puritans who had
never been inside a theatre before went to see
one or other of the performances. It is on record
that (miserabile dictu} a hundred thousand barrel
organs were constructed to play nothing else!
For the season it was found hardly worth while
to run anything in opposition to it, and the
spectacle was presented of every theatre and
concert company of importance in the big cities,
producing the same piece! In one of the sketches
produced in an American paper, in which posters
are seen affixed to a wall, the notion is by
no means exaggerated. " Academy of Music.
Colonel Mapleson's troupe, 'Pinafore'"! "Stadt
Theatre. The pretty comedy 'Von Pinaforen.'
Pumpernickel, Kaiserlich und Limburger."
"Grand Concert! Signora lima di Marska will
sing the principal arias of ' H.M.S. Pinafore'"!
and so on. For instance, here is one of the many
similar notices given in all seriousness: "The
Church Choir ' Pinafore ' Company has prefaced
HIS LIFE STORY 131
their 'Pinafore' performance with the'Gloria' from
Mozart's 'Twelfth Mass/ and Handel's 'Halle-
lujah Chorus.' " Some of the libretto, as catch
phrases, "What, never? Well, hardly ever!"
must have become deadly. It is related that one
editor was compelled to forbid their use by his
staff on pain of dismissal. " It has occurred
twenty times in as many articles in yesterday's
edition," he sorrowfully said to them on one
occasion. " Never let me see it used again."
"What, never?" was the unanimous question.
" Well, hardly ever" replied the wretched man.
" Dot ' Pinafore ' expression vas a noosance,"
remarked a Teutonic gentleman to a genial
coadjutor. "Auf you tole a veller sometings,
he speaks noding von blame English. He say,
'Vot, hardly, sometimes nefer!' Vot kind of
language is dose?"
The ironic form does not preclude the fact that
the following statement was within the truth:
"At present there are forty-two companies play-
ing ' Pinafore' about the country. Companies
formed after 6 P.M. yesterday are not included."
Philadelphia boasted a "coloured" " Pinafore"
company, and in Boston "Pinafore" is announced
i 3 2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
to be given at the Music Hall on such-and-such
date, when " the leading characters will be sung
by prominent soloists of the Catholic choirs of
the city, and the chorus will consist of fifty voices
from various Catholic churches."
Meantime, there were two facts which were
not likely to escape the notice of Messrs. Arthur
Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert. On the one hand,
" their attention had been called" to the popu-
larity which the piece was creating on the other
side of the water; and, on the other hand,
although its popularity meant the transference
(in the States) of many hundreds of thousands
of dollars, they were quite cognisant of the fact,
without having their attention called to it, that
this unique popularity had not produced one
half-penny for the benefit of the joint authors of
the production.
Of course there was no international copyright,
but yet they felt something might be done. It
might well be that the American managers and
the English authors would be unable to make any
compromise in their views, which were in direct
opposition in regard to the interpretation of meum
and tuum, but they held one good card and they
HIS LIFE STORY 133
determined to play it. They would take over
their own people to perform the operas. The
opera in America, although so successful, was
being played after a strange fashion, with many
sins of omission and commission. The lesser of
the American companies had turned the comic
opera into a weird music-hall sketch of a nature
which beggared description. The libretto had
been tampered with, so-called topical songs had
been interpolated, and many other inartistic
horrors had been perpetrated. The music, too,
more particularly in regard to its orchestration,
was being treated quite out of accord with the
intentions of the composer.
Accordingly, in November, 1879, accompanied
by Mr. D'Oyly Carte and the late Alfred Cellier,
they left for America. They also took with them
Blanche Roosevelt, who had been singer at the
Covent Garden Opera under the name of Rosa-
vella. Blanche Roosevelt went with them as the
principal soprano of the "Pinafore" company.
She sang fairly well, but what success she
achieved was mainly due to her extraordinary
beauty. She proved of little use in the part of
Josephine, which had not been written for her
i 3 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
voice, but made a very successful appearance
subsequently as Mabel in " The Pirates of Pen-
zance," more especially as the music for Mabel in
the first act had been written with a view to
her interpretation. The rest of the principals
followed them to America shortly afterwards.
The original rendering of the " Pinafore " was
produced at the Fifth Avenue. One might have
thought that the "New Yorkers" by this time
would have grown tired of the piece, and, indeed,
one or two New York papers, forgetful that
prophecy is the most gratuitous form of error,
said as much and more; but as a matter of fact
the further production created quite a sensation.
In what way the production differed from the
American version can be deduced from some of
the references made to it. The following descrip-
tion is quite instructive:
" Last evening," writes one reporter, "' H.M.S.
Pinafore ' was under command of its builders.
Mr. Sullivan conducted in the orchestra, and the
master-hand was clearly discernible in the result.
It seemed already as though human ingenuity
had been exhausted to provide appropriate busi-
ness for the opera, and that everything thinkable
ROOSEVET/T
HIS LIFE STORY 135
had been thought of. But last night's perform-
ance was everywhere studded with new points.
When the scene opened, the sailors were all seen
at work, flemishing down the ropes, and attend-
ing to various ship's duties, while the whole was
under the supervision of the busy and important
Little Midshipmite.
" This gave an animation to the first scene that
it generally lacks. Practicable shrouds were set,
with sailors clambering up and down, and the
chorus was skilfully divided, some on the gun
deck, and some on the quarter deck, so as to
destroy the usual unpleasant stiffness in the
grouping.
" But the really noticeable difference in the
interpretation was the orchestration. There was
breadth, colour, and tone, together with a har-
monious blending with the vocalism which was
utterly wanting in what may be called the home-
made ' Pinafores.' "
The authors were called before the curtain and,
a speech being demanded, Mr. Gilbert thanked
the audience for the cordial reception accorded to
their " little work." " It is not," Mr. Gilbert said,
" a new work." It had indeed been intimated to
136 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
him that it had been performed here before, and
he begged to assure the audience that its present
production was not prompted by a desire to
challenge comparison with other versions, but
because he and Mr. Sullivan thought it would be
interesting to the audience to see the author's
and composer's idea of how the work should be
performed. " It has been our purpose," he
added, " to produce something that should be
innocent but not imbecile."
From this point I cannot do better than con-
tinue the narrative of the composer's experiences
in America in his own words.
" Of course Gilbert and myself had been kept
informed of the unique business which 'Pinafore'
was doing in America, and our visit was prompted
by the notion that, as the authors of the piece, we
ought to profit by it. Meanwhile, we did not
trust to the ' Pinafore' opera to do us any mate-
rial monetary good in America; we determined
to produce our next opera in the States first and
in Great Britain afterwards. The Americans
acknowledged that the author had a right in his
unpublished work in the same way that he could
lay claim to his own personal apparel or any other
HIS LIFE STORY 137
form of property, and only lost his prerogative
after it had been published. So all we could do
was to follow the course I have indicated and
produce our piece in America first and get our
own company well under way before others
could bring out their imitations. With this object
in view we took with us the half-completed opera
of the ' Pirates of Penzance.' I had only com-
posed the second act, without the orchestration,
in England. Soon after my arrival in America
I wrote the first, and scored the whole opera.
We produced it at the Fifth Avenue Theatre on
New Year's Eve December 31, 1879."
No such stage management had been witnessed
or such music heard on the light opera stage
before. The whole piece was a revelation to the
theatrical world in America, and its success was
immediate and prodigious.
"Of course, at that time, there was no copyright
between the two countries, and so we were com-
pelled to retain possession of the whole work in
manuscript. To have stolen that from us would
have made the thief amenable under the common
law, but if we had published it, and had proceeded
against any thief who had made use of the opera,
138 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
we should have had to take action against him
under the statute law, and should have failed.
The moment any portion of the opera appeared in
print it was open to any one in the States either
to publish, produce, or do what he liked with it.
Apart, however, from the absence of interna-
tional copyright, the law concerning artistic ques-
tions was involved and uncertain, and in a very
unsatisfactory state altogether. Keeping the
libretto and music in manuscript did not settle
the difficulty, as it was held by some judges that
theatrical representation was tantamount to
publication, so that any member of the audience
who managed to take down the libretto in short-
hand, for instance, and succeeded in memorising
the music was quite at liberty to produce his
own version of it. This made matters exciting
for us, although the excitement was far from be-
ing a pleasant one. We kept a sharp look-out,
and if any one in the theatre was observed tak-
ing notes or anything of the kind the note-taker
was promptly turned out.
" Yet it very often happened, and many other
dodges were practiced. It is impossible to
memorise orchestration, and consequently some
HIS LIFE STORY 139
of the members of my orchestra were bribed to
hand over the band parts. Incidents of this sort
became of constant occurrence. I remember
that I was dining one night with Mr. Sam Barlow,
the George Lewis of New York, when my copy-
ist came from the theatre to see me, positively
livid with excitement. He had made the dis-
covery that one of the orchestra had been
offered a bribe of one hundred dollars if he
would supply the first violin part of the opera."
Here it may be well to interrupt the narrative
for a moment to explain to those unacquainted
with such technical matters that the " principal
first violin " part is the leader's part, and besides
containing the part for the first violin it has the
necessary cues to the rest of the orchestration,
so that the principal first violinist could conduct
from it if it were necessary.
" However, notwithstanding the absence of
copyright law, we did very well in America, as is
evinced by the fact that Stetson offered us ^5cxx>
down for the right to play the piece for a short
time in Boston, an offer which we declined, pre-
ferring to send our own company, and taking
the risk of making what we could out of it. We
i 4 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
sent out a great number of companies on the
road to different towns in the States. Some of
the tours showed a slight loss, and others a con-
siderable profit, and, taking it all round, we did
excellently well, more especially when one re-
members that our attempt to retain possession
of our own property involved us in a guerrilla
warfare. On the other hand, before producing
anything in America, it was necessary, in order
to comply with English copyright law, to have a
bogus performance in this country. This was
always carried out in some out-of-the-way village,
and arranged with great secrecy.
" Apart from the activity of the piratical peo-
ple of those days, I was most hospitably treated
everywhere, and I liked the American people
immensely.
" Meanwhile, in England, ' Pinafore ' had been
running all the time at the Opera Comique, and
when we came back to England in March (1880),
we put ' The Pirates of Penzance ' into re-
hearsal, and produced it at the Opera Comique.
Having had the cream out of America, so to
speak, the manuscript of the music and libretto
was put into the hands of the printer, and the
HIS LIFE STORY 141
opera was published. From that moment, of
course, the piece was free to be played through-
out America.
" With the subsequent operas, ' Patience,'
' lolanthe,' and so on, we tried all sorts of expe-
dients to preserve our own rights in our own
work. For example, it had been laid down in
the Massachusetts circuit the most important
legal circuit in the States and in accordance
with a very unfortunate precedent in the British
law of the time, that the pianoforte arrangement
of a work should be regarded as a separate copy-
right and a separate property. It was a ridicu-
lous and an indefensible notion, but, unfortu-
nately! it had been so decided in an important
case Boosey v. Cramer, on this side of the
water.
" However, we decided to act on the Ameri-
can judgment to which I have referred, and in-
duced an American citizen to come over here
from the States to make the pianoforte arrange-
ments of the score here, and by means of a sort
of silly fiction, I allowed him to use the vocal
parts of my opera as being part of his pianoforte
arrangement of the score. He then copyrighted,
i 4 2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
in his own name, the pianoforte arrangement of
my work, and it became his property, with the
private understanding that he should subsequent-
ly hand it to me for a small monetary considera-
tion. This was a very roundabout way of doing
business, but we thought that by this means, the
pianoforte and vocal parts being legally the
property of an American citizen, we should be
able to hold on to it." Nevertheless, the copy-
right in question was promptly infringed, and
when an injunction was sought, the judges in the
same circuit (Massachusetts) gave a verdict
against us, thus stultifying their own previous
decision. It seemed to be their opinion that a
free and independent American citizen ought
not to be robbed of his right of robbing some-
body else.
" We tried similar expedients with two or three
of the subsequent operas, but although the com-
panies we sent out had a great vogue in
America, the methods adopted for preservation
of copyright did not really pay, mainly owing to
the trouble and expense of the law-suits in which
we became involved in the effort to protect our
rights.
HIS LIFE STORY 143
"All we could do, as I have indicated, was to
send out our companies before the operas were
published, and to refrain from publishing in Great
Britain until after the operas had been produced
in America. As soon as the work was in print,
any action that we might take came under Statute
Law, but as long as it remained in manuscript the
action came under Common Law, and any one
attempting to deprive us of the manuscript was
no less amenable to the law than any other thief,
who, for example, might try to get hold of one's
purse or one's handkerchief.
" My second visit to the States was made in
1885, when I travelled alone, having no other
purpose than the settlement of some private
family affairs. This was just after ' The Mikado '
had come out in England, and we had the
inevitable law-suit in America in regard to it. It
was an important case, and our counsel, who
fought splendidly for us, is now the American
Ambassador in England Mr. Choate."
It should not go unrecorded here that in regard
to "The Mikado," Mr. D'Oyly Carte carried
through a counter-movement against the would-
be pirate on the other side of the water. It was
144 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
an effort which must be almost unique in theat-
rical history.
I have had a fairly full account of it given to
me from different sources, but I doubt if I can do
better than quote the explanation given by an
American paper at the time, as the report is
sufficiently detailed and absolutely accurate. It
is not often that such a romantic element is
imported into the business side of theatrical
enterprise.
"The English public," remarked the paper in
question, ''has heard a good deal about the
local warfare which has been waged over ' The
Mikado ' in America. Some may remember that
afterthe enormous success of the opera in London
two American managers entered into treaty with
Mr. D'Oyly Carte for the production of the piece in
New York. These were Mr. Stetson, of the Fifth
Avenue Theatre, and Mr. Duff, of The Standard.
Mr. Carte finally closed with Mr. Stetson, and,
annoyed by the success of his rival, Mr. Duff
resolved to pirate the piece and to play it in New
York in advance of Mr. Carte, and, of course, in
advance of the author and composer. Then com-
menced a campaign between the English and
HIS LIFE STORY 145
American managers. Mr. Carte had arranged to
produce 'The Mikado' at the Fifth Avenue
Theatre about the middle of October (1885), but
when he ascertained that it was Mr. Duff's inten-
tion to forestall him by beginning his unauthorised
performance in August Mr. Carte decided to steal
a march on his opponent by placing all possible
impediments in the way of carrying out his
scheme, and by so arranging his own plans that
the first performance of ' The Mikado' which the
New Yorkers witnessed should be the genuine
and authorised one. Mr. Duff had the advantage
in commencing hostilities of being on the scene of
action in New York, whereas Mr. Carte was well
aware that if he made preparations to take his
artists over to America the fact would at once be
cabled to Mr. Duff in New York, who would then
have about ten days' start in bringing out the
opera with his own company. It was obvious
that the expedition must be organised secretly,
and what the difficulties were in the way of such a
course any one can imagine who reflects on the
number of different persons who have to be taken
into confidence before a large opera company can
be got together and made ready to start for a
i 4 6
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
foreign shore. At this juncture of affairs Mr.
Carte discovered that Mr. Duff was attempting to
obtain in London Japanese costumes in imitation
of those used at the Savoy Theatre, so Mr.
Carte immediately proceeded to buy up all the
Japanese costumes of any value in London and
also in Paris. Several hundred costly costumes
were bought up in this way, but they could easily
be utilised for the various companies in England,
Australia, and America.
" All the members of the company were re-
hearsed under the impression that they were
destined to start on a tour in the English prov-
inces, but one day Mr. Carte privately requested
them to assemble at the Savoy Theatre. Here
he addressed them in a body, told them the whole
story of Mr. Duff's proposed piracy, and finally
told them that it was impossible to rely on the
protection of American law in the matter, in the
absence of any international Copyright Act; the
only practical plan was to get the play, company,
costumes, &c., out to New York so secretly that
no information of his intentions could reach the
city before their arrival. They would have to
sail in two days.
HIS LIFE STORY 147
"The company left London on August 7 by
midnight train and reached Liverpool in the
early morning ! They breakfasted together at a
small commercial hotel where none of them were
known and were then conveyed by special tug to
the Cunard s. s. Aurania. She was to start that
afternoon and when the passenger tender was
seen approaching all the company retired to their
cabins and shut themselves in, so that they might
not be seen and recognised by any persons who
were coming out to bid farewell to their friends.
The berths of the members of the company were
all booked under fictitious names, and Mr. Carte
was entered on the ship's books as Mr. Henry
Chapman. On the arrival of the vessel in New
York harbour, Mr. Carte's agent came out to
meet it with the pleasing information that nothing
was yet known about it in New York. Great
was the consternation of Mr. Duff when it became
known that the enemy, supposed to be three
thousand miles away, was actually in the citadel.
The outcome of this strategic movement was a
complete defeat for Mr. Duff, as ' The Mikado '
company drew all the city to the first night
performance, whilst Mr. Duff's company had
i 4 8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
hardly begun their preliminary rehearsals. The
success of ' The Mikado,' produced at the Fifth
Avenue on August 19, was immediate and
triumphant."
" It was on the occasion of my second visit,"
Sir Arthur tells me, amused at the recollection,
" that I was compelled to slip out of the States
to avoid being arrested! Merely to annoy me,
and not because there was the slightest excuse
for requiring my testimony, a ne exeat order had
been issued against me to secure me as a witness.
This would have necessitated my remaining in
the country for some time. It would have proved
exceedingly awkward for me to have remained
longer in the States, dawdling about doing
nothing. Of course it was their intention to
give me this inconvenience. However, as it
had been given out that I intended leaving
by a certain Cunard steamer which was being
watched, I slipped away by a German Lloyd
steamer the day before."
Harking back to the occasion of his first visit
to America, Sir Arthur continues: " I ought to
add that, while we were there, the Americans
whom we met were exceedingly kind and made
HIS LIFE STORY 149
a great deal of us personally. While I was there
in 1879 I conducted a performance of my
oratorio, ' The Prodigal Son/ at Boston, at the
invitation of their oldest and best society, the
Handel and Haydn Society, the equivalent to
our Sacred Harmonic Society over here.
" At Baltimore they were good enough to ask
me to conduct a complimentary concert consist-
ing of a selection from my own works, and I re-
member that it was in the course of that concert
that a cablegram was handed to me offering me
the conductorship of the Leeds Festival."
" Speaking of my own experience of orches-
tras in the States, they certainly did very well. I
found that in the personnel of the orchestras the
German element largely preponderated, the
balance being almost entirely made up of bands-
men who had deserted from the British army.
The German element was so strong, however,
that I found it necessary at the rehearsals to
speak to the orchestra in German.
" Your question about the standard of excel-
lence attained by the orchestras in America re-
minds me of the one big game of bluff which I
perpetrated. We had been rehearsing ' The Pi-
i 5 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
rates,' and it was but two or three days before
the performance that the whole band went ' on
strike.' They explained that the music was not
ordinary operetta music, but more like grand
opera. Perhaps it is necessary to explain that their
method is to charge according to scale, so much
per week for entr'acte music, with an ascending
scale for operetta, and so on. Had they made
their complaint earlier no doubt matters could
have been arranged satisfactorily, but their going
' on strike ' for higher salaries at the very last
moment in this way appealed to me as being a
very mean thing to do. Under these circum-
stances I felt there was nothing for it but to
grapple as best I could with the emergency. I
called the band together and told them that I
was much flattered by the compliment they had
paid to my music, but I declined to submit to
their demands. I went on to say that the con-
certs at Covent Garden which I conducted had
just been concluded, and the orchestra there,
which was the finest in England, had very little
to do before the opera season began, and that I
was certain that, on receiving a cable to that ef-
fect, they would come over to America to oblige
HIS LIFE STORY 151
me for little more than their expenses. In the
meantime I told them I should go on with the
opera, playing the pianoforte myself, with my
friend Mr. Alfred Cellier at the harmonium, and
that when the Covent Garden orchestra did
come, we should have a very much finer band
than we could get in New York.
" Then I went to my friend, the manager of
the New York Herald, and asked him to write an
article in the shape of an interview with me on
the subject, which he did, and I launched out
freely with my opinions. The upshot of it all
was that the band gave in, and everything went
along smoothly. Of course, the idea of getting
the Covent Garden band over was hardly less
absurd than the ludicrous idea of using the piano-
forte and harmonium in a big theatre, but, fortu-
nately, public opinion was with me, and my one
game of bluff met with entire success.
" I was much struck with the casual way many
matters seemed to be done in the out-of-the-way
States. One day, when I had been wandering
about in the mountains, I drove up to a place
where there was a little station, and I said to the
darky porter, ' When does the next train go to
152 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Sacramento?' Judge of my astonishment when
he replied, ' Waal, there is a train that is apt to
pass here at about 6.30.'
" I found America in '79 very much what
England probably was sixty years ago. Away
from the more intellectual centres one would
have described the disposition and attitude of
mind of the American people as being 'provin-
cial.' I am speaking of America twenty years
ago, and of course that nation has made great
strides since that time. It was a significant and
unpleasant fact that all artists were looked at
askance. An artist had no social position at all
in New York, and I think this especially applied
to the musician.
" It is hardly worth while mentioning it now,
perhaps, as American views on the subject have
changed so completely, but as an instance of what
I mean, I remember that, on one occasion, hav-
ing accepted an invitation to dine one night atone
of the best houses in New York, there was one
vacant chair. It should have been occupied by a
woman who was noted for her good looks and her
good social position. I afterwards discovered that
her husband had prevailed upon her not to dine
HIS LIFE STORY 153
with us, as there was a distinguished Professor
of Music with us. He thought it was so curious
that she should be asked to sit down to the same
table with a musician! If I remember rightly,
he was a prosperous watchmaker in Broadway.
" Music in America in '79 was in a very back-
ward state in many important respects. When I
went over there in '85 a great change had taken
place, and everywhere much greater consideration
was shown to music and to musicians."
CHAPTER VIII
THE MOST POPULAR OPERA
(1878-1885)
" lolanthe " " Princess Ida " " Patience " "The
Mikado" His Mother Dies Knighthood " The Golden
Legend " Visits Salt Lake City.
IN the beginning of 1878 Sullivan was ap-
pointed Royal Commissioner for music at
the Paris Exhibition. An allusion to this
is made in a letter to his mother from Nice, dated
January 16: "I got the following telegram last
night from Owen, Secretary to the British Com-
mission ' Conference finally settling every ques-
tion meets for last time on Saturday. Have been
most urgently requested by the French Govern-
ment and whole Commission to desire your pres-
ence Saturday. Urgently necessary or would
not disturb you. Whole of our part of musical
arrangements finally compromised by your ab-
sence.' To this I replied that I would go, and
so I must leave my beautiful sunshine, and lovely
flowers, and travel twenty-two hours into the cold
HIS LIFE STORY 155
again." Four days later writing to another
relative he says : " Yesterday was the meeting of
the Musical Commission, which lasted two hours
and a half. I prepared my proposition and threw
abombshell into their midst they were staggered ,
and they called another meeting to-morrow morn-
ing to consider the question. I have said that if
they didn't agree to my request /, as the repre-
sentative of England (!), will withdraw from all
further participation in it and am writing to the
Prince of Wales now to tell him of the state of
affairs. I found these French beggars so awfully
selfish and I was glad to have a shot at them, so
to-morrow will see the result."
However, the "beggars" calmed down and
everything went smoothly. For his services in
connection with the Exhibition he received the
order of the Legion d'Honneur. More than this,
however, the Directors of the Paris Conservatoire
proposed the performance of his " In Memoriam "
Overture at one of their concerts. It was the
first occasion in the annals of the Conservatoire
that the work of an Englishman had formed part
of its programme.
In the April of the following year, 1879, "The
i 5 6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Pirates of Penzance" was produced at the Opera
Comique after having run for some time in New
York. It held the stage in London for nearly
four hundred nights, during which time, having
visited America as already recounted, Sullivan
wrote a sacred cantata for the Leeds Festival,
selecting Milman's poem " The Martyr of An-
tioch" for treatment.
In the following year, 1881, another opera was
produced at the Opera Comique, but was then
transplanted to the new theatre the Savoy, which
Mr. Carte had been building. Mr. D'Oyly Carte
had erected the new theatre solely for the presenta-
tion of the Gilbert-Sullivan operas. The active
theatre director could fairly claim that the new
theatre had been built on a spot possessing many
associations of historic interest, being close to
the Savoy Chapel, and in the precincts of the
Savoy, where stood formerly the Savoy Palace,
once inhabited by John of Gaunt and the Dukes
of Lancaster, and made memorable by the wars of
the Roses. On the old Savoy manor there was
at one time a theatre, and so the ancient name
was used as an appropriate title for the new build-
ing. The seating capacity of the Savoy is 1,292
HIS LIFE STORY 157
persons, and its inauguration was of the greater
interest in that it was the first time that the
attempt had been made to light any building
entirely by electricity. Nor in the manner of
decoration had Mr. Carte shown any lack of the
progressiveness so characteristic of him. Instead
of paintings of cherubim, muses, angels, and
mythological deities, the ornament consists en-
tirely of delicate plaster modelling designed in the
manner of the Italian Renaissance. The main
colour tones are white, yellow, and gold gold
used only for backgrounds or for large masses,
and not following what may be called for want
of a worse name the gingerbread school of
decorative art, in the guilding of relief work, or
modelling. I believe this was also one of the
first theatres which absolutely abolished the
absurd and irritating system of fees and gratui-
ties. The Savoy was opened on Monday,
October 10, 1 88 1, with the transplanted "Patience"
at its first-night production. Sir Arthur con-
ducted on that occasion, and at midnight changed
his clothes, went down to Norwich by midnight
train, and conducted the rehearsal of the Festival
at Norwich at ten o'clock in the morning, very
158 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
much to the surprise of everyone, who had been
reading the accounts in the morning papers of the
opening night at the Savoy.
In 1882 there is a gap in his correspondence,
for in that year, on May 27, aged seventy-one,
his mother died. It would be purposeless and
painful to dwell even for a moment upon what
this grievous loss meant to him. His father had
died at the very beginning of Arthur's career, but
the mother had lived to see her son become the
most successful, and in every way personally as
well as in regard to his work the most popular
composer of this country. Although the intimate
and affectionate intercourse which had always
existed between them made the loss so severe for
him, it was a sorrow with no bitterness in it, and
one which time would assuage. Success had
never in the least degree abated his love for
home, and his mother's fifteen years of widow-
hood had brought mother and son all the closer
together.
Under the circumstances it is not surprising
that at that time nothing of first-rate importance
appeared from his pen. " lolanthe " (1882) and
"Princess Ida" (1884) are amongst the least
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HIS LIFE STORY 159
appreciated of the operas. 1 If, however, the
public conceive that this falling-off implied that
the distinguished collaborateurs had come to the
end of their resources, the production of " The
Mikado" in 1885 provided a very strong re-
assurance on the point.
Meanwhile, in 1883, he had been knighted. It
is often argued nowadays that the honour of
knighthood is an empty one, because it is given
to the wealthy tradesman as well as to the man
who would be no less distinguished without it.
Yet one may suggest that in matters of this kind
1 1882, it may be remarked, is the darkest year of Sullivan's
history. On the very evening that he was to conduct the first-
night performance of " lolanthe, " information reached him that
all the savings of a lifetime had disappeared in the bankruptcy
of Cooper, Hall & Co., with whom all his securities and so forth
had been deposited. Nothing now remained of his fortune save
the few hundred pounds which he happened to have at his bank
at that moment. The popularity of all his work is well known.
The operas preceding this unfortunate year had alone been the
source of a big income, and he had never been an extravagant
man. In a moment the result of the work of a lifetime and of
continual economy had been swept away. Financially he was
now little better off than at the time when he was a student at
Leipzig. From the purely monetary point of view he had to make
a beginning once again. At the zenith of his career the outcome
of twenty-five years' success disappears as if at the behest of an
evil magician. It is a dark day, which leaves him poor indeed.
In the evening he conducts the first-night performance of
"lolanthe."
160 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
everything depends upon the services for which
this honour is given and the manner of the man
to whom it is given, and who, in so many cases,
gives an added dignity to the title. So long as
we are able to appreciate distinguished services
of any kind, on the field of battle or in civil life,
in the ranks of statesmanship or diplomacy, or
on the part of the musician, the artist, the
litterateur or the historian, it is only natural that
as a nation we should seek some way in which to
express our approval, and if the man is proud of
his order, or ribbon, or title, we can honour him
for the pride which he takes in it, and for his
enhancement of this mark of his country's
regard.
" lolanthe " had been received with no less
enthusiasm than its predecessors, and the fact
that any music at all could be applied to the
words of certain songs found in the libretto had
been a matter of surpise to those who, even by
this time, had scarcely become acquainted with
the composer's unique rhythmic facility. From
the musical point of view " lolanthe " is memor-
able for the charming duet, " None Shall Part
Us," and for the delightful ballad, " In Baby-
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HIS LIFE STORY 161
hood." The " early English " element which
Sullivan had so frequently and so happily intro-
duced into some of the operas is exemplified in
" lolanthe " by the song of the centurion in the
second act. Equally fine is the florid cadenza
sung by the same gallant soldier later on in the
piece. There is also the " Patter Song " for the
Lord Chancellor, in which, as in all work of a
similar character, Sir Arthur Sullivan has shown
himself quite incomparable. As a writer said at
the time: " Mr. Sullivan might have been con-
tent with mere chords of accompaniment, since
the audience in such cases listens only to the
words, but the orchestral part is one of singular
elaboration, beauty, and effect. We know noth-
ing better of its kind." " It has all the delicacy
of touch and felicitous fancy of Mendelssohn
when dealing with kindred themes."
Personally I am disposed to quarrel with the
frequently expressed view that Sullivan's music
should be allied to more "serious" subjects. To
quote one critic: " Abounding in charm of melody,
piquancy of rhythm, and instances of tender
grace and sentiment, his music ' is worthy of
more serious association.' " These remarks
i6a SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
are of course made by the way of compliment,
and, so far, well and good, but it has often oc-
curred to me that in these well-meaning refer-
ences the people who make them are assum-
ing too readily that what is called serious
work, as such, is important. Nor is there any
reason for suggesting that there is anything par-
ticularly precious about any form of art because
it appeals to the few. On the contrary, if a
work of art, be it book, music, or picture, is such
that it can never be popular, its unpopularity is
no more than an indication of its limitations.
The ballads of a nation better indicate its condi-
tion and tendency than its laws. Moreover,
there is not much temptation to write so-called
serious work in this country, and if there were,
there is no reason why any composer should
succumb to it at all events, to the extent of
ignoring the lighter vein. Fortunately, even in
this country, we are not always serious, and it
must be added that there is no public which wel-
comes good humour so readily. Indeed, not-
withstanding the pretentious declarations of
some of the professional critics, whose business
in life is to advise every artist to do something
HIS LIFE STORY 163
other than that which he wishes and the public
desires him to do, most of us are fully con-
scious that we owe a great debt of gratitude to
the man who materially aids us in that laughter-
loving spirit which is the best remedy or conso-
lation for the heart-ache and a thousand ills
which flesh is heir to. In more than one instance
I have observed the tendency to tackle big
schemes and adopt serious subjects, as a means
of justifying purely academic treatment and
feeble workmanship, while it is left to the man
of genius to deal with the lighter and more
familiar aspects of life, and to illumine his sub-
jects by the splendour of his own treatment.
The point of view, however, to which I have al-
luded finds expression in the quotation which I
shall make from the Musical Review of sixteen
years ago, and although the reference in this case
is not uncomplimentary, it is amusing to note
that the suggestion that he has " descended " to
opera, and should return to so-called serious
work, is based on the fact that he has been the
recipient of a knighthood! "To use a slightly
stale expression, Noblesse oblige, some things that
Mr. Arthur Sullivan may do, Sir Arthur Sullivan
i6 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ought not to do. In other words, it will look
rather more than odd to see announced in the
papers that a new comic opera is in preparation,
the book by Mr. W. S. Gilbert and the music by
Sir Arthur Sullivan. A musical knight can hardly
write shop ballads either; he must not dare to
soil his hands with anything less than an anthem
or a madrigal; oratorio, in which he has so con-
spicuously shone, and symphony, must now be
his line. Here is not only an opportunity, but a
positive obligation for him to return to the
sphere from which he has too long descended.
Again we would beg him to remember that he
alone of all his brother knights possesses youth
and strength, and, therefore, it is to him that we
look to wield the knightly sword to do battle
for the honour of English art. Let him, with all
his native activity and energy, with that scorn of
the doke far niente which characterises him, stand
forth as our champion and leader against all
foreign rivals, and arouse us thoroughly from
our present half-torpid condition. Let our mu-
sical daze be broken by our musical knight, and
that night prove the forerunner of brighter
days."
HIS LIFE STORY 165
The musical renaissance of Great Britain is part
of the history of the last thirty years. It must be
left to posterity to give it definition. How truly
that renaissance has been due to the genius of
Sullivan, and the fact that he has been able to
write, so to speak, coram populo, will be determin-
able when the historian is able to analyse im-
partially the work and influence of the men of this
generation, at a time when our present petty
jealousies and differences of opinion will have
been relegated to oblivion.
On March 14, 1885, was produced the most
popular of the Gilbert-Sullivan operas, "The
Mikado." It was a triumph on the par? of the
librettist and of the musician. While Sir Arthur
claims " The Yeoman of the Guard " as the best
of the operas from the musical point of view,
" The Mikado " is probably the most popular of
them all. Although it may be said that Gilbert
has never written a better libretto, in which regard
" The Mikado " is a powerful contrast to its im-
mediate predecessor, " Princess Ida "(1884), which
I imagine to be the least effective of the operas,
certainly neither librettist nor musician has ever
been more captivating than in this delightful
166 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
travesty of Japan. To name the choice things
in the opera would be to mention everything in
it. Such songs as "A Wandering Minstrel I,"
"The Sun Whose Rays," "Three Little Maids
from School are We," will never lose their
vitality.
Meanwhile, Sullivan had accepted the con-
ductorship of the Philharmonic Society, and in
the January of '86 we find him taking the chair
at the annual dinner of the members of the Bir-
mingham Clef Club, of which he was President.
It was in the speech which he then made that he
let loose upon the world a little anecdote which
has travelled so far, and been so bruited about,
that I should hesitate to use it again were it not for
the pleasure of rendering it accurately: " Well, I
have travelled far and seen considerable," he said
in allusion to a reference he had already made,
" and some of my experiences have been very
curious. Amongst them was one I will relate to
you if you will permit me, in which arose a most
curious case of mistaken identity, more or less
gratifying to me as a musician. I was travelling
on a stage in rather a wild part of California and
arrived at a mining camp, where we had to get
HIS LIFE STORY 167
down for refreshments. As we drove up, the
driver said, ' They are expecting you here,
Mr. Sullivan.' I was much pleased, and when
I reached the place I came across a knot of
prominent citizens at the whisky store. The
foremost of them came up to a big burly man
by my side and said, ' Are you Mr. Sullivan ? '
The man said, ' No ! ' and pointed to me. The
citizen looked at me rather contemptuously, and
after a while said, 'Why, how much do you
weigh ? ' I thought this was a curious method
of testing the power of a composer, but I at once
answered, ' About one hundred and sixty-two
pounds. ' ' Well,' said the man, ' that's odd to
me, anyhow. Do you mean to say that you gave
fits to John S. Blackmore down in Kansas City?'
I said, ' No, I did not give him fits.' He then
said, ' Well, who are you ? ' I replied, ' My name
is Sullivan.' ' Ain't you John L. Sullivan, the
slogger ? ' I disclaimed all title to that and told
him I was Arthur Sullivan. 4 Oh, Arthur Sulli-
van ! ' he said. ' Are you the man as put " Pina-
fore " together ? ' rather a gratifying way of de-
scribing my composition. I said 'Yes.' 'Well,'
returned the citizen, ' I am sorry you ain't John
i68 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Sullivan, but still I am glad to see you anyway
let's have a drink.' "
It was in '86 that the bold experiment was
made of producing the " Mikado " in Berlin. It
was performed by one of the English companies
which had been on tour in America. It was an
experiment which was fully justified. The semi-
official North German Gazette wrote : "At the
very outset we were surprised by the pretty
scenery and the truly blinding splendour of the
dresses, as well as by the easy grace of all who
took part in the play. Not only are the solo
singers excellent performers, but the inferior
members of the choir do their work artistically.
We are conscious of entertaining a very pro-
nounced predilection for all our home products,
but we scruple not to confess that, as a perform-
ance, 'The Mikado' surpasses all our operettas.
And were it not for the fact that the English
dialogue, after all, must remain unintelligible to the
bulk of the audience, and thus hamper their ap-
preciation of the piece, their delight in the treat
which is offered them would be greater still. The
music is effective all through, and even comprises
some delicate masterpieces."
HIS LIFE STORY 169
One of Sullivan's finest and most memorable
works, " The Golden Legend," was produced at
the Leeds Festival, October 16, '86. The effect
of the work upon the feelings of the audience
was immediate and tremendous, from the time
of the splendidly descriptive introductory num-
ber, in which the roaring of the tempest, the
clang of the cathedral bells, the defiant shouts
of the demon, and the answering voices of the
spirits of the air are blended with such striking
effect, to the no less magnificent chorus which
closes the work. Then the pent-up enthusiasm
of the vast assemblage burst forth like a torrent.
Cheer followed cheer, and the whole audience
upstanding, handkerchiefs, books, or anything
else that was near at hand were waved aloft, and
the overpowered composer-conductor was sub-
jected to a bombardment of flowers which the
vocalists and ladies of the chorus showered upon
him.
In an article written by the musical critic of
The World, October 20, 1886, wherein the mu-
sical productions of the preceding week princi-
pally the various new compositions performed at
the Leeds Festival are dealt with in a manner
170 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
anything but enthusiastic, there is a reference to
" The Golden Legend " which I cannot forbear
quoting, including one or two somewhat tech-
nical allusions, which are, however, extremely
interesting.
" ' The Golden Legend,' about which I said a
few words last week, is, not only as the com-
poser, but as everybody who has heard it thinks,
one of the best works of Sullivan, and one of the
greatest creations we have had for many years.
Original, bold, inspiring, grand in conception, in
execution, in treatment, it is a composition
which will make an ' epoch ' and which will carry
the name of its composer higher on the wings of
fame and glory. The effect it produced at
rehearsal was enormous. The effect of the pub-
lic performance was unprecedented. I have
never to my remembrance found such unanimity
of opinion among the public, musicians, and the
press. The remark which was made a week
ago in a certain journal, that nobody can write a
cantata and an opera in six months is entirely
disproved by Sullivan, who, in that space of
time, wrote this great work and an opera which
in ten days may be rehearsed. From the begin-
HIS LIFE STORY 171
ning with a chord of the seventh, 1 in itself an
innovation, although not quite without prece-
dent, to the last note, it is an immense work in its
entirety and in its details, its creative power, and
its learning. It will go all over the Continent
and carry England's flag high, in that very
quality which so long and so unjustly has been
denied it, in music. The charm and the majesty
of the chorus, and the pure style of the unaccom-
panied choruses, sung with unexampled purity
to the end without flinching, would alone suffice
to make Sullivan the Mozart of England."
The unanimity of the critics concerning the
cantata was indeed surprising, but I have only
space for one more quotation from the Musical
World, October 23, 1886.
" Sir Arthur Sullivan in ' The Golden Legend '
has surpassed the expectations of his most
ardent admirers, and his success has pleased
1 In sacred music, beginning with a seventh is, of course,
without precedent, for the obvious reason of unprepared disson-
ance. In secular music I know only of a concerto by Moscheles
which begins so, and the overture to "Masaniello," which begins
with a diminished seventh. Playing the first notes on bells is
done in V. Masse's overture to his "Les Noces de Jeannette,"
which begins with the merry wedding bells G E F,
G E F.
172 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
them, if possible, even more than himself. That
success has indeed relieved them from a some-
what awkward position. It was difficult for
them to claim a place in the foremost ranks of
the English school for the author of ' The Pirates
of Penzance,' or even 'The Martyr of Antioch,'
but the case of the author of ' The Golden
Legend ' rests on a very different basis."
In the July of 1885 he was at Los Angeles,
California, where he had been to assist in straight-
ening out some affairs which effected his young
nephews; and writing home to his secretary
(the late Mr. Smythe), he says: " At Salt Lake
City I sent for X., who was proud and delighted
to be my friend and guide. He took me about
everywhere and showed me the whole Mormon
organisation, their houses, families, &c. In the
evening we went out to bathe in the Lake
about eighteen miles from the City with hun-
dreds of other citizens. The water is so full of
salt and so bouyant, that you can hardly swim in
it your legs are always out of water. The next
day (Sunday) I went to the Mormon Tabernacle
to service. The hymn tune was my arrange-
ment of St. Anne's tune! They had a very fine
HIS LIFE STORY 173
organ, and I played upon it for an hour on Satur-
day. ... I saw all I could of San Francisco, in-
cluding the celebrated quarter Chinatown, and
should have enjoyed my stay there very much
but for the ceaseless and persistent manner in
which I was interviewed, called upon, followed,
and written to. From eight in the morning till
midnight I was never allowed to be alone. If I
happened to be in the hotel I couldn't say I
wasn't in; they would come right into the room,
or hang about outside until I made my appear-
ance; so on Friday I packed up my traps and
left, started at 3.30, and arrived here on Satur-
day at 1.30 . . . and there I stuck with this let-
ter .... the people are quieter now, but at first
their attention was oppressing. Morning, noon,
and night they would call and ask me what I
thought of their state a sort of welcome to
California."
CHAPTER IX
SIR ARTHUR'S FAVOURITE OPERA
(1886-1889)
" Ruddigore " " Yeoman of the Guard" Emperor and
Empress of Germany "The Gondoliers"
IT would seem as if the better and weaker of
the operas were destined to alternate.
"Princess Ida" preceded "The Mikado/'
which is followed by " Ruddigore," which then
gives place to that delightful work, " The Yeoman
of the Guard."
In " Ruddigore " we have the librettist at some-
thing less than his best. Even the title can
scarcely be considered a good example of Gil-
bertian felicity, and the subjects satirised had
become, at the time of the production of " Ruddi-
gore," somewhat old-fashioned and out of date.
As so often happens, many less important matters
went with the stream. The stage setting lacked
something in ingenuity. Incidentally it was a pity
that in what should have been an impressive scene
174
HIS LIFE STORY 175
where the ancestors step out of their pictures, the
portraits in question were simply drawn up from
the resting-places, and on the first night two of
them fell down on the stage. There is some
delightful music throughout the piece, but one has
to look for it more in such concerted numbers as
that which furnishes the music to the midnight
scene to which I have already alluded, as but
few songs in the piece have caught the ear of the
public.
There was much divergent criticism, but it was
left to the critic of the Sporting Times (January
29, 1887),. in a long review of about equal parts
of good nature and querulousness, to indite a
paragraph which was curiously prophetic. " I
scarcely dare venture on a moral, and even the
conclusion that I have formed in my own mind
probably will not be justified by events, for good-
ness only knows what space of time might be
occupied with advantage by revivals of the earlier
Gilbert-Sullivan operas. For something like ten
long years the public has been supplied by Sir
Arthur Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert with dramatic
farce that has differed in degree rather than in
sort. It is, therefore, just possible that the pub-
i;6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
lie taste has become vitiated ; the delicacies of
Mr. Gilbert's humour, however, are perhaps not
quite so nicely appreciated as heretofore, and
public appetite may be satiated with surplusage
of dainties, and the public constitution may re-
quire a pick-me-up. A real comic opera, dealing
with neither topsy-turveydom nor fairies, but a
genuine dramatic story, written with all Mr. W.
S. Gilbert's masterly power, and set to such
music as Sir Arthur Sullivan alone can compose,
would be a greater novelty and a more splendid
success than anything we are at all likely to see
during the present dramatic season."
It cannot often happen that the critic so surely
strikes the note of truth, for the " genuine dra-
matic story, written with all Mr. W. S. Gilbert's
masterly power and set to such music as Sir
Arthur Sullivan alone can compose," may fairly
be taken, I think, as an absolutely accurate,
although prophetic, description of " The Yeoman
of the Guard," which was produced in the follow-
ing year, 1888.
Here we have the genuine dramatic story of
such a nature and of such a musical setting that
I doubt if it can ever be surpassed in its own line.
HIS LIFE STORY 177
It has all the charm of sincerity, whilst there is
no lack of the quaint conceits and polished lyrics
which mark the master hand of our King of
Librettists. Here also Sullivan has fair scope
for his musical genius. Through the whole of
the piece there is nothing which is not of his
best. To mention the ballad of the Jester, " I
have a song to sing O," Fairfax's song, " Is life
a boon," and the ballad for Phebe, " Were I thy
bride," and the song, " When our gallant Norman
foes," with its refrain, " The screw may twist and
the rack may turn," is to recall work which is
not less masterly than fascinating. Sir Arthur
himself believes the " Yeoman of the Guard " to
be the best of the operas he has written.
" The Golden Legend " was performed at
the Royal Opera House in Berlin on March 27,
1887. This particular performance was un-
fortunate. In fact, the rendering was feeble
throughout.
Sir Arthur having been asked to conduct, the
house was crammed, and the Crown Prince,
Crown Princess, and the whole Royal Family, as
well as the Prince and Princess Christian, were
amongst the audience. The performers were
not equal to the task, and the best points of the
work could not be emphasised. Every one sym-
pathised with the composer. Worst of all the
heroine a German vocalist of some repute
seemed to have lost her voice for the occasion,
and all that remained for Sir Arthur's apprecia-
tion was the kindness of the audience on that
occasion. It was decided to give another per-
formance, and Sir Arthur was fortunate enough
to secure the services of Madame Albani for
the principal part. This second production,
which took place on the following Saturday,
April 3, was of so different a character that it
resulted in a complete reversal of opinion on the
part of the critics in Germany. Madame Albani
sang superbly, and created a furore in the
" Christe Eleison." She was enthusiastically
encored, and Sir Arthur Sullivan received an
absolute ovation at the conclusion of the per-
formance. An encore in works of this kind is
without precedent in that country.
I may here give my notes of a conversation
which I had with Sir Arthur on the subject, and
it will be noted that his account of the matter
includes his recollection of the Crown Prince and
HIS LIFE STORY 179
Princess (now Empress Frederick) and their
kindness to him.
" In April 1887 I went to superintend and con-
duct the performance of ' The Golden Legend ' in
Germany. Owing to various unfortunate circum-
stances the first performance was an execrable
one. They have no well organised choral socie-
ties in Berlin, such as exist in great numbers in
London. The solo singers were moderate, and
the principal soprano was a light soubrette from
the opera ! She was, of course, utterly unfitted
to sing the music in question, and for some cause
or other she could not manage to sing one note
properly at the actual performance. One might
have imagined her to be a bad amateur trying to
read the music at sight.
" The performance took place at the Royal
Opera House, where there was a very small and
racketty old organ, which was also unfortunate,
as the organ plays a very important part in ' The
Golden Legend.' I could get no bells for the
prologue, and through the personal efforts of the
Crown Princess we secured some large Chinese
gongs to try and represent the bells. Altogether
the performance was lamentable. However, I
ONTARIO
i8o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
determined not to be overcome in this way if I
could help it, and as Madame Albani was in
Holland at that time I telegraphed to her to
know if she could sing the work if I gave another
performance on the following Saturday. She
very kindly replied in the affirmative, and in spite
of the drawbacks that I have mentioned Madame
Albani sang the music so splendidly that the
entire work created quite a different impression.
" Both the Crown Prince and the Crown Prin-
cess were very good, and extremely kind and
sympathetic under the load of misfortune which
I had to contend with, and they were most help-
ful in every possible way. Although I was living
at an hotel they made me look upon their palace
as my home. I constantly spent the whole day
there, and it was then that I noted the first
symptoms of his terrible illness. One day I
drove out with them to the races at Charlotten-
burg. There was a cold wind blowing, and when
the Crown Prince was standing outside the Royal
Pavilion the Princess entreated him to go inside,
and then it was that I noticed the curious harsh-
ness in his voice which indicated the approaching
fatality.
ARTHUR STJT/LIVAIS"
-MINI. 44.
HIS LIFE STORY 181
" I have never met a man of greater charm of
manner. He gave me the notion of great
strength and extraordinary gentleness. Hisfund
of general information was both sound and recon-
dite, and he always had something interesting to
say, whether the conversation turned upon art,
literature, science, or politics, The Empress was
one of the most captivating women imaginable,
and of rare ability. If she had been compelled
to earn her own living she would have made her
mark, and been successful to a degree in almost
any professional vocation."
It was on October 19, 1888, that, as President
of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, Sir
Arthur Sullivan distributed the prizes to the stu-
dents in the Town Hall, Birmingham, and
delivered an address on music which I have
ventured to put on more permanent record by
reprinting it in a supplementary chapter.
Amongst Sir Arthur Sullivan's productions this
year was the incidental music to "Macbeth,"
written for the Lyceum and produced by Sir
(then Mr.) Henry Irving, December 29, 1888.
" The Gondoliers ; or, The King of Barataria,"
produced at the Savoy on December 7, 1889, was
i8a SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
destined to prove one of the most popular of the
operas, the librettist and the musician being at
their best, whilst the setting of the piece resem-
bles "The Mikado " and " The Yeoman of the
Guard," in the brilliancy of its colour and its gen-
eral effectiveness. Once more we are delighted
with Sullivan's musical wit, with an orchestration
of rare musicianly skill, individualised in this
instance by many delightful passages for the oboe
which is frequently and very happily employed
through the opera, whilst among the many beau-
tiful songs one may at least venture to claim per-
manence for that enchanting ditty, " Take a pair
of sparkling eyes." As compared to " The Yeo-
man of the Guard," the " Gondoliers" is rollick-
ing comedy as against melodrama. In regard to
the personnel of this first performance it should
be mentioned that the part of the heroine was
played by Miss Decima Moore, this being, at the
age of eighteen, her first appearance on the stage
Miss Geraldine Ulmar was the prima-donna. In
this piece Rutland Harrington returned to his
work at the Savoy. Mr. George Grossmith had
seceded from the Savoy and Mr. W. H. Denney
and Mr. Frank Wyatt were the new arrivals. Of
BARKSTON CAROENS.
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HIS LIFE STORY 183
course the librettist had the personality of the
cast in his mind when writing the opera, so that
the gap in the ranks caused by the absence of so
accomplished a comedian as George Grossmith
was scarcely noticeable. As "The Gondoliers"
contained no part which would have particularly
suited him, invidious comparisons were avoided,
and, as all play-goers know, the opera was a
tremendous success.
The musical critic of the Telegraph wrote
very much to the point when he said : " The
' Gondoliers ' conveys an impression of having
been written con amore. It is as spontaneous as
the light-hearted laughter of the sunny south and
as luminous as an Italian summer sky. On it
flows, adapting itself to every change of circum-
stance and sentiment, not less easily than a
streamlet conforms to the channel in which it
runs. And one can as clearly see to the bottom
as distinguish the bed of a mountain burn. It
gives us an exuberance of pure tune, never dis-
guised, but always, whether sentimental, joyous,
or humourous there is no less humour in the
music than in the words frank, openhearted and
free. Connoisseurs of the divine art may listen
to it witn nan-contemptuous toleration, out let
none of them carry away the idea that such songs
and concerted pieces are easily written because
of their transparent simplicity, stories of Ros-
sini's fluency to the contrary notwithstanding. It
is much less difficult to compose music that
nobody understands many people do it than
to give forth strains on which no shadow of
doubt ever falls. Equally true is it that for a
work like ' The Gondoliers,' the mere melodist
of first importance though he be does not suffice.
The trained and expert musician is hardly less
necessary for effects that colour the rhythmic
outline, and surround it with the embellishments
of an artistic fancy The happiest devices
of rhythm, the subtlest shades of inflection, and
the choicest effects of colour are lavished on the
score with unerring judgment, the result being
that the music fits into every fold and crease of
the subject. Let no one suppose, then, that,
while the general public is delighted, the musi-
cian can find nothing for his own special admira-
tion. No greater mistake is possible. He has
only to follow the orchestration in order to secure
an evening's enjoyment of the kind he loves. We
HIS LIFE STORY 185
have spoken of humour in the music. As to this
there is abundance, variously displayed, and
often with the quickness and subtlety of an
inspiration. Humour, we need not point out,
is to a composer an extremely valuable gift, and
nearly all the greatest masters had it. With
Haydn it overflowed, some of Mozart's pages
are a laugh, and even the sombre Beethoven
sometimes greets us, on paper, with a broad grin.
If valuable in general, it is absolutely essential
to a composer of comic opera. Sir Arthur Sulli-
van has it in a peculiarly delicate and insinuating
form, to which page after page in ' The Gondo-
liers ' bears convincing evidence. Leaving the
discussion of ingredients in the general effect, let
us indicate the all-pervading character of bright-
ness and unaffected delight. In the Venetian act
the exuberant life of the sunny land finds expres-
sion with Rossinian fulness and abandon, while in
the more delicate comedy scenes, our English
Auber could not be more piquant and charming
were he the famous Frenchman himself. By
way of exemplifying these remarks, we might go
through the numbers of the opera one by one,
but such a list may well be spared now that we
i86 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
have indicated features which, as everybody will
witness the opera, everybody will identify on his
own account."
The imitation of the old Italian opera of the
type of the end of the last century and the begin-
ning of the present, many of the peculiarities of
which are to be seen in the early operas of Ros-
sini, and in those of his predecessors, Jomelli,
Martini, Paesiello, Sarti, Salieri, and others of the
minor school of later Italian art, forms a subtlety
of musical humour which the musician can
thoroughly appreciate, and even those unac-
quainted with musical history can heartily enjoy.
Not alone in the reproduction of the peculiarities
of Italian music, operatic or popular, is the skill
of the composer exhibited. Of music of a more
modern character there is abundance songs
both serious and humorous, such as " When a
merry maiden marries," and " Thy wintry scorn
I nearly prize," in imitation of the Molloy and
popular ballad vein, some that are purely Sulli-
vanesque, patter songs of the model suggested in
" Pinafore," songs preceded by the time-hon-
oured " Chaunt," as it was called, which graced
such ditties as the " Fine old English gentleman,"
HIS LIFE STORY 187
or the " Conversation between the Monument
and St. Paul's," popular half a century ago, all of
which, however, are bright and lively, and
adorned with the skill that a perfect knowledge
of instrumental resources can bring. The quartett
" A right down royal Queen " is a marvellous
piece of merry music, and the other quartett,
" In contemplative fashion," where all the charac-
ters sing a quiet strain, relieved by outbursts of
alternate comment, and working to a strong
crescendo, followed by a calm return to the first
manner, although not altogether novel in design
as witness Haydn's trio " Maiden Fair " is
most original in treatment, and made an immense
hit.
"The Golden Legend," than which no musical
work has been more enthusiastically received in
this country, was the subject of a special " com-
mand" performance at the Albert Hall on May 8,
'88. In the August of that year it was one of the
items in the Birmingham Festival, the directors
of which thus took a leaf from the book of their
rivals at Leeds.
The letters which Sir Arthur wrote home
during this period from '86 to '89 inclusive
i88 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
were addressed to his secretary, the late Mr.
Smythe, and it is only to be expected that they
are less frequent than when he wrote home to his
mother; but amongst the points alluded to in them
there is one which, from my point of view as a
biographer, I think may very well be alluded to
here. Some paragraphs had appeared in the least
scrupulous part of the press which would have led
any one entirely unacquainted with the tempera-
ment and disposition of the composer to imagine
that he was a hardened gambler. Such paragraphs
scarcely call for contradiction, and the only protest
which Sir Arthur made about them is contained
in these private letters; and if I take up the ques-
tion now it is simply because a biographical work
is of even less value than it otherwise may be if
false statements are not corrected. In every detail
one is naturally anxious to correct false impres-
sions. It is the sole virtue of some people to try
and find faults in others. The rule is simple. If
you cannot discover the fault, invent it, and
plume yourself upon your good nature and your
accuracy.
February 18, 1888 (Monte Carlo), in response
apparently to Smythe's inquiry. "Alas! I have
HISLIFESTORY 189
not ' broken the bank ' here. They have had
slightly the better of me as yet, but as I don't
play much or high, they won't bring me to
grief !"
March i, '89, in the P.S. "I hear a great
deal of untrue rubbish is written about me in the
papers high gambling, etc. I did one day have
five louis on zero and it came up that has been
my most distinguished feat! It happens to others
hundreds of times daily, only their faces are not
so well known as mine. I wish the papers would
leave me alone and confine themselves to Mr.
Pigott!"
Monte Carlo, Ash Wednesday. "Between
ourselves I am bored to death down here. I can't
walk up and down hills, especially in the wet. I
am tired of the eternal gambling and the jargon
connected with it, and the people don't interest
me."
Central Hotel . . . April 7. "Of course, I don't
conduct the first night of 'The Mikado ' that
wouldn't be etiquette, but I shall rehearse the
company, and see how they are getting on, and
watch the impression. The Crown Prince and
Princess invited me to stay and go with them on
i 9 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Monday, so now I shall probably accept. Then
Tuesday is Princess Victoria's birthday, and she
has begged me so hard to remain for it, that if I
stay till Monday, I might as well stay a day
longer. Nothing will induce me to remain after
then. ... I have been longing for weeks to gee
home, and feel quite home-sick."
CHAPTER X
DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP
(1889-1898)
Sullivan and Gilbert Part Company " Haddon Hall"
' ' Utopia ' ' ' ' The Foresters ' ' ' ' The Chieftain " " The
Beauty Stone"
IT was during the run of the "Gondoliers" at
the Savoy that it began to be rumored that
the musician and the librettist who had now
collaborated so successfully for twenty-three years
had dissolved partnership. If one desired to do
so, it would serve no useful purpose to recount the
circumstances which preceded a disruption which
has been so much regretted by the public. It is,
indeed, a private and personal matter, and it is
therefore questionable whether there will ever be
any sufficient justification for a relation of the
incidents which preceded this dissolution of pro-
fessional partnership.
Gilbert subsequently wrote a piece which was
set to music by the late Alfred Cellier, and which
191
i 9 2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
was produced at another theatre. It was not
until 1892 that Sullivan wrote the music to a play
entitled " Haddon Hall," by Mr. Grundy, pro-
duced at the Savoy. It can hardly be said that
the libretto is inspiriting, and I fancy that many
of the lyrics must have somewhat offended Sir
Arthur's keen sense of rhythm. However that
may be, there are but few songs in " Haddon
Hall" which have achieved any great popularity,
and it is rather in the so-called " descriptive"
music and in the orchestration of the piece that
one has to look for Sullivan's best achievement.
Miss Lucile Hill took the part of the heroine,
and " Haddon Hall" was also responsible for the
introduction to the Savoy of Mr. Charles Ken-
ningham. Although Mr. Kenningham had but
a small part, he attracted no little attention by
reason of his remarkably fine tenor voice and
the exceptionally sympathetic quality of his ren-
dering.
In the following year 1893 after four years
of separation, it seemed as though there were to
be a renewal of the artistic partnership, but as a
matter of fact, owing to the same circumstances
which ruled on the previous occasion, this was to
HIS LIFE STORY 193
prove merely a temporary re-union. The result
of the renewed collaboration was " Utopia, Lim-
ited," produced at the Savoy on October 7, 1893.
In this piece Miss Nancy M'Intosh made her
debut. Mr. Walter Passmore, who had made his
first appearance at the Savoy in a piece entitled
"Jane Annie," created a very favourable impres-
sion in "Utopia," and has by this time estab-
lished himself as a permanent favourite. Al-
though his method seemed a little provincial at
first, he has developed into a finished comedian,
who has nothing to fear from comparison with
his predecessor, Mr. George Grossmith. More-
over, Mr. Passmore has one great qualification
which by no means necessarily appertains to
those who take part in light opera. He is a
first-rate musician.
For some time the opera drew crowded
houses. There seemed to be little lacking to
ensure success. To begin with, the popular col-
laborateurs had " made friends," and were once
more working in unison, so that, as a frivo-
lous journalist remarked, one felt that a "national
calamity " had been averted. No previous Savoy
production, although Mr. Carte had never been
i 9 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
behindhand in stage-setting, had been so lavishly
mounted. There was one thing lacking, how-
ever, which precludes one from ranking "Utopia,
Limited," amongst the best of the operas. The
libretto was, in effect, a repetition of much that
had gone before, and with regard to the music
there was but little which could be detached
from the rest of the piece and prove of perma-
nent interest to the free and independent vocal-
ist who is ever with us.
Meanwhile, Tennyson's " Foresters " had been
produced at Daly's Theatre, for which produc-
tion Sir Arthur Sullivan had composed the inci-
dental music. With regard to that music I need
do no more than quote the critic of The World
when he wrote that it is " by far the most beau-
tiful that he [Sullivan] has ever given to the
poetic and pastoral drama. His musical ode,
'To Sleep,' his forest songs, his manly English
carols, will live and endure long after the ' Wood-
land Masque,' as an acting play, is dead, buried,
and forgotten."
" The Chieftain " was produced at the Savoy
Theatre on Wednesday, December 12, 1894.
Although it is in part an adaptation of " The
HIS LIFE STORY 195
Contrabandists," written by Burnand and Sulli-
van twenty-seven years previously, there was a
good deal of new work in it. It could hardly be
said that Mr. Burnand was an adequate substi-
tute for Gilbert as librettist, and, indeed, through-
out the piece the fun strikes one as thin and
transparent; yet, on the other hand, it will be
admitted that many of the songs possessed the
true lyrical quality, and the musician is better
served in this respect, to my mind, than he has
been in some other instances, as, for example, in
" Haddon Hall " and " The Beauty Stone." It
was only to be expected that after such a lapse
of time the piece should seem a trifle antiquated
and somewhat musty in flavour. But "The
Chieftain" is redeemed by some of the extremely
felicitous composition of the sort that one has
learnt to expect from Sullivan. There is, indeed,
some of the best Sullivanesque throughout the
pieces, as, for example, the chorus of the gold-
washers, the lover's duet in school-French and
English, the song, " There is something in that,"
with its quartett refrain and the sestett for the
brigands " Be Mum."
Once again the collaborateurs worked to-
i 9 6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
gether in " The Grand Duke," which was pro-
duced at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, '96.
The primadonna on this occasion was Madame
Ilka von Palmay. The piece is memorable for
its wedding chorus, and for the vivacious dance
music which is interspersed throughout the
opera the madrigal, " Strange views some peo-
ple hold," and Julia's song, " Broken every prom-
ise plighted." It seems to have been generally
admitted that the music was the best feature of
"The Grand Duke," and I must confess per-
sonally that the libretto is often remorselessly
flat and commonplace. The humour of the
sausage-roll and the fun of hard-bake and
butter-scotch is far from inspiriting, and to say
as much is to imply that the libretto is by no
means in true Gilbertian vein. The free exer-
cise of the blue pencil would have proved
highly advantageous. In the music one finds
even greater mastery of technique than before,
but there is once again an absence of those
catchy melodies which, as in such works as "The
Mikado," " Pinafore," and " The Yeoman of the
Guard," have become permanently memorised
by the public.
ARTHUR SULLIVAN
HIS LIFE STORY 197
" The Grand Duke " was followed on May 25,
'97 by a revival of " The Yeoman of the
Guard."
Meanwhile Sir Arthur had composed the
music for a ballet, entitled "Victoria and Merrie
England," which was produced May 5 at the Al-
hambra. Here we find the musician at his best
in lighter vein, with his parody of the old English
music, a delicious mazourka, a graceful pas-de-
deux, and other dances and descriptive music
which haunt the ear.
On March 22, 1898, a revival performance of
"The Gondoliers" was initiated; and meanwhile
Sir Arthur was hard at work on a new opera, the
libretto of which had been written by Mr. Pinero
and Mr. Comyns Carr, produced on May 28,
1898. The production is of such recent occur-
rence that it is unnecessary to point out that
"The Beauty Stone" was a departure from
Savoy traditions. The central motive of this
musical drama was a delightful one, and I think
that some of the music in this work is among
the best that Sir Arthur has written. Undoubt-
edly the piece suffered much by the tender way
in which the superabundant dialogue was
198 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
treated. There is such a superfluity of words
that the dramatic significance of the play is often
lost sight of ; but I think it will be admitted that
wherever the composer has been given a chance
he has made excellent use of it, for what can be
more charming than the opening duet for the
old couple " Click, Clack." The " Invocation
to the Virgin," sung by the cripple girl, is, indeed,
beyond praise. It is a masterpiece of pure senti-
ment and restrained pathos. One may perhaps
add that it was exquisitely rendered by Miss
Ruth Vincent, who did excellent work through-
out the piece. It was, however, most unfortu-
nate, in view of the fact that the central interest
of the story is the love of Philip for Laine, that
the former should have been represented by an
American tenor, whose voice and stage presence
indicated nothing in justification of his selection
for the part.
The music of " The Beauty Stone " is not, in-
deed, of the kind which would be popular
amongst the makers of street organs, but it will
prove a fund of delight to the musician. It may
not be too much to hope that one day " The
Beauty Stone " may be revived, with about half
>i
4" ^ "A-
}
HIS LIFE STORY 199
the libretto ruthlessly cut away, and that the
heroine shall be supported by a tenor who will
not only be able to sing the music, but who will
possess the masculine presence which one is in-
clined to associate with the assumption of an
heroic character. Nor would it be necessary, in
such a case, to have one's ear offended by the
anachronism of transatlantic accent in the spoken
dialogue of a piece dealing with a period con-
siderably precedent to the discovery of America.
CHAPTER XI
OUR LACK OF PATRIOTISM IN MUSIC
THIS will of necessity be but a short chapter
and one might well wish that there were
no occasion to write it. The strange
lack of patriotism shown in musical matters in
this country is a subject about which unfortu-
nately a great deal might be written, but it is
better, perhaps, in putting the matter once again
before the public, and more especially before
those " having authority," to do so very briefly,
if forcibly.
It is a point which Sir Arthur has been good
enough to discuss with me more than once, but
on the occasion of our last conversation it
chanced that the Society of British Musicians
had just held a meeting at which this subject
had been ventilated, and when I commented
on this Sir Arthur rejoined, " Yes, the Society
200
'x
HIS LIFE STORY 201
of British Musicians is beginning to take up
this question now, but I have been fighting
this battle for the past twenty-five years. After
the Jubilee celebration, for instance, I wrote a
letter to The Times on the subject, signing my-
self ' A British Musician,' though I imagine that
its authorship was an open secret.
" In that long Jubilee procession, regiment
after regiment went by, home and colonial, and
one day I hope people will find it almost impossi-
ble to believe that not one British tune could be
heard. It was an occasion intended to be in
every way representative of the resources of the
British Empire, it was an occasion if it meant
anything of patriotism, but British music had
no representation whatever, its claims were en-
tirely ignored. No one will venture to suggest^
that the performance of foreign music exclusive-
ly on such an occasion was due to the fact that
there are not plenty ot gooct British tunes.
1 here are two departments of music in whfch
Great Britain is not excelled by any other |
country sacred music and stirring popular \
tunes. The Times gave my letter prominence, '
and bold type, but not a single musical paper \
he
202 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
in England had the courage to take up the
question, and no reply has been made to that
[letter."
One may fairly hope, however, in response to
Sir Arthur's remarks, that the question will no
longer be shirked, least of all by a press so free
and unfettered in its expression of opinion as
that of Great Britain, and while there can be no
such thing as insularity in matters of art, the
injury done to the musical profession and its
professors in this country by this strange lack of
patriotism is so serious, and is substantiated by
personal evidence of so overwhelming and com-
plete a character, that one may be pardoned for
feeling confident that the statements made in
this chapter will at least call for discussion, and
probably some attempt at contradiction by those
with whom responsibility rests.
I cannot do better than print the letter to The
Times in extenso, and it may be that this time
the musical press of this country will regard the
question of whether British musicians should or
should not be employed, and whether British
music should or should not be played, as being
worthy of some pointed discussion.
HIS LIFE STORY 203
From The Times, July 19, 1897:
MUSIC AND THE JUBILEE.
TO THE EDITOR OF The TtfftgS.
" SIR, The admirable article on the progress
of art during the present reign, which appeared in
your issue of last Saturday, bears witness to the
increased interest taken by the British public in
all artistic subjects. It seems to me also that the
increased development of national feeling in art
especially music is well worthy of remark.
" British music and musicians have gained an
amount of sympathy from the public, both here
and abroad, that was unthought of sixty years
ago. At that period an English name on a title-
page was almost sufficient at once to condemn the
composition.
"But this unfortunate and old-fashioned opinion
is apparently still held by our military authorities.
One would think that on such a thoroughly
national occasion as the Jubilee they would gladly
display some amount of national feeling in their
selection of music, but such was not the case.
" For instance, at the Review of Colonial
Troops held by the Prince of Wales at Bucking-
204
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ham Palace I noticed that the programme of the
Grenadier Guards was as follows:
March . " Under the Double Eagle " . Wagner
Overture . . , . "Zampa" .... Herold
Waltz .... " Weiner Reigen " . . . Gung'l
Selection . . " Orphee aux Enfers "... Offenbach
Waltz . . . " Immortellen" .... Gung'l
" The above might perhaps be an appropriate
selection of music for a military review in Berlin
or Paris, but it is not so apparent why such
pieces should be chosen to welcome our colonial
kinsmen to their Fatherland. I have examined
peveral other similar programmes, and find to my
istonishment that British music on these occa-
sions (with two or three exceptions) has been
)tally ignored, the preference in all cases having
beerf given to foreign productions.
p*ii
lave no idea of depreciating either German
or French military music; some of the marches
in particular are rich in melody and in accent-
are well harmonized and scored, and nearly all
have a go and swing which render them admira-
ble for military purposes ; nor am I so exclusive
as to wish that British music only should be per-
formed at British musical entertainments; but on
HIS LIFE STORY 205
great national occasions it is not unreasonable to
expect that the public should be reminded that
British tunes do exist. I know of nothing more
inspiriting than 'I'm Ninety-five,' 'The Girl I
Left Behind Me,' 'Hearts of Oak,' 'The British
Grenadiers,' and our whole rich collection of
Scotch, Irish, and Welsh national tunes; but
most of these, at the recent Jubilee celebration,
were conspicuous by their absence. Yet which
would be the most likely to touch the sentiment
of our home-coming brethren, such tunes as
' Home, Sweet Home ' and any of the above-
mentioned, or marches and waltzes with such
unfamiliar titles as ' Gruss an Bayern,' ' Au
Secours,' and 'Unter dem Fenster der Gelieb-
ten'?
" It is only in England that such an anomaly
would be possible. It is inconceivable that at a
national /// in Berlin the German military bands
should confine themselves to performing French
and Italian tunes, or that on a similar occasion in
Paris songs from the German Fatherland should
alone be heard.
" Our Royal Family, and especially the Prince
of Wales and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, have
2o6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
laboured for many years to foster and encourage
British musical art. One would naturally expect
that during the Jubilee the culminating point
in Her Majesty's Record Reign all our musicians
would have done their best to show that this
royal encouragement has not been thrown away;
but our military musical authorities, with a
unanimity and persistency worthy of a better
cause, seemed to have been determined to show
that no practical results have accrued from the
efforts made by our Royal Family on behalf of
British music.
"Apologising for the length of this letter,
which, I trust, may be excused on the ground of
patriotism and a jealous regard for my art, I
remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
"A BRITISH MUSICIAN.
July 17.
" For my own part," Sir Arthur continued, " I
think I may say I have done all that I could.
Some time ago I was asked to conduct a State
concert at short notice. I chose English singers
without exception. I could not put English
music exclusively into the programme, but I went
HIS LIFE STORY 207
as far as I could in that direction. I can assure
you that to dispense with the services of foreign
singers and foreign executants on such an occa-
sion in our own country is a novelty, but not a
word was written in any of our musical papers in
regard to the not unimportant fact that I had
given English artists a preference. I believe
that if I had been backed up at all in the efforts
which I have made with that end in view, there
would have been a great reform in the direction
of a decent patriotism in music.
" Can you imagine foreign artists being em-
ployed at a State concert in Paris or Berlin, or
conceive of French or German soldiers marching
to the strains of English tunes? It is not to be
thought of, but here we act as if England were I
without musicians or music. On such occasioQsJ
English music is almost entirely set on one side
and foreign stuff substituted. Now, as I have
already indicated, if there is one phase of music in
which we are pre-eminent it is Church music. Yet,
take the occasion of the service in memory of one
of our Royal Princesses. The piece sung was a
morbid anthem of Gounod's. In this matter I
have not been backed up by the Press, and even
2o8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
from my own profession I have had but little
support.
"This is by no means a matter of sentiment,
but one of the greatest concern to every English
musician. Every year we are educating young
men and women. We encourage them to take
musical honors and work hard with a view to
adopting music as a profession, and, having done
this, we refuse them anything like fair opportu-
nities, and close up the market. Sometimes my
table here is almost covered with letters from
men and women, without work and without
much hope of getting it, not because they are
incompetent, but because in musical matters it has
become a convention with us to give foreigners the
preference. The result of it all is that, at the pres-
ent moment our schools of music are turning out
highly-trained paupers. Personally I have suf-
fered nothing from this lack of patriotism, but I
wish I could believe that every other British
musician is equally fortunate. Every one must
have noticed that foreign conductors are accepted
here with open arms. English conductors are
comparatively few in number, but when the
foreign conductor returns to his own country,
HIS LIFE STORY 209
taking English money away with him, you will
find that he never reciprocates by performing an
English composer's music, nor can one be sur-
prised if his estimate of the ability of the aver-
age British musician is a modest one, for if we
thought much of our own musicians we should
no doubt give them a little encouragement."
In regard to Sir Arthur's reference to the
Press one exception must be made, and I am
shown a letter which he had written to the critic
in question, and from which I beg leave to quote.
" The few kindly words you said in print about
me the other day are, I think, the only public, or
rather published, testimony I have ever received
on behalf of the efforts I have made to advance
English music and English musicians. I have
been at it for years, and in that matter am now
thoroughly disheartened, for I have never had
the smallest help or encouragement from the
Press, or even from musicians themselves. The
latter are listless, indifferent ; the former either
absolutely neutral, or else actively favourable to
the foreigner. There is a strong party of ' Little
Englanders ' in music, who are deaf to the merits
of the Englishman and the defects of the
2 io SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
foreigner. There is a deal of nonsense
/talked about no nationality in art. That is very
well, but there is nationality in the artist, and if
you offer me two men of equal merit, I take the
one who is born and (probably) educated in Eng-
land.^ What is the use of founding scholarships
and educating hundreds of young people if you
shut all the doors against them when they are
ready to enter the world, by choosing the for-
eigner for everything ? When I have the oppor-
tunity of engaging an orchestra I think you will
find only Englishmen on the list, and yet I always
get a fine band. At the Leeds Festival I have
117 men in the orchestra, and every man is an
Englishman. Is my band at Leeds inferior in
material to that at Birmingham, or any other
great Festival ? "
I have discussed this very point with other
musicians, notably, for example, with Mr. Sims
Reeves, who told me as a curious instance of the
English prejudice against the English in music
that, after he had made his debut (some sixty
years ago), he received a number of letters
recommending him to adopt a foreign name, as
likely to prove helpful to him in his vocation !
HIS LIFE STORY 211
Our lack of patriotism in music is not a mat-
ter for mere academic discussion amongst those
who suffer from the effect of it. I found that
Mr. Sims Reeves could have given me many
personal instances of men and women which
could be added to the many more that Sir Arthur
Sullivan could have given me, as unfortunate
witnesses to an evil which one may be sanguine
enough to believe will be remedied eventually
by the force of public opinion, and that in this
way a better patriotism in music will soon be
made manifest.
CHAPTER XII
PERSONALITY AND METHODS OF WORK
THERE are many people who decry any
attempt on the part of the scribe to deal
with the purely personal. It is an attitude
which is more than justified in face of a vulgar
curiosity of the most insensate description. Those
who pander to this indefensible inquisitiveness
have attained depths of banality almost beyond
credence. As an extreme case one might in-
stance the fact that quite recently the editor of a
magazine has requested certain "celebrities " to
stand in a glutinous mixture so that their foot-
prints may be reproduced for an admiring public.
Surely impertinence can go no further. One
might regard this as quite an exceptional freak
on the part of the brilliant journalist who
engineered it were it not for the absurd triviali-
ties about people which confront one on every
side, and the feeble attempts at so-called personal
description, which, while conveying nothing in
212
HIS LIFE STORY 213
the shape of sound comment or good definition,
are often offensive to the unfortunate man or
woman referred to. On the other hand, I have
often found that an otherwise justifiable objec-
tion to the personal element in journalism and
literature has developed into a pose the poseur,
in this instance, holding views on what he may
term the maintenance of " personal privacy,"
which, if pushed to their logical conclusion and
carried into effect, would deprive us of not the
least interesting or least important part of our
literature, and relegate the names of many
eminent men and women to oblivion. Many
instances could be recalled of those whose person-
ality is remembered and whose influence is at the
present moment of a tangible character, whilst
though this does not apply to the subject of this
book they have left no permanent record in the
shape of achievement in science, letters, or art. If
there had been no Boswell there would be, at this
moment, no Dr. Johnson. Much might be said,
and very fairly, concerning the trivialities, the un-
pleasing subservience, and the quaint arrogancies,
of the good Mr. Boswell, but it would be a bold
man who would contend that Dr. Johnson is
2i 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
greatly appreciated as a litterateur, and that his
" Rasselas," his " Lives of the Poets," or his
"Dictionary" are widely read nowadays, or that
his works are destined to hold a permanent posi-
tion in literature. It is hardly safe to assume
that the artist is anxious to be disassociated from
his art, and while every insistence must be made
upon the dictates of good taste and discretion, it
is only natural more especially where we are
interested in work which we believe to be good,
which is certainly popular, and which is probably
destined to be permanent that we should feel a
corresponding interest in the worker. Indeed, I
think one need make no apology for wishing to
know all about the author or artist to whose work
one feels indebted. It is no small pleasure to us
when we find that his life and character bear out
what we have deduced from his work, our infor-
mation enhancing rather than interfering with
the ardour of our appreciation.
Nevertheless, anything worth having in the
shape of "personal description" demands the pen
of a Carlyle, perhaps with something less of his
acerbity; and having said this much, it is not to
be wondered at if I shrink from making any
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
IN 1898
HIS LIFE STORY 215
attempt in this direction, or even if I succeed in
entirely evading the issue. Moreover, in some
measure the endeavour would be superfluous, as
Sir Arthur is so well known to the public. It
may not be uninteresting, however, and may be
amusing, to see what outward seeming he has
borne to those who have essayed the task of
description.
At the end of a biographical article which
appeared in a weekly paper long years ago, there
is a paragraph which strikes me as piquant.
" As a singular fact, it may be added that Mr.
Sullivan is by no means demonstrative in the
concert-room. Strangely pale, the dead-white of
the forehead contrasting remarkably with the
black hair, worn low on the forehead, and per-
fectly self-possessed, he presents himself without
any expression of emotion or pleasure, does his
work, and goes again, without effort, excitement,
or apparent sense of his position."
This paragraph was published is 1871 just
twenty-eight years ago, and it is presumably too
late now to inquire what the writer implied by
the suggestion that Mr. Sullivan showed " no
sense of his position," or had his " position " been
2i6 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
more clear to him, what he would have been
expected to do under the circumstances; but all
who know Sir Arthur will appreciate the point
which the writer of the paragraph endeavoured
to make.
It has been my lot, as a mere item in the mod-
ern development of interview-journalism, to come
into contact with many men and women, eminent
in their respective professions, but I have never
met any one who excelled Sir Arthur Sullivan in
sincerity, whole-heartedness, and simplicity as
indicated in the sense of an entire absence of the
least jot or tittle of mannerism, affectation, or
ostentation. His entire absence of pose and
prejudice, his catholicity of taste and equitable
poise of temperament, must have been disappoint-
ing to those who regard any form of genius as
an abnormal development which implies a sort
of lop-sidedness, forgetful that extreme ability is
more often the outcome of mind and body work-
ing in splendid harmony than the growth of a
faculty to the exclusion of everything else, as if
it were an extraneous excrescence. Level-
headed and business-like to a degree, it is but
rarely, I imagine, that the possession of so much
HIS LIFE STORY 217
common sense to use that best-abused term is
allied to such extreme sensibility, true sympathy,
and healthy sentiment. I believe I shall not be
charged with sycophancy if I add that his strong
will, his definiteness of purpose, his dogged per-
sistence, have often been exercised in a manner
which does not fall short of heroism. Two or
three of his most popular operas have been written
in the brief intervals of acute suffering. On two
occasions during his long and arduous career the
accumulated returns of his work have disappeared
in a moment, but never has anything occurred to
shake his fortitude. The greatest success never
brought with it any arrogance or modification of
his views. Of course it pleased him, but it
brought no strange excitement with it, and so,
when on that eventful day in 1882, to which I
have already alluded, he discovered that if he had
been the most unsuccessful musician imaginable
he could hardly have been worse off, for he had
but a few sovereigns left in the world, there was
no sound of complaint, no alteration of demean-
our, and not the slightest abatement of the verve
and painstaking care with which he conducted
the first-night performance of " lolanthe " on the
2i8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
self-same evening of that extremely dark day.
This is, indeed, the temperament of the man
who, in the paragraph which I have quoted,
" does his work and goes again, without effort,
excitement, or apparent sense of his position," as
the ingenious journalist in question has phrased
it.
Perhaps I may absolve myself from sketching
physiognomical details, and in place of making
the attempt may be permitted to quote from an
article written some time ago:
" Of medium height, broad-shouldered, well-
built, Dr. Sullivan at once impresses you with a
sense of power. The expression of his face is
sympathetic, it has a touch of orientalism, is
dark, and the features are mobile. Black wavy
hair is brushed away from a compact intellectual
forehead. The eyes are dark, the nose is sensitive,
the jaw and chin indicate firmness and strength
of character. He is a man with whom you are
at home at once."
Here is a statement which will prove interest-
ing:
" My chief companion in the Academy was
Arthur Sullivan, now the famous operatic com-
HIS LIFE STORY 219
poser. Six years my junior, he came fresh from
the Chapel Royal, as merry and as mischievous a
boy as can well be imagined. Although a huge
favourite among the students, he was a sad thorn
in the side of some of the professors, and to
none more than Charles Lucas, the director of
the Academy orchestra. It was no unusual
thing at the rehearsal to hear at times the most
unearthly noise proceed from one instrument
and then the other, and the reason, therefore,
was usually summed up in Lucas' exclamation,
' Now, Sullivan, you are at it again,' which might
possibly have been further from the truth. Sulli-
van's mastery over orchestral irfstruments even
then, at fourteen years of age, was marvellous.
He played them all with apparent ease. In an-
swer to my inquiry where on earth had he acquired
his skill, he replied that from his babyhood he
had been a regular attendant at the rehearsals
conducted by his futher in the band-room of the
regiment of which he was bandmaster, and that
by constant practice and his father's teaching
he had gradually overcome all difficulties in this
direction. As a matter of fact, he was one of the
most gifted prodigies known to fame, and his
220 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
facility in every department was simply stupen-
dous. He could read anything at sight, play from
a formidable score, clearly distinguish and declare
any and all combinations of sounds even at the
very top of the piano, without seeing the notes
struck; and he acccomplished in the line of study
in five minutes what others could not succeed in
doing in five months. Let me add one word of
testimony to his excellent character as a man.
Although he and I are now separated by an al-
most impassable gulf, both socially and musically,
he is one of the best friends I have in the world;
and amid all the pressure of work, and, I regret
to say, under the burden of much sickness, he
continues to this day to write me the cheeriest
and kindest of letters, letters which are alike a
credit to his head and his heart. I happen to
know, too, that his goodness of heart and gener-
osity of disposition extend to the whole brother-
hood of musicians, and hundreds of the poorer
brethren have good cause to bless the name of
Arthur Seymour Sullivan."
The actual manual labour of musical composi-
tion is exceptionally hard; yet, although Sir Ar-
thur has certainly been extremely prolific, he has
o i
a g
o p
n g
3 I*
M B H
3 5
-
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a
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iH o
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33
E 3
E
HIS LIFE STORY 221
found time for many forms of physical exercise,
recreation, study, wide reading, and travel.
Shooting, fishing, boating, riding, and driving
have been amongst the outdoor exercises and
sport in which he has delighted, whilst indoors
he will take a hand at billiards, whist, or the old-
fashioned game of bezique. But reading and
fairly wide reading has provided his favourite
and most complete recreation. The works of
many German and French writers find an
honoured place on his shelves, together with a
wide range of English works, though, of course,
books dealing with musical history, biography,
and reminiscences have a special prominence.
More than once Sir Arthur has told me of his
antipathy to fiction of a morbid or decadent
character. It might be interesting to the authors
to mention the titles of some of the books of
which the first chapter more than sufficed, but
one must refrain, although with regret.
Thackeray, and Dickens, more especially, are
permanent and evergreen favourites, and, of
contemporaries, he misses nothing by Bret Harte,
Conan Doyle, Stanley Weyman, or Anthony
Hope. At the time of one of my last interviews
222 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
with Sir Arthur preparatory to the compilation
of this book I found that he was alternating the
latest volume of stories by Louis Becke with a
re-perusal of Stanley's " In Darkest Africa," and
Sir Arthur told me that the books of travel and
adventure have an increasing fascination for him.
" I often feel now that I can read nothing else
but books of travel," he told me; "and I am
reading every traveller's story that I can lay my
hands on. In fiction I must say that I do like
what I call healthy work," he adds vigorously,
"and when by any chance I come across some-
thing of the other sort, I find myself bored to
death if I try to read it, and cannot help specula-
ting upon the attitude of mind and the condition
of body of those writers who are willing to pro-
duce such nauseating and impotent stuff." And,
as I found myself so thoroughly in agreement with
him on this point that there was no room for
discussion, Sir Arthur went on to speak of the
perils and vicissitudes endured and the hardihood
evinced in Stanley's " long walk " through the
Dark Continent.
The description of the way in which Sir Arthur
Sullivan's compositions are written will form, I
HIS LIFE STORY 223
hope, not the least interesting part of this book.
To many who picture every composer as com-
pelled to sit at a piano, running his fingers over
the keys, seeking after inspiration, it will be
almost a shock to discover that, in this instance,
at all events, the composer handles nothing but
pen, ink, and paper.
" Of course the use of the piano," Sir Arthur
remarks, when discussing the subject, " would
limit me terribly, and as to the inspirational
theory, although I admit that sometimes a happy
phrase will occur to one quite unexpectedly
rather than as the result of any definite reason-
ing process, musical composition, like everything
else, is the outcome of hard work, and there is
really nothing speculative nor spasmodic about
it. Moreover, the happy thoughts which seem to
come to one only occur after hard work and
steady persistence. It will always happen that
one is better ready for work needing inventive-
ness at one time than at another. One day work
is hard and another day it is easy, but if I had
waited for inspiration I am afraid I should have
done nothing. The miner does not sit at the top
of the shaft waiting for the coal to come bubbling
224 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
up to the surface. One must go deep down and
work out every vein carefully."
Sir Arthur's methods would certainly seem to
be distinguishable from those of many composers
in two directions his insistence upon rhythm
before everything, and the extreme rapidity of
his work.
Referring more particularly to the famous
comic operas, to quote his own words:
" The first thing I have to decide upon is the
rhythm, and I arrange the rhythm before I come
to the question of melody. As an instance let us
take
"Were I thy bride,
Then all the world beside
Were not too wide
To hold my wealth of love
Were I thy bride !
" Upon thy breast
My loving head would rest,
As on her nest
The tender turtle-dove
Were I thy bride !
You will see that as far as the rhythm is con-
cerned, and quite apart from the unlimited pos-
sibilities of melody, there are a good many ways
of treating those words," and that I might not be
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HIS LIFE STORY 225
unconvinced Sir Arthur sat down at his table and
worked out the little exercises in rhythm, in the
form of dummy bars, reproduced in this chapter.
This essay in rhythm will be of interest to musi-
cians, and it will be seen that the rhythm given
last, as being that ultimately selected, is best
suited to the sentiment and construction of the
lines.
' You see that five out of six methods were
commonplace, and my first aim has always been
to get as much originality as possible in the
rhythm, approaching the question of melody
afterwards. Of course, melody may come before
rhythm with other composers, but it is not so with
me. If I feel that I cannot get the accent right
in any other way, I mark out the metre in dots
and dashes, and it is only after I have decided
the rhythm that I proceed to notation.
" My first work the jotting down of the
melodies I term 'sketches.' They are hiero-
glyphics which, possibly, would seem undecipher-
able. It is my musical shorthand, and, of course,
it means much to me. When I have finished
these sketches the creative part of my work is
completed. After that comes the orchestration,
226 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
which is, of course, a very essential part of the
whole work, and entails some severe manual
labour. Apart from getting into the swing of
composition, it is often an hour before my hand
is steady enough to shape the notes well and
with sufficient rapidity. When I have made a
beginning, however, I work very rapidly.
" You must remember that a piece of music
which will only take two minutes in actual per-
formance quick time may necessitate two or
three days' hard work in the mere manual labour
of orchestration, apart from the question of
composition. The literary man can avoid sheer
manual labour in a number of ways, but you can-
not dictate musical notation to a secretary.
Every note must be written in your own hand,
there is no other way of getting it done ; and
every opera means four or five hundred folio
pages of music, every crotchet and quaver of
which has to be written out by the composer.
Then, again, your ideas are pages and pages
ahead of your poor, over-worked fingers."
To carry on the description of the method of
work adopted for the operas, Sir Arthur con-
tinues :
HIS LIFE STORY 227
"When the 'sketch' is completed, which
means writing, rewriting, and alterations of
every description, the work is drawn out in so-
called ' skeleton score/ that is, with all the vocal
parts, rests for symphonies, &c., completed, but
without a note of accompaniment or instrumental
work of any kind, although, naturally, I have all
that in mind.
" Then the voice parts are written out by the
copyist, and the rehearsals begin. On those
occasions I vamp an accompaniment, or, in my
absence, the accompanist of the theatre does so.
It is not until the music has been thoroughly
learnt, and the rehearsals on the stage, with the
necessary action and 'business,' are well ad-
vanced, that I begin orchestration.
" As soon as the orchestration is finished, the
band parts are copied, two or three rehearsals of
the orchestra only are held, then the orchestra
and the voices together without any stage busi-
ness or action ; and, finally, three or four full
rehearsals of the complete work on the stage are
enough to prepare the work for presentation to
the public."
Meanwhile the full score has been taken in
228 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
hand, and from it an accompaniment for the
voice parts has been " reduced " for the piano,
so that the " words and music," that is to say,
music for the piano as an accompaniment to the
voice parts, is ready for the public simultaneously
with the production.
After a full-dress rehearsal to which the fa-
voured few are admitted comes the " first night,"
when, as on so many pleasant occasions, we have
had the privilege of seeing Sir Arthur conduct
the performance. Here the work of the com-
poser is completed. This is, I think, a faithful
description of the whole process, from the time
that the libretto is handed by the author to the
composer until the eventful night when the rap
on the desk of the composer's b&ton is the signal
for the overture which precedes the rise of the
curtain.
In regard to the rapidity with which much of
Sir Arthur's work has been accomplished I can-
not do better than quote some of the instances
referred to by Mr. Willeby in the little mono-
graph to which I have already alluded.
To go back to the extravaganza " Cox and
Box" (1866), as soon as the composer had re-
HIS LIFE STORY 229
ceived the manuscript from its author, Mr. F. C.
Burnand, he set to work on the music, and it was
performed several times in private ; but, as is his
wont to this day, he wrote out no accompani-
ment, preferring, when required, to extemporise
one himself. Some time afterwards it was ar-
ranged to perform the work at the Adelphi
Theatre.
Sullivan deferred writing the accompaniment
from week to week, from day to day, until the
very last week had arrived, and the performance
was announced for the following Saturday after-
noon. Up to the previous Monday evening not
a note for the orchestra had been written. On
that night he began to score, and finished two
numbers before going to bed. On the Thursday
evening two more had been completed and sent
to the copyist, so that on Friday evening, at
eight o'clock, when he sat down to work, there
were still five longish numbers to be scored, and
the parts to be copied. Then began the tug of
war. Two copyists were sent for, and as fast as
a sheet of score was completed by the composer,
the copyists in another room copied the parts.
Throughout the night they kept it up, until at
230 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
somewhere about seven in the morning Sullivan,
on going into the other room, found them both
fast asleep. He was in despair. A moment's
thought, however, decided him. One thing was
certain there was no time to score. There was
then but one alternative to orchestrate the re-
maining numbers in parts. This he did, and at
eleven in the morning all was finished, and at
twelve the piece was rehearsed.
What the achievement of a feat of this kind
means, the strain on the memory and the appli-
cation required, only a musician can fully realise.
But in this respect he is, at all events, in England,
unique. For rapidity of work Mr. Willeby
writes " he may have been equalled in the history
of music, but I do not think that he has been sur-
passed."
" Contrabandista," which followed "Cox and
Box," was composed, scored, and rehearsed with-
in sixteen days from the time tye-*eceived the
MS. libretto. The overture to '\Jplanthe '? was
begun at nine in the morning and finished at
seven the next morning. That to " The Yeoman
of the Guard " was composed and scored in twelve
hours, while the magnificent epilogue to " The
HIS LIFE STORY 231
Golden Legend," which for dignity, breadth, and
power stands out from amongst all of his choral
examples, was composed and scored within
twenty-four hours. Merely to write the number
of notes in such a composition as this would be
a feat to most men, but when all is perfection, as
it is here, it is nothing short of prodigious.
CHAPTER XIII
ANECDOTAL
In the Auction-room Thirty years afterwards Old
Church at Sandhurst Rev. Thomas Helmore and the
Boys Battle of the Alma Early Composition Sterndale
Bennett Bach's room at Leipzig Amateur Choral
Societies Gladstone and Disraeli Burnand and his book
Byron and Palgrave With the Duke of Edinburgh on
the Hercules The German Emperor Peterhof In
the Baltic Buffalo etiquette "The Mikado" plagiarised
in real life Water and Good Society The Gentlemanly
Guide Earthquake at Monte Carlo Coincidences
Tennyson Sullivan's Grand-parents and Napoleon I. at
St. Helena.
IT has been Sir Arthur Sullivan's habit when
writing an opera or other big work, to take
a house in the country for two or three
months, driven from London by the curse of
street music. Except for this chapter, this book
had been passed for the printer and made up into
pages by the time Sir Arthur had left town for
Wokingham, where he had taken a house, which,
at the time of writing the end of September
1899 he is now occupying while at work on
232
ANECDOTAL 233
his new opera for the Savoy Theatre. After
returning me the corrected proofs of that part of
the book dealing with facts, Sir Arthur was good
enough to invite me to spend a day with him at
his place at Wokingham in order that we might
have a final conversation in regard to this book.
Hence it happens that the many interesting
anecdotes which he told me after lunch, while we
were discussing tea and cigarettes on the lawn,
find their place, in fragmentary fashion, in this
supplementary chapter, instead of being inserted
in their proper sequence in the preceding chapters.
In order to make a virtue of necessity it may be
hinted that there are some who may prefer a
number of anecdotes put together by way of
dessert, after the more serious courses of the
meal which have preceded it, and those who
prefer a more methodical manner may perhaps
find it possible to excuse the inevitable.
" One of the earliest incidents which made an
impression upon me in childhood was that which
was known as the Frimley murder. Frimley was
a village about two miles from where we lived.
234 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Burglars had broken into the rectory in the
middle of the night, and in the course of the
struggle which ensued, shot at and killed the
rector, Mr. Holiest. My brother, who went to a
school close by there, when coming home in the
evening, noticed three strange men standing out-
side a little public-house, and as in those days
every face was known for miles round, he was
struck by their appearance, and as soon as he
arrived home, he told us that he had seen three
dreadful-looking men in the village. This was in
the late afternoon, and at the time he saw them
they must have been contemplating the burglary
which resulted in murder that night. The men
were brought to trial, and I think all three were
hanged, but the capture effected the discovery
and break-up of a considerable gang of burglars
and thieves.
" Subsequent to the murder an auction of the
household goods was held at the rectory, and I
went over with my mother to the sale. For
some reason or other we became separated for a
time, and not long afterwards an acquaintance
came up to my mother and said to her: ' Mrs.
Sullivan, do you know that your son is bidding
ANECDOTAL 235
in the auction-room ? ' I was about eight years of
age at the time. My mother hurried to the
auction-room and found that what her acquaint-
ance had told her was perfectly true. I had
already acquired a pair of leather hunting-
breeches, at eighteenpence, a flat candlestick
and a pair of snuffers which had taken my fancy,
and was then bidding for a sofa! Why I bid for
these things I have no idea. I should have been
swallowed up in the breeches, I had no use for flat
candlesticks, and I don't know who would have
found room for the sofa. I had no money, but
finding that some of the people were nodding
their heads and saying 4 Sixpence,' I did the
same, with the notion of acquiring something of
value. My mother acted promptly, and the
auctioneer was bound to take the things back, as
I was under age.
" It is a curious thing," Sir Arthur continues,
"that I came to write 'The Golden Legend'
in the house where I had lived as a child. I
was about three years of age when my father
went to Sandhurst, and we had rooms in the
college. A few years later when my brother
and I grew older we took two cottages in York
236 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Town, threw them into one, and lived there until
1858, when my father joined the staff at Kneller
Hall. Well, it was a curious coincidence that in
1886, when I wrote to some friends living in that
part, asking them to find me some quiet country
lodgings, so that I might peacefully write ' The
Golden Legend,' they took rooms for me in the
very house at York Town where I had lived
as a child. So it happened, quite without any
initiative of my own in the matter, that, thirty
years afterwards, I found myself doing my work
in the same house."
" Sometimes I used to go to Sunday afternoon
service at the old church at Sandhurst. The
church was old in every respect : old-fashioned,
high-backed, whitewashed pews, with a gallery at
one end of the church for the musicians. What
used to interest me most was the little ceremony
which the clerk performed so solemnly in regard
to the hymns. After he had, from his desk
underneath the pulpit, given out the hymn,
always selected from Tate and Brady's Psalter,
he would walk slowly and solemnly to the other
ANECDOTAL 237
end of the church, mount to the large empty
gallery by means of a ladder, and picking
up his clarionet, would lead the musical accom-
paniment, which consisted only of his own
instrument, the clarionet, a bassoon, and a
violoncello !
" I also remember going by coach from York
Town to London to see the Great Exhibition of
1851, and returning in the same manner. There
was no railway near us."
" I always recall my old master, the Rev.
Thomas Helmore, with affection and respect. I
was greatly influenced by his great idea of relying
upon the boys' sense of honour, and he certainly
did make us very conscientious in the perform-
ance of our work. We had to practise the music
for the Chapel Royal service every Saturday
morning for the following day. He would say to
us, ' Now, boys, if you get the music thoroughly
well done you may go as soon as you like.
There will be no need for you to stay in during
the afternoon.' I directed the practice of the
music, whilst my schoolfellow, Alfred Cellier,
238 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
played the accompaniments. It was, I think,
something to our credit and to the credit of
Helmore's manner of dealing with us, that with
the temptation of an afternoon's holiday in front
of us we never scamped anything, and on more
than one occasion, we stayed on well into the
late afternoon in order to get the music cor-
rectly. Nor did we have any assistance of any
kind. Helmore relied upon Cellier and myself.
" No, we never had any rehearsal of the Sunday
service with the men during the whole time I was
at the Chapel Royal. The actual service was the
only occasion that the boys and men sang the
music together.
"One day in 1854 Helmore came into the
schoolroom and said, ' Put away your books,
boys. I am going to give you the best lesson in
English history you have ever had.' He then sat
down, and, producing the Times newspaper from
his pocket, read us the account of the battle of
the Alma, described so graphically by my old
friend, Dr. W. H. Russell. Sometimes the tears
rolled down his cheeks, and down ours, too, as
he read the account of some of the daring deeds
and instances of heroism of our men at the
ANECDOTAL 239
battle of Alma. At that time the use of the
telegraph had not discounted beforehand the
interest in these brilliant letters."
" I remember singing for Sir Henry Bishop at
some benefit concerts which were organized for
him. Old John Braham came and heard me
sing, and praised me very much afterwards. He
was a very old man at the time, and had long
given up singing 'The Death of Nelson,' and
other similar songs, chronicling events which
took place in his own lifetime."
" I was always composing in those days.
Every spare moment I could get I utilized for it.
A short time ago I came across a four-part
madrigal in an old manuscript book perfectly
complete, and scribbled across it is, ' Written on
my bed at night in deadly fear lest Helmore
should come in and catch me.' "
'The instruction at the Royal Academy of
Music in those days was, perhaps, somewhat
24 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
desultory. ... I remember how we would wait
there for Sterndale Bennett from five o'clock
until seven in the evening, until the message
would come to ask us to kindly go up to his
house in Russell Place, and then, although he
was weary from teaching all day, he would give
us some interesting lessons, telling us his expe-
rience of intercourse with various great com-
posers. His wife was a most charming woman,
and when I was there late, she invariably made
me stay to supper with him. I must say that I
enjoyed these evenings immensely. There was
something very instructive and fascinating about
Bennett's personality. He was, however, bitterly
prejudiced against the new school as he called
it. He would not have a note of Schumann,
and as for Wagner, he was outside the pale of
criticism! Cipriani Potter was converted, and
became a blind worshipper of Schumann, but all
my efforts with Sterndale Bennett were inef-
fectual. My master for harmony and composi-
tion, Sir John Goss, was more eclectic in his
taste, and more open to conviction. I am
eternally grateful to him ; he had a wonderful
gift of part writing, and whatever facility I
ANECDOTAL 241
possess in this respect I owe entirely to his
teaching and influence."
" At Leipzig I frequently went to Hauptmann's
house for lessons in counterpoint, and took them
in the very room where Bach wrote all his great
works when in Leipzig, so you can imagine the
atmosphere of that room as being impregnated
with counterpoint and fugue.
"When I came back to England at that time
small choral societies which met at private houses
were much in vogue. I conducted many of these.
Sometimes we met at Mr. Gladstone's house in
Carlton House Terrace. Occasionally he took
part in the choruses. I had the honour on two
occasions," Sir Arthur adds smilingly, " of sing-
ing bass with him from the same copy. . . . Once
as the result of our continual practice a perform-
ance of * The Prodigal Son' was given at a lady's
house in Grosvenor Place. Of course all the
chorus were amateurs, and the principal parts
were taken by the more distinguished well-
known amateurs of the day. The house was
crowded. It was a hot night, and all the win-
242 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
dows were open. Our first mishap was that
when the lady (Mrs. Moulton 1 ) who was to sing
the soprano part arrived, she found the place so
crowded that she could not get up the stairs, so
went away, and her part was taken by another
lady who generously volunteered. The second
blot on the performance was that just as the
tenor was singing the pathetic solo, ' I will arise
and go to my father, and will say unto him,' he
was overpowered by the linkman's voice, who
bellowed : 4 Mrs. Johnson's carriage stops the
way.' It came in so appositely that the interrup-
tion proved too much for our gravity, and the
performance was very nearly temporarily sus-
pended."
The mention of Gladstone's name called up
another reminiscence which the reader may or
may not find illustrative of two types of character.
" I was dining at the late Baron Meyer de Roths-
child's," remarks Sir Arthur, " and Mr. Disraeli
was present. After the ladies had left the table
I found myself next to him, and the conversation
1 A celebrated amateur vocalist, now Countess Daneskiold.
ANECDOTAL 243
had become general : he turned to me with the
remark that the process of musical composition
had always been a matter of mystery to him, and
begged me to explain it. Of course I complied
to the best of my ability, telling him that when
the composer sat down to write, he could, as it
were, plainly hear and judge of the effect of
every note and every combination of notes men-
tally, without their being sounded, just as an
author hears the words he is writing, and so on,
and tried my best to talk well. At the end of it
Disraeli said to me : ' Well, it is still a wonder
to me, but you have made many things much
clearer to me than they were before.' Of course
I felt quite elated and very well pleased with
myself. Well, it happened that, a short time
after my chat with Disraeli, Mr. Gladstone in-
vited me to breakfast. We had not gone very
far with the breakfast when Mr. Gladstone put
precisely the same question to me. I set out to
give much the same reply that I had given Dis-
raeli, but I had not uttered six words before
Gladstone interrupted me and proceeded to
give an eloquent discourse on the subject of
musical composition. He was very animated,
244 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and it was very interesting. No doubt I could
not have told him so much about it myself, but
you can imagine which incident would best please
a young man."
* * * *
" Frank Burnand and I used to ride on horse-
back together two or three times a week. One
day, when we had got as far as Merton, his horse
stumbled and very nearly threw him, but after
getting off and walking a little way, he re-
mounted, only to find himself compelled to dis-
mount immediately, as the horse had gone dead
lame. ' Well, this is a nice thing! ' he said,
1 what am I to do ?' and good-humouredly ex-
claimed, ' Happy thought ! Walk ! ' and so he
went on enunciating all sorts of notions, preced-
ing each new suggestion with the exclamation,
' Happy thought !' This incident gave him the
idea of using the phrase for the brilliant series
of papers which became so deservedly popular."
* * * *
" Byron was constantly saying rather sharp
things. One night I was at the late Charles
Mathews' house, and amongst the amusements
ANECDOTAL 245
provided for the visitors was a raffle for penny
toys- You drew a paper, and, if successful, made
your selection. Palgrave Simpson, the dramatic
author, drew a prize, and said, in his finnicking
way ' Dear, dear me ! What shall I choose
amongst these?" Byron immediately took up a
penny sword, pulled it out of its sheath, and ex-
claimed, ' Take this, Palgrave : you need some-
thing that will draw,' which was rather hard upon
Palgrave, who had just perpetrated a dead
failure."
" One of my pleasantest recollections is a cruise
I had in 1881 on the Hercules. When the
Duke of Edinburgh was in command of the
Reserve Squadron he very kindly invited me to
go with him on his annual cruise in the Baltic.
This proved very interesting indeed. Kiel was
the first place we landed at. We were met by
Prince William of Prussia, now Emperor of Ger-
many, and his brother Prince Henry. The Duke
of Edinburgh presented me to Prince William,
who shook me cordially by the hand, and said
quoting ' H.M.S. Pinafore 1 'I think you polished
246 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
up the handle of the big front door, did you not,
Mr. Sullivan ?'
"From thence we went on to Copenhagen.
Here I was much impressed with the popularity
of the Royal Family and the homely way in which
they mixed with the people. We dined at the
Hermitage, one of the royal palaces situated a
little way outside Copenhagen. The windows
were wide open, the people walking about the
park and sometimes coming right up to the
windows, but they never stared in, and were
never guilty of the slightest shadow of disrespect
or inquisitiveness. The next evening was the oc-
casion of a great fete at the Tivoli Gardens. There
must have been about ten or twelve thousand
people there. The King and Queen did not go,
but the Crown Prince went with us and mixed
freely with everybody, and was subject to no awk-
ward attention of any sort. The King and Queen
of Denmark were the most kind and fascinating
people I have ever met.
"Afterwards we went on to St. Petersburg,
where we arrived shortly after that terrible
tragedy, the assassination of the Emperor. As it
was the dead season of the year there was no one
ANECDOTAL 24?
at St. Petersburg. The Emperor and Empress
were living at Peterhof, and so we the Duke of
Edinburgh and party stayed at Peterhof. The
Emperor and Empress lived in a villa close to us.
They could not stay in the palace because it could
not be surrounded by sentries. It was quite a
terrible business. Every few steps one took one
was met by a policeman, Cossack, or guard. I
had an official pass, written in Russian and with
a big seal attached to it, and I was told never to
go outside the door without it. The place was in
a state of ferment. The Emperor himself was
brave enough, but those about him would not let
him go out without, a strong guard to surround
him all the time.
" On our way back we were caught by a thick
fog in the Baltic which lasted for thirty hours.
During that time the Admiral was scarcely ever
absent from the bridge, and took no rest at all.
It was no small responsibility; ' Eight ironclads,
some thousands of lives, and a musical com-
poser !' to quote his Royal Highness' words."
* * * *
Speaking of his experiences with Gilbert in
248 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
America, Sir Arthur tells me : " Gilbert and I
arrived at Buffalo early one winter morning. We
went to a hotel, the Tifft House, and walked
upstairs to our rooms. We wanted the fires lit,
upon which the maid told us, with great dignity
and condescension, that 'the gentleman' allud-
ing to the colored servant would do that for us.
He did, but before he had finished the maid came
up again, and ejaculated, 'Either of you men got
any washing? the gentleman has called for it/
to which we replied, with delicate irony, ' When
this gentleman has finished lighting the fires he
will probably be kind enough to take the washing
down to the gentleman who is waiting to take it
away/ and then we subsided."
" When I was at Los Angeles a curious thing
had just occurred. It seems there was a little bit
of land between California and Mexico which, by
some accident, had been left out of the United
States survey. The result was that no one quite
knew who had jurisdiction, but there was one man
who was Judge, Sheriff, and Executioner, besides
being anything else that was considered requisite
ANECDOTAL 249
for the proper carrying out of the law. One day
a Mexican killed another man. There was no
doubt about it. He was brought up before our
friend of the multiple offices, who tried him
and sentenced him to death. Meanwhile there
was no likelihood of the man running away, so he
was left perfectly free, and told that his execution
would take place within three days of sentence.
When the day arrived, the Judge, being his own
Sheriff, went to look for him, and having found
him, said, 'Come along, Juan Baptisto! Time's
up!' But Juan was engaged in a very exciting
game of euchre, and asked the Judge for permis-
sion to finish the game. The Judge, being a bit
of a sportsman, acceded, and I am not sure that
he did not take a hand in it himself. As soon as
the game was over Juan declared himself ready,
and within a few minutes afterwards the Judge
and Sheriff satisfactorily performed his duty as
hangman." It should be added that " The
Mikado" had been produced some time before
this occurrence."
* * * *
" When in the train one day, travelling from
250
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Salt Lake City to Sacramento, while passing
through the great Alkali Desert, I remarked upon
it to another man in the carriage there were
only three of us and said, ' I suppose that's all
right in its way. It's a pity it can't be utilized? '
to which my friend replied, ' Yes, the soil is good
enough; plenty of water and good society would
make it a regular Paradise.' Then the other man,
who had been silent hitherto, said drily, pointing
his forefinger downwards, 'Yes, that's all the other
place wants!' "
"When we were at Naples, my travelling com-
panions and myself went outside the hotel, after
dinner, not quite knowing how best we could
spend the evening. In the porch of the hotel
we noticed a most dignified-looking gentleman in
black frock coat and tall hat, resembling an Eng-
lish clergyman in his dress and the gravity of his
appearance. Raising his hat, he said, ' Do you
want a guide? and told us that he knew every-
thing to be seen in the city or its environs. On
our replying ' No, not just at present/ he handed
us a card which (I suppress the real name) read
ANECDOTAL 251
as follows : ' Vermicelli Giovanni, Organisateur
de Menus Plaisirs, Napoli.' What a delicate
name for his real profession! "
* * * *
" I was at Monte Carlo when the earthquake
took place at 6:10 A.M. The hotel in which I
was staying suffered little damage, but it was
shaken severely. The effect of it was as if a
giant had taken hold of the house, shaken it,
then had paused to take breath, shaken it
again with a more rapid movement, and then
repeated the performance for the third time
with increased energy. Every one was running
about in night attire. We had several shocks
within the next two or three hours, and I had a
curious feeling of annoyance at being disturbed,
rather than fear. The next day all Monte
Carlo seemed to have turned out. The poorer
people had lit fires and camped out on the
grass, and when night came one could see
them there offering up prayers to the Virgin.
When a further shock came later in the morn-
ing, I was standing at a window of the hotel,
and seeing the trees swaying from side to
side made me feel actually sick, as if at sea."
252
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
"Some years ago there was a series of dis-
asters in the south of France, but very few have
noted the following extraordinary coincidences
in regard to it. The terrible railway accident
at Monte Carlo occurred on a Shrove Tuesday
evening. The next year, on Shrove Tuesday
evening, the theatre at Nice was burned down,
causing a fearful sacrifice of life; and again on
Shrove Tuesday in the third year came the
great earthquake in the Riviera."
* * * *
Sir Arthur is able to furnish me with some
information throwing an extremely interesting
side-light on history in regard to Napoleon I.,
as follows:
" My grandfather was born 1 26 years ago in
the county of Kerry. He was an impoverished
young Irish squire, much given to steeple-
chasing. One day he won a noteworthy steeple-
chase, and riding homewards he stopped at a
little village inn to celebrate the event. This
he did, as was the wine-bibbing custom in those
days, somewhat too freely. At that time every
able-bodied man was being pressed into the
Queen's service. There happened to be a re-
ANECDOTAL 253
cruiting-sergeant in the inn, who pressed the
Queen's shilling into my grandfather's hand.
The next morning when he awoke from his
heavy sleep he discovered that he had enlisted.
There was no help for it. Unfortunately he had
just married the handsome daughter of a well-
to-do farmer, but the farmer absolutely declined
to buy his discharge, and having no money
himself, there was nothing to be done but to
submit to the inevitable. He was immediately
ordered off for foreign service, and took part in
the Peninsular campaign, and behaved with dis-
tinction at Vittoria, Salamanca, and Badajos.
These engagements thinned out the regiment
so much that it was ordered home to the
depot.
" After the battle of Waterloo my grandfather
was ordered with a detachment of his regiment
to St. Helena, ar.d his wife accompanied him.
At first they lived in the regimental quarters
close to Longwood, where Napoleon lived,
and while there a child was born to my
grandmother. During her confinement one of
the soldiers was sentenced to receive twenty-
five lashes for being drunk on duty, but the
254 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
doctor declared that his cries would make my
grandmother very ill, so he was taken down
from the triangle, let off, and was eternally
grateful to my grandmother. Amongst Napo-
leon's companions were General Bertrand, the
Comte and Comtesse Montholon, faithful adher-
ents, who preferred to share their exile with
Napoleon, and there was also his valet, Las
Casas. The Comtesse Montholon was confined
about the same time as my grandmother, and
being very ill, could not nurse her child. My
grandmother, who was strong and healthy,
offered to nurse the child with her own, and
so removed to Longwood, where she and her
husband remained until Napoleon's death, and
my grandfather who was a man of superior
education for those days became, I believe,
paymaster of Napoleon's household. The chil-
dren were brought up together, and when the
little ones were old enough to toddle about,
Napoleon would make them the companions of
his daily walks, taking one child by each hand,
giving them cakes, sweets, etc., and he became
very much attached to them both. In the ordi-
nary way he contented himself with walking up
ANECDOTAL 255
and down the corridors. This was his only
exercise, for he never went outside Longwood
for fear of being pointed out or stared at.
" Napoleon complained bitterly of the harsh
behaviour of Sir Hudson Lowe, and of both the
quantity and quality of the food supplied, but his
complaints were in vain. By way of remedy, he
conceived the notion of breaking off the gold and
silver eagles from his covers and plates, which
my grandfather, who was devoted to him, used
to sell for him, in order to furnish necessaries
for the table. When this device was discovered
it would seem to have had some effect, for bet-
ter treatment followed.
"When Napoleon died on May 5, 1821 his
body was opened for embalming, and his heart
taken out and placed in a wash-hand basin in an
adjacent room, with a lamp on the table beside
it. Longwood was infested with rats, and fear-
ing the result of an incursion of these voracious
creatures, my grandfather volunteered to sit in
the room all through the night with an old
' Brown Bess ' in his hand and shoot the rats
when they came too near
" Sir Hudson Lowe, on his return to England,
256 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
lived a solitary life in an old-fashioned brick
house in Chelsea. The house stood in large
grounds, with tall trees giving shelter to hun-
dreds of rooks. To-day, house and trees have
disappeared to give place to palatial flats.* He
was in the habit of walking alone every after-
noon in the Park ; and returning one day through
Wilton Crescent, he was met by a man who
looked at him for a moment, and then produced
a heavy riding whip with which he lashed Sir
Hudson Lowe across the back two or three times,
and then disappeared. That man was Las
Casas, Napoleon's valet."
* * * *
" Read this," said Sir Arthur to me.
""' I remember poor Byron, Hobhouse, Trelaw-
ney, and myself dining with Cardinal Mezzocaldo
at Rome/ Captain Sumph began, ' and we had
some Orvieto wine for dinner which Byron liked
* The bouse stood just off Cadogan Terrace, and a few yards
east of it was a Roman Catholic chapel built by the Abb Voyaux de
Franoux, a French noble who escaped to England during the Reign
of Terror. He settled there and devoted his life to good works.
One day, on bearing that the Comte de Chambord was going there
to early service, his followers flocked to the spot in hundreds, and
literally stormed the building, leaping over seats and pews like a rush
ANECDOTAL 257
very much. And I remember how the Cardinal
regretted that he was a single man. We went
to Civita Vecchia two days afterwards, where
Byron's yacht was and, by Jove! the Cardinal
died within three weeks ; and Byron was very
sorry, for he rather liked him.'
" ' A devilish interesting story, Sumph, indeed,'
Wagg said. 'You should publish some of these
stories, Captain Sumph, you really should,' Shan-
don replied.' "
" Each time that I am temped to relate some
incident in my life that to me is of interest, the
above passage from Thackeray's immortal
1 Pendennis ' rises warningly before me. I feel
that I am Captain Sumph. Yet in spite of such
warnings the reminiscences will roll out.
" Who of us does not love to dwell on his asso-
ciation with the great ones who have left us? and
on the other hand, surely we love to hear of them
no matter how trifling the incident first hand,
direct from personal contact. I call to mind with
what awe I listened to Sterndale Bennett saying
into a theatre on Boxing Night, in order to catch a glimpse of their
beloved Prince. The Comte himself escaped the scrimmage by
being forcibly pulled in through a small door.
258 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
familiarly : ' When I was dining with Mendels-
sohn one day ' ; or to Moscheles saying : ' As
Beethoven and I were walking in the Graben,'
etc.; and to any one, in fact, who had spoken
with departed great statesmen, warriors, or
artists. There was a fascination in looking at
and speaking with such an one. And at those
times I could appreciate poor Captain Sumph
and should have loved to be with him.
" Here is a reminiscence worthy of the gallant
captain:
" The first time Tennyson came to dine at my
house, the door was opened to him by a parlour-
maid who had been with us many years and was
like one of the family. She was fairly staggered
by the appearance of the visitor, who, as will be
remembered, always wore a deep, broad-brimmed
black felt hat and a black cape or short cloak,
which made him look exactly like a conspirator
in an Italian or Spanish play. Our little party
consisted of Tennyson, Millais, Francis Byng
(now Earl of Strafford), myself, my mother and
another lady (Captain Sumph again!). We met
to discuss the proposed work in collaboration
which afterwards was published without Mil-
ANECDOTAL 259
lais' illustrations as 'The Window; or, the Loves
of the Wrens.' When the guests had departed,
Kate, the maid, said to me, " Was that really
the great poet, Master Arthur? [I was nearly
thirty!] Well! he do wear clothes! ' ' Of course,'
I replied with subtle irony, ' all poets do. Be-
sides/ I added, 'you forget that he is Poet-
Laureate.'
" She hadn't forgotten it, for she had never
known it. Then after a slight pause, she said
thoughtfully: ' What a queer uniform! '
" Now, I wonder if she imagined that Tenny-
son belonged to a brigade all dressed in the
same way.
" I long now to tell of my friendship and asso-
ciation with others besides Tennyson. Millais,
in whose studio I passed hours when a lad, and
who in after years had much difficulty in paint-
ing my portrait, and made me vow I would never
disclose the enormous number of sittings I gave
him for it; Leighton, who in his younger days
was fond of singing Italian songs and duets, and
who with Millais at my instigation first invited
musicians to the Royal Academy banquet, and
who there first introduced the toast of ' Music
2 6o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
and the Drama/ to which Irving and myself
responded; of Sir A. Cockburn and his love of
music how we frequently went to concerts to-
gether, and upon one occasion missed a Monday
Popular Concert altogether in consequence of
sitting until ten o'clock discussing some very fine
old port and the Tichborne case at the same
time. At one time this cause celebre absorbed his
thoughts and conversation entirely; and I re-
member at a dinner at his house, when some
distinguished foreigners were present, he gave a
complete resume of the case in French (which he
spoke perfectly his mother was French, I be-
lieve), lasting a couple of hours. Then Brown-
ing the very antithesis of Tennyson in every
respect; Fred Clay, one of the most gifted and
brilliant of men, and like a brother to me; ' Sim'
Egerton (the late Earl of Wilton), a born musical
conductor, who struggled manfully against the
disadvantages of birth, wealth, and position; and
Sir Frederic Ousely, whose musical genius met
with the same obstacles both these men would
have made a mark in the musical world if they
had had to work for their living. Apropos of
Ousely a humorous episode comes to my recol-
ANECDOTAL 261
lection. He was of a very gentle, shy nature,
and rather shunned mixing in society, but drawn
on the subject of music he became vivacious and
talkative. One Sunday evening he and I were
invited by ' Sim ' Egerton to dine at mess with
the Life Guards: his natural reserve and hesita-
tion with regard to a Sunday dinner were soon
overcome by assurance that it would be very
quiet and staid, and so we went. Shy at first, some
one talked to him about music, when he bright-
ened up and began to tell various incidents in
his musical career. He overlooked the fact that
with one or two exceptions none present under-
stood his reference to technical details, but he
crowned his recital by describing the humorous
points in an exercise for the degree of Doctor of
Music which had come before him as Professor
of Music at Oxford. The officers listened re-
spectfully, hardly comprehending a word, and he
finished up by exclaiming: 'And you'll scarcely
believe me, Colonel So-and-So, when I tell you
that the whole movement was in the hypomyxo-
lydian mode!' 'God bless my soul, you don't
say so!' replied the Colonel, with well-feigned
astonishment. 'It is a fact,' replied Ousely."
CHAPTER XIV
"ABOUT MUSIC"
An Address Delivered in the Town Hall, Birmingham, on Octo-
ber 19, 1888, by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
IT has come to my good fortune to have to
address you as President of the Birming-
ham and Midland Institute, and I naturally
choose the subject of Music. I can choose no
other. Music has been my incessant occupa-
tion since I was eight years old. All my ener-
gies, all my affections, have been bestowed upon
it, and it has for long been to me a second nature.
The interests and triumphs of my art are dearer
to me than any other interests and triumphs can
be. Music is to me a mistress in every sense of
the word ; a mistress whose commands I obey,
whose smiles I love, whose wrongs move me as
no others do. And therefore it will not be diffi-
cult for you to understand the gratification with
which I address you in this famous city, a city
which first set England the example of combin-
262
HIS LIFE STORY 263
ing the triumphs of practical science with those
of art by founding here, in the middle of your
workshops and factories, the world-renowned
Birmingham Festival, and afterwards crowning
the edifices of this great town by the majestic
portico of that temple in which so many master-
pieces of music have been first heard by thou-
sands of enthusiastic worshippers.
But I confess that it is with very considerable
diffidence that I speak to you on the subject of
music, and I can at once relieve you of all anxiety
by stating that my address will be a very short
one, because all my life I have been making
music and not talking about it. It is so easy, in
an address on music, either to sink into dull
platitudes, or to indulge in wearisome and, to
many in a general audience, incomprehensible
technicalities. I shall, however, endeavour to
avoid both of these errors, and in the few
remarks I am addressing to you shall give utter-
ance to a few thoughts of my own on the subject,
which may, I trust, interest you as they have
interested me.
Among the many advances of our country in
the last half-century, surely none has been
2 6 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
greater than that of music. Publications and per-
formances are now so extraordinarily multiplied
that the masterpieces not only of the old com-
posers, but of the most modern writers are
brought within the means of every one, more so,
probably, than in any other country ; and Eng-
land has thus, so far, the chance of again assum-
ing the position that she held many hundred
years ago of being at the head of Europe as a
musical country. She was once (as I believe the
most Teutonic of German historians now allow)
a long way in advance of other nations yet how
little is this known or acknowledged by ourselves !
So far back as the year 1 230 a piece of music
composed by a monk of Reading (John of Forn-
sete was his honoured name, and the MS. of his
work is at the British Museum) was far, far in
advance, both in tunefulness and expression, of
anything else produced at that time. I allude to
the celebrated glee, in six vocal parts, " Sumer is
a-cumin in." And observe that that pre-emi-
nence implies many years (I might say centuries)
of previous study and progress on the part of
our countrymen. But we need not trust to impli-
cation only; records exist to prove how dili-
HIS LIFE STORY 265
gently and enthusiastically music was pursued
in England from the reign of King Alfred to
the time of the Reformation. Here are a few
facts :
In 550 A. D. there was a great gathering and
competition of harpists at Conway an early
Eisteddfod.
In 866 King Alfred instituted a professorship
of music at Oxford, and there must have been
concerted music in those Anglo-Saxon times, for
in the British Museum is an old picture of a con-
cert consisting of a six-stringed harp, a four-
stringed fiddle, a trumpet, and a crooked horn.
Curiously enough, this is, with the exception of
the horn, exactly the same combination of instru-
ments that we see nearly every Saturday night
playing outside a London public-house! I have
not noticed whether the background of the pic-
ture I allude to represents the corresponding
locality of that period.
Even then music had begun to exercise an
influence on trade; the metal industry and join-
ery must have already benefited by it, for in the
tenth century the monk Wulston gives a long
description of a grand organ in Winchester Ca-
266 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
thedral, and St. Dunstan, famous for his skill in
metal work, at the same date fabricated an organ
in Malmesbury Abbey, the pipes of which were
of brass.
Long before the Conquest, three-part harmony
was practised, and is spoken of by the chroniclers
as the "custom of the country." Thomas a
Becket, on his visit to France to negotiate the
marriage of Henry II., took with him 250 boys,
who sang a harmony of three parts, which
is expressly recorded to have been <( in the
English manner, and till then unheard of in
France."
It is a satisfaction to know, also, that in those
days musicians were well paid; for at the wedding
of Edward I.'s daughter every King's minstrel
received forty shillings equal, at least, to twenty
pounds in these days. Chaucer, in his " Prin-
cesses' Tale," mentions approvingly that young
children were taught to sing as much as they
were taught to read. But he somewhat weakens
the value of his judgment, in my eyes, by express-
ing elsewhere the opinion that every country
squire should be taught to play the flute.
In the reign of Edward II. harmony had
HIS LIFE STORY 267
advanced. At the " Tournament of Tottenham"
we read that
" In all the corners of the house
Was melody delicious
Of six-men songs. "
The constitution of military bands in England
was also of a very early date. Henry VI., when
he went to war with France, took over with him
a band consisting of ten clarion players and
other instrumentalists, who played at head-
quarters morning and evening. This is the first
military band we have a record of. Queen
Elizabeth improved upon it so far as to have a
band which played during her dinner, of twelve
trumpets, two kettledrums, pipes, cornets, and
side drums, and I am not astonished when I read
that "this musicke did make the hall ring for
half-an-hour."
In her reign the priest must have been (as he
often is now) the musician of the parish, and a
cheery good fellow; for in Vernon's " Hunting of
Purgatory and Death," 1561, the author says:
" I knewe a priest whiche, when any of his
parishioners should be maryed, would take his
backe-pype and go fetch them to the Church,
2 68 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
playinge sweetlie afore them; and then he would
lay his instrument handsomely upon the aultar
tyll he had maryed them and sayd mass. Which
thyng being done, he would gentillye bringe
them home again with his backe-pype."
I could produce an immense mass of evidence
as to the forward condition of music in England
up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, but
I will not weary you with details details which
you can learn for yourselves in your excellent
Free Library, if you are inclined to go more
deeply into the matter. Suffice it to say that we
have clear proof of the existence of a highly
educated school of theoretical musicians who
preserved the plain-song of the Church in its in-
tegrity, and made it the basis of harmonic treat-
ment; who wrote out their harmony in score, and
from one of whom emanated the earliest remain-
ing composition of freedom and beauty, the be-
fore-mentioned glee, " Sumer is a-cumin in."
And this was followed up by a succession of origi-
nal works by such writers as John Dunstable, who,
though now little known in England, had in his
own day a great reputation abroad.
Thu Universities of Cambridge and Oxford
HIS LIFE STORY 269
acknowledged the importance of music by mak-
ing it a faculty, and granting doctors' degrees,
analogous to those granted in Divinity, Law,
and Medicine, at a very early date. Joan of Arc
and her tragical end seem to us a long, long way
back in our history, and yet only thirty years
after her death was the first musical degree con-
ferred at Cambridge; and even now no other
universities in Europe but English ones confer
musical degrees.
There are clear indications that up to the time
of the Reformation music was in continual pro-
gress. But, unfortunately, the Wars of the Roses
and the ruthless destruction which accompanied
the suppression of the monasteries (the only
homes of art of all kinds in those rough savage
days) have obliterated all but the rarest indica-
tions. But it is certain, not only from the trea-
tises and compositions of the fourteenth and fif-
teenth centuries that have survived, but from
the splendour of the English School when we
again encounter it about 1520, that in the inter-
val our music had been growing and flourishing,
as everything in England grows and flourishes
when it really seizes hold of the English people.
2 7 o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Palestrina (from 1550 to 1600) no doubt wrote
more nobly than any of his contemporaries,
including our own Tallis and Byrd; but it is not
too much to say that the English predecessors of
Tallis and Byrd Edwards, Redford, Shepperd,
Tye, White, Johnson, and Marbecke, who date
from 1500 to 1550, were much in advance of any
of the predecessors of Palestrina on the Conti-
nent. For they were their equals in science, and
they far surpassed them in the tunefulness and
what I may call the common sense of their music.
Their compositions display a " sweet reasonable-
ness," a human feeling, a suitability to the words,
and a determination to be something more than
a mere scientific and mechanical puzzle, which
few, if any, of the Continental composers before
1550 can be said to exhibit. I have only to
mention the familiar title of the charming and
favourite madrigal, " In going to my lonely bed"
(by Edwards, 1523-1566) to convince many here
present of the truth of what I am saying. Such
was our position in the first half of the sixteenth
century; and the half-century following is the
splendid time of English music, in which the
illustrious names of Morley, Weekes, Wilbye,
HIS LIFE STORY 271
Ford, Dowland, and Orlando Gibbons shine like
stars. These names may be unknown to some
of you, but the men existed, and their works live;
live not alone by reason of their science, their
pure part-writing and rich harmonies, but by the
stream of beautiful melody which flows through
all their works melody which is ear-haunting
even to our modern and jaded natures, and
which had no parallel elsewhere. Those of you
who have heard such works as the " Silver Swan,"
by Gibbons, and " Since first I saw your face," by
Ford, will, I am sure, endorse my opinion.
I will not go into the causes which, for nearly
200 years, made us lose that high position, and
threw us into the hands of the illustrious foreign-
ers, Handel, Haydn, Spohr, Mendelssohn (so long
the favourite composers of the English), and of
the Italian Opera, which exclusively occupied
the attention of the fashionable classes, and, like
a great car of Juggernaut, overrode and crushed
all efforts made on behalf of native music. My
belief is that this was largely due to the enthusi-
asm with which commerce was pursued, and to
the extraordinary way in which religious and
political struggles, and, later still, practical sci-
272 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
ence, have absorbed our energies. We were con-
tent to buy our music, while we were making
churches, steam-engines, railways, cotton-mills,
constitutions, anti-Corn-Law Leagues, and Cau-
cuses. Now, however, as I have already said,
the condition of things is changing it has
changed. And yet I cannot but feel that we are
only at the entry of the Promised Land. Habits
of mind and modes of action are still to be found
which show that we have much to do before we
become the musical people that we were in the
remoter ages of our history. We do, indeed,
love music, but it is with an inferior affection
to that which we lavish on other objects of life.
We have not yet ceased to talk whilst music is
being performed ; we still come in late to a con-
cert, and whilst some noble and pathetic work is
enchaining the attention of every one, we too
often insist upon disturbing twenty or thirty peo-
ple and destroying their enjoyment because we
have bought seats Nos. 23, 24, and 25, and mean
to have our money's worth. And if we come
late, depend upon it we always go out before the
concert is finished, to show how thoroughly inde-
pendent we are. In this we are like Charles
HIS LIFE STORY 273
Lamb, who, when a clerk in the East India
Office, was reproached by his chief, " Mr. Lamb,
you come so late in the mornings." "Yes sir,"
was the reply, " but I go away so early in the
afternoons."
I am not apt to praise the foreigner at the
expense of Englishmen, but we have a lesson to
learn from both Germans and Frenchmen in this
respect. I fear we must admit that even at pres-
ent, in the mind of a true Briton, business,
society, politics, and sport, all come before art.
Art is very well ; we have no objection to pay for
it, and to pay well. But we can only enjoy it if it
interferes with none of these pet pleasures ; and in
consequence it has often to suffer.
I will name an amusing little instance of similar
indifference in another art which came to my
notice while preparing these remarks. A very
eminent commercial firm gave my friend, Sir
John Millais, a large sum for a beautiful picture,
with the full-size facsimile of which we are fami-
liar the lad blowing soap-bubbles. The bub-
ble is in the air over the boy's head, and the
picture tells its tale to every one. But a second
facsimile has been posted, and in order that the
274 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
name of the firm may be made more prominent,
the bubble has been covered over and the whole
point of the painting is lost.
But besides the indifference I speak of, there
is no doubt that music has had to suffer much
from the lofty contempt with which she and her
votaries have been treated by those who pro-
fessed to have a claim to distinction in other
walks. True, since the days of that piggish
nobleman, Lord Chesterfield, things have greatly
changed. Eton, Harrow, Rugby all the great
schools have now their masters for music on the
same footing as other instructors. Go into the
officers' quarters in barracks, and you find piano-
fortes, violins, and violoncellos ; and lying about
there will be good music. Amateur societies
flourish, which bring rich and poor together.
H.R.H., the Duke of Edinburgh told me that
he had a complete string quartette amongst the
officers on board his ship all these things point
to a great reaction in the feelings of the profes-
sional classes towards music.
But much of the old leaven remains, and one
of its most objectionable developments is a curi-
ous affectation of ignorance on the part of many
HIS LIFE STORY 275
men of position in the political and scientific
world as if music were too trivial a matter for
their lofty intellects to take notice of. At any
great meeting of the subject of music, arch-
bishops, judges, politicians, financiers each one
who rises to speak will deprecate any knowledge
of music with a snug satisfaction, like a man
disowning poor relations.
I am not here to explain why music should be
cultivated, nor to apologise to superior-minded
persons for its existence, nor to speak humbly
and with bated breath of its merits ; but I claim
for it boldly and proudly its place amongst the
great things and the great influences in the
world ; and I can but express pity for those who
are ignorant and stupid enough to deny its
importance in the world and history, and to look
upon it as a mere family pastime, fit only for
women and children.
Darwin, in his " Descent of Man," says:
" Neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of
producing musical notes are faculties of the
least direct use to man in reference to his ordi-
nary habits of life." Physiologically he is prob-
ably correct, but as soon as merely rudimentary
276 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
actions are left, as soon as existence becomes
life, his statement is completely false. Indeed,
music is, as the same philosopher elsewhere
says, bound up in daily life, and a necessity of
existence.
Of its usefulness in daily life there can be no
question. What would religious services be
without organs and singing? What would
armies be without bands? If music were a mere
luxury, would people spend so much time and
money on it? It is not to obtain mere ear-enjoy-
ment it is because it is a necessity to satisfy cer-
tain requirements of the mind. It enters into
the chemistry of the mind as salt does into the
chemistry of the body. Here and there you
meet with a person who says, " I never eat salt
I do not require it." Well, you are sorry for
him ; there is evidently something wrong in his
physical constitution. So when any one assumes
a tone of lofty superiority, and boasts that he
knows nothing about music, and pretends not to
be able to distinguish one tune from another,
you may either accept his statement with a con-
siderable amount of reserve, or conclude that
there is something wrong in his physical or
HIS LIFE STORY 277
mental faculties, and recommend him to consult
an artist.
Now bear with me a few moments while I
briefly consider three points about music its
usefulness, its necessity for the mind, and its over-
powering influence in the world. It is singular
from how very early a date music took a great
position. In the account of the origin of man-
kind as given us in the book of Genesis, we find
society divided into three great divisions, (i)
Agriculturists, "those that dwell in tents and
have cattle"; (2) Manufacturers, "artificers in
brass and iron "; (3) Musicians, " such as handle
the harp and pipe," i.e., strings and wind. Music
is put on a level with such essential pursuits as
agriculture and manufactures. And this equal
share in the economy of the world music has
maintained ; but belonging, as it does, to the
inmost part of man's nature, its presence is often
overlooked, and we are as unconscious of it as
we are of the air we breathe, the speech we utter,
the natural motion of our muscles, or the beat-
ing of our hearts. It is co-extensive with human
life. From the soft lullaby of the mother that
soothes our cradle-life to the dirge that is sung
27 8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
over the grave, music enters into our existence.
It marks periods and epochs of our life, stim-
ulates our exertions, strengthens our faith, speaks
both words of peace and of war, and exercises
over us a charm and indefinite power which
we can all feel, though we cannot explain. I
repeat, it is a necessity to the mind, as salt is to
the body.
And now, to bring the question of its use forcibly
forward to our British understandings, what
would commerce be without the music trades,
without that multitude of industries, those mil-
lions of workers who are necessary for the
production of organs, pianofortes, and every
kind of wind, string and percussion instruments;
for the engraving, type-setting, and printing
of music ; for the manufacture of the millions
of reams of paper used in music-printing and
copying ?
I will take one item, comparatively a small
one, but one which for Birmingham has a pecu-
liar interest. Have you ever thought of the
amount of steel wire used in the manufacture of
pianofortes? It is impossible to get the actual
statistics of the pianoforte trade of the world,
HIS LIFE STORY 279
but I have been to some pains to inquire, and
have formed a fairly approximate estimate.
Taking the products of the principal manufactur-
ing countries, England, France, Germany, Amer-
ica, and smaller states, I find that the total of
pianofortes manufactured every year is about
175,000, and that the average amount of wire
used in each pianoforte is about 570 feet; your
own quick calculation will tell you that this rep-
resents in length 18,892 miles of steel wire ! If it
were in one continuous piece it would reach from
here to Japan and back again, and then you would
have enough left over to run up with to Scotland
and back.
When we come to the question of the influence
of music, we arrive at its most important function
the era of its greatest power. Who shall mea-
sure the boundless influence of music on human
feeling? Who shall gainsay the mighty power it
exercises over human passions ? or deny the
dynamical force which it has exerted in history?
In the ancient world it is constantly found associ-
ated with eventful episodes. The earliest records
of the Bible contain more than one such combi-
nation. To the incident in the life of Lamech,
2 8o SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
the antediluvian hero an incident embodied in
what are perhaps the earliest lines of poetry in
the world I shall only refer ; but I would remind
you that in the East verse and music are more
constantly associated than they are with us, and
that Lamech's poetry probably had its own
melody. Jubal, the inventor of string and wind
instruments, and the father of all the musicians
who have succeeded him, has (as I have already
pointed out) his existence announced in exactly
the same terms as the discoverers of agriculture
and of engineering. The greatest of the great
wells which supplied the Israelites during their
wandering in the wilderness is expressly stated
to have been dug to the sound of a solemn
national music, of the extent of which we can
form little idea from the concise terms of the
ancient narrative; but from the mention of the
fact that, at the special command of Jehovah,
the great Lawgiver himself, the leaders of the
people and the whole congregation took part in
the singing, there can be little doubt that it was
a most imposing and impressive musical cere-
monial. We have the words, the very words
themselves:
HIS LIFE STORY 281
" Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it;
The well which the princes digged,
Which the nobles of the people delved
With the sceptre and their staves."
Would that the music had also been preserved !
In Greece we find that the first definite political
revolution in Athens the murder of Hipparchus
the tyrant, and the establishment of free govern-
ment, as early as 514 B. c. was consecrated and
probably accompanied by a song which is still
preserved, the song of Harmodius and Aristo-
geiton. This song was for generations a rallying
cry to the Greek Jacobins.
In more modern times music fully maintained
its political influence. The Reformation in Ger-
many was powerfully advanced by Luther's famous
hymn, "Ein feste Burg," and by his other chorales,
which are well known to have precipitated the
conversion of whole towns to the reformed faith,
and which during the late Franco-German war
were lively symbols of heroic rejoicing, and watch-
words of the national faith. During the same war
the national song of the " Wacht am Rhein" had
a popularity and an influence which it is difficult
for us to understand, seeing how weak the tune
is, but which is perpetuated in the immense
282 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
national monument near Bingen on the Rhine,
erected in the year 1883. I need hardly do more
than refer to the French warlike songs of " Mal-
brouk," the "Ca ira," and the "Marseillaise,"
which played so large a part in the French Revo-
lution of 1790, or to " Dunois the young and
brave," and the "Chant du Depart," which
fanned the flames on both sides in the later
revolutions.
Nor have we Britons been without our musical
influences. The enormous power exercised by
the Welsh bards of old caused their extirpation.
Readers of Carlyle's " History of Cromwell" will
recollect his account of the Battle of Dunbar, and
the emotion which forced that silent and unde-
monstrative man into urging his soldiers forward
by shouting and making them shout the nyth
Psalm to the version still used in the Church of
Scotland, and to a still existing tune. On the
other side " The King shall enjoy his own again"
and " Bonnie Prince Charlie" were of great
political importance in inspiring and encouraging
the Royalist party. And need I, in an assem-
blage of Britons, do more than allude to the
tune of mighty force which binds us all together
HIS LIFE STORY 283
over the whole wide world, "God Save the
Queen ! "
Dibdin's songs, simple and melodious, with-
out doubt, have taught our sailors lessons of
patriotism and self-denial, and " Auld Lang
Syne" has brought about kindness, goodwill, and
the extinction of many a long estrangement be-
tween friends.
Well, this is all sentiment, many may be dis-
posed to say. Yes, but he who refuses to accept
the force of sentiment on human nature is a blind
fool. Many a statesman has found, and will still
find this to his cost.
That the force of sentiment has been recog-
nised we know from the fact that certain music
has been prohibited by reason of its influence.
In Poland, no man, woman, nor child was allowed
by the Russians to sing any of their own national
songs. They raised feelings dangerous to the
conquerors. Certain tunes are even now for-
bidden to be played by the bands of the Highland
regiments when they are quartered in foreign
parts far from home. The effect on many of the
men is actually physical; they fall ill of the in-
tense longing for home which the music excites.
284 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
And the same thing happens to the Swiss peasant
when he is removed from his mountains and
valleys; the loved strains of the " Ranz des
Vaches" produce positive suffering an actual
home-sickness.
I have myself witnessed the extraordinary effect
of their rhythmical music on the Arabs in Egypt,
more especially at the great ceremony of the de-
parture of the Sacred Carpet for Mecca. In one
tent there were nearly a hundred dervishes sway-
ing their bodies in all kinds of movements and
contortions, and singing the same monotonous
measure over and over again, until they got
maddened, and fell down, some senseless, some in
furious fits when they were really dangerous.
And is not our own British soldier moved at
the tunes of " The British Grenadier" and " I'm
ninety-five," which thrill his whole being and
make him feel that he is still equal to five
foreigners!
Now, if this influence is so great, ought it not
to be recognised and controlled by proper educa-
tion? education, not for performance but for
appreciation and understanding. The School
Board is doing something, but it could do a great
HIS LIFE STORY 285
deal more. ; 160,000 a year is apportioned by
Parliament to music, but it is not spent directly
on teaching it is brought in as an allowance for
attendance, with what result I do not quite know.
I ought to have referred to my friend, Sir John
Stainer, who is the able Government Inspector of
Schools. But great things might be done with
so splendid a sum devoted to instruction.
The love of music by children is remarkable
see what pleasure they derive from their school
songs and hymns. And their love of music does
not cease with their school-days; the girls carry
it with them into the factories, and the lads be-
come a principal element in the numerous brass
bands, which have lately so much increased in the
midland and northern counties. There is a sort
of continuity in the musical life of our country
which should be fostered and encouraged. The
early home, the village school, the church choir,
the choral society, or the brass band, and, in
special cases, systematic study at one of our great
music schools. The municipalities ought to take
up this work and systematise it by the establish-
ment of some kind of secondary schools. Ireland
possesses a special Act sanctioning the teaching
286 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
of music in municipal schools with aid from the
rates in support; but we are not yet so fortunate
in England. Our legislation not only does not
encourage music, but it exhibits a curiously
Philistine attitude towards it; I speak of the
classing of music and drinking licences together,
under the same authoritie. I suppose there is
some subtle reason for it, but I fail to understand
why it is that in the midst of all that is low and
degrading, the one humanising element which
might lift poor besotted creatures, if only for a
few moments, out of the depth of their wretched
and sordid condition, should require the special
sanction of a board of magistrates. They may
drink as much as they like, but let any one of
them sing a song, or play a tune on the cornet or
violin, and down comes the law upon them.
I wonder if this anomaly arises from the lofty
contempt in which so many of our so-called poli-
ticians have held music in their unsalted minds.
With them it was an occupation for the " lower
classes," the fit companion to drinking or tight-
rope dancing. Of course it is the place that is
licensed not the art ; that I know. But neither
a picture gallery nor a bookseller's shop requires
HIS LIFE STORY 287
a licence ; and yet a great deal more harm can be
done to public morals by books and pictures than
by music.
And herein lies one of the divine attributes of
music, in that it is absolutely free from the power
of suggesting anything immoral. Its countless
moods and richly varied forms suit it to every
organisation, and it can convey every meaning
except one an impure one. Music can suggest
no improper thought, and herein may be claimed
a superiority over painting and sculpture, both
of which may, and indeed do at times depict
and suggest impurity. This blemish, however,
does not enter into music ; sounds alone (apart
from articulate words, spectacle, or descriptive
programme) must, from their indefinite nature,
be innocent. Let us thank God that we have
one elevating and ennobling influence in the
world which can never, never lose its purity and
beauty.
And now I have come to the end of telling you
the thoughts that entered my mind whilst con-
sidering my address to you. They have been
somewhat rambling perhaps, and there has been
no intention to point any particular moral. I
288 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
have endeavoured to show you how England was
at one time in the foremost place amongst musi-
cal nations, and I would now only urge you to
use all your efforts to restore her to that proud
position. The means lie in education. We
must be educated to appreciate, and appreciation
must come before production. Give us intelli-
gent and educated listeners, and we shall pro-
duce composers and performers of correspond-
ing worth. Much is now being done in England
for the higher education of musicians. At the
Royal College of Music, my old and valued
friend, Sir George Grove, is doing work of incal-
culable value, guiding and directing with unerr-
ing judgment his splendid staff of professors, and
imbuing every one with his own enthusiasm.
Nor must we forget the services the Royal Acad-
emy of Music has rendered to musical education,
and that under the spirited guidance of that
gifted musician, Dr. Mackenzie, it is daily in-
creasing its sphere of usefulness. Many other
kindred institutions are fighting earnestly and
unflaggingly the battle of our art, and to-night
we have witnessed the result of that sturdy energy
which Birmingham possesses in such a high de-
HIS LIFE STORY 289
gree in the prosperity of the Midland Institute,
where I am proud to see that musical education
plays such a prominent part. I read on the list
of teachers the names of men well known to me
their names are a guarantee that the instruc-
tion is sound. But there is one particular branch
for which no professor is appointed, and with
good reason, for I am sure that every teacher on
the staff includes it in his instruction namely,
the art of listening. We want good listeners,
rather than indifferent performers ; and with this
little moral axiom, and with my warm thanks for
the great compliment you have paid me in being
yourselves such kind and attentive listeners, I
will conclude.
SULLIVAN AS A COMPOSER
BY B. W. FINDON
TO anticipate posterity is a hazardous under-
taking, and a most invidious task is it
even to endeavour rightly to place a man
in artistic rank among his contemporaries, for,
however impartial the critic, the sympathetic
leaning of his nature, due to association, personal
predisposition, or zealous appreciation of what
he considers pleasing and beautiful must inevi-
tably sway his judgment. If, therefore, there
appears in this short critical review of Sir Arthur
Sullivan's life-work an admiration which others
less sympathetically inclined may deem excess-
ive, the writer makes no apology, begs no pardon,
and is content to take his stand on opinions that
have been carefully formed, that are the outcome
of an intimate acquaintance with the works under
notice, and that are put forward with an honesty
of intention born of sincere conviction.
Since the days of Purcell, England has, hap-
290
AS A COMPOSER 291
pily, produced many estimable musicians, but not
one who is more closely allied in spirit to that
first and foremost of all native composers than Sir
Arthur Sullivan. During the present century we
have known the facile, fecund genius of Michael
William Balfe, and the finished style of William
Sterndale Bennett ; but in each of these there
was a quality lacking, and this minimised the
value of their compositions as a whole, and
forbade them that unique place in the Temple of
Art which otherwise might have been theirs.
But in Arthur Sullivan the chief characteristics
of these two men are united with the happiest
results ; with the one he shares that marvellous
flow of spontaneous melody, and with the other
that mastery of refined and carefully chosen
expression which gives such charm to his various
compositions. True it is that Sullivan studied
under Bennett at the Royal Academy, and from
him he may have learned the more subtle graces
which go so far to enhance the solid attractive-
ness of his music to those qualified to appreciate
it from an intellectual aspect. The balance of
form, the peculiar nicety of musical phraseology
have ever been noticeable in all that Sullivan has
292 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
accomplished. Let the hardened and, if need be,
the antagonistic critic search his works through,
and he will not be able to put his hand on a
slovenly phrase or a progression that is not
scholastically correct and perfectly designed to
illustrate the meaning intended. The thought at
times may be commonplace, but its decoration
gives it sterling worth ; in literature the placing
of words is next in importance to the idea they
are called upon to set forth, and the same re-
mark applies to music. This faculty, however,
can seldom be acquired in all its fullness ; it must
be born in the man, and is as much a part and
parcel of his nature as his own soul. The true
poet is he who can penetrate the mysteries of
nature, and by his power of expression act as an
interpreter to his less divinely endowed fellow-
men ; the true composer is he who can put in
tangible form the music of our souls, the tunes
of our imagination. This is he who gives us the
songs that go direct to a nation's heart, the melo-
dies that become associated with the innermost
history of our lives. He may not be for all ages,
he may only be of contemporary worth, but he
has some share of the divine quality, and is a
AS A COMPOSER 293
true child of the Muse. It is within this hallowed
circle that we rank Arthur Sullivan. He has
earned his position by deeds which have won
for him the regard and the love of the whole
English-speaking race. His melodies have
winged their way to the furthermost corners of
the earth, and found a welcome resting-place in
the affections of those to whom the old country
is a shrine that not all the exotic luxuriance of
southern lands, or the stern beauties of more
northern latitudes can efface from their recollec-
tions ; his songs are known to the hardy pioneers
of civilisation who make their adventurous way
through trackless forests, and to the industrious
settlers who are as laborious and determined in
their living as those pilgrims of the Mayflower
who laid the foundations of that great empire
which, once an integral part of our own, is now
again allied to us in the strong bonds of mutual
good faith and love. Here, then, is contempo-
rary fame almost or absolutely unparalleled in
musical history, and can we believe that a talent
so universally acknowledged will go unappreci-
ated by succeeding generations ? It seems im-
possible, and yet prophecy is a dangerous and
294 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
barren form of amusement, and one that it is no
imperative duty of ours to indulge in.
Much of Sullivan's popularity is due to the
beautiful spontaneity of his work ; his language
is simple, clear, and direct, as all great language
should be, and therefore it is understood of the
people. Though nurtured in the academies, the
force of his own individuality, of his genius, has
kept him free from the pedantic narrowness of
professorial writing, while at the same time he
has found within the accepted limitation of legiti-
mate rules ample scope for the expression of his
fertile imagination. Unlike the extreme modern
school of to-day he has not deemed it necessary
to descend to the barbarous practices of those
composers, who, having no inspired utterance of
their own, so twist and distort the phraseology
of music that their work not infrequently more
nearly resembles the uncouth cries of wild animals
in pain than the coherent speech of cultivated
humanity. Not a little, however, of this singular
directness and gracefulness of expression is owing
to the early bent of his studies while a chorister
at the Chapel Royal, for there Arthur Sullivan
had the opportunity of becoming intimately
AS A COMPOSER 295
acquainted with the compositions of the great
church writers of the seventeenth century ; and
with his quick gift of perception, his ready power
of assimilation, it is not surprising that he
obtained a complete mastery of their lucid style
and a ripe familiarity with the canon, fugue, and
mitation which form so important a part in their,
compositions.
But now let us glance at the other side of the
shield. Let us put ourselves in the position of
those who think that Sullivan might with his
great gifts have accomplished work which would
have placed him by the side of his greatest com-
peers. Their attitude is not altogether unrea-
sonable. No young composer ever made a more
brilliant debut than did he at the Crystal Palace
when his " Tempest " music was performed, and
at that time he was only in his nineteenth year.
In spite, however, of his juvenility his composi-
tion was mature in thought and form ; it was the
accomplishment of a perfectly equipped musi-
cian. There was nothing in it which suggested
that the composer owed his success to a lucky
stroke of inspiration, or that he would not in the
future be able to write something equally good,
296 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
or better. His symphony in E flat which was
given a hearing at the same place five years later
was even more indicative of exceptional talent,
and the surmise that did he choose to confine
himself to the more laborious branch of his art
he would become, at least, the English Men-
delssohn, was perfectly justifiable. Fortune,
however, smiled on the young composer. To
escape the drudgery of teaching he indulged in
the more agreeable occupation of song writing,
and he at once touched the sympathies of the
public with his delightful essays in this direction.
Society took him to its bosom, Royalty extended
to him a flattering hand ; he was not called upon
to tread the rugged path which so many of the
world's great men are and have ever been com-
pelled to pace, and the sunny nature of his dis-
position found itself perfectly at home in the
environment which spread itself about him.
With few exceptions the masterpieces of the
world have been the outcome of an intense nerv-
ous apprehension of its ills, if not of actual parti-
cipation in them. Apart, however, from the
troubles that inevitably attend men both old and
young in the course of their earthly pilgrimage,
AS A COMPOSER 297
there was nothing in the earlier life of Sullivan
calculated to stir the deeper emotions within
him. The death of his father first touched his
affectionate nature to the quick, and that resulted
in the production of that beautiful example of
the emotional in music, the " In Memoriam "
overture. Here was the tangible outcome of his
gift of introspection ; here was evidence of the
latent capacity ; why was it not developed ? But
man can only control his destiny to a certain
extent ; the strongest of us are but toy boats on
the waters of life, subject to its swiftly running
currents, and to varying breezes. And what he
might have accomplished in abstract art had he
followed its course it is difficult to say. " There's
a divinity that shapes our ends, roughhew them
how we will," and it became Arthur Sullivan's
end to minister to the happiness of the greatest
number, to elevate and ennoble a lighter form of
art, instead of gratifying the exacting desires of
the comparative few ; and much as may have been
lost in the process, there can be no doubt that the
world at large has gained. The pen that pro-
duced " Cox and Box " was predestined to write
"The Mikado," and the fortuitous association
298 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
with Mr. W. S. Gilbert in "Trial by Jury " had
its natural outcome in the series of comic operas
that began with the "Sorcerer" at the Opera
Comique in 1877. It was just as much Sullivan's
mission to write such music as it was Brahms' to
put forth sonatas and symphonies, and to censure
him for not entering into rivalry with the few
great composers of abstract music of his genera-
tion is as fatuous as to blame Burns for not hav-
ing essayed the epic form of Milton. But in Sul-
livan's case it was an easier matter for him to
write a symphony, as he showed, that should
command the respectful attention of critical and
exacting minds than it would have been for the
two or three men who have composed successful
symphonies during the past thirty years to have
accomplished a comic opera of the excellence of
" The Yeoman of the Guard." Not Brahms
himself could have brought more perfect knowl-
edge and skill to bear on the orchestration, while
as for the ability to succeed in suiting the music
to the words there is no man of his time so hap-
pily gifted.
It is the consummate mastery of his art as
a whole that has enabled Sullivan to achieve
AS A COMPOSER 299
success in his lighter music. The general public
have realised the beauty of his work, they know
that his music differs from all other music they
have heard in the theatre, and there is a
something in connection with it of which they
are conscious, which they cannot explain, but
which gives them a full and unique measure of
sensuous enjoyment. The people have their
faults, they make mistakes in plenty, but their
judgment is right in the long run. They venture
on no subtle distinctions, no analysis of the cause
of their pleasurable emotions; they are content
with their knowledge of the fact, even as they
are content to gaze on a lovely sunset without
bothering their heads as to the forces of nature
which produce it. But there are others who do
know and appreciate the marvellous merit of
this light music of his, and others, again, who
affect towards it a patronising air and pityingly
express their regret that Sullivan should waste
his time on such ephemeral work ; they have
even been known to describe these unique mas-
terpieces of their kind as " pot-boilers," and in
other ways to give evidence of their superior
intellectual equipment, their admiration for only
300 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
that which is severe and lofty in art, and in some
cases they have even boasted of their entire
ignorance of the works in question. Such people
are the curse of the musical world, for their
whole existence is based on a point d'orgue of
cant, and they are all but dead to the healthy
sensibilities of rational life. What a pity it is
that we have not some Pied Piper who could
periodically pipe such people away to the cavern-
ous depths of a specially appointed Koppenberg,
where their punishment would be to listen to the
eternal playing of neglected masterpieces by
unknown composers!
Fortunately, however, Sir Arthur Sullivan's
reputation does not depend on his success in
either department of music alone. If we except
chamber-music for the few fugitive pieces he
has written for the piano can scarcely count he
has worked and achieved distinction in ways as
various as Purcell himself, but we confess to a
lingering regret that he made no efforts in the
direction of the instrumental quartette. With
his delicate appreciation of all that is essentially
lovely in music, with his consummate mastery of
instrumental effects, with the immense capacity
AS A COMPOSER 3'
he has shown for four and five part harmony, his
technical skill in counterpoint, we should, in all
probability, have been endowed with work that
might have occupied an honoured place by the
side of similar compositions by Mendelssohn,
Schubert and others, who have left behind for
the enjoyment of posterity so many delightful
examples of one of the purest and most sensitive
branches of musical art. To speculate on the
might have been is, however, one of the least
profitable exercises of the mind, and Sullivan has
given mankind so much that is worthy of consid-
eration that we can well afford to overlook his
lack of effort in this particular groove. It is
only because he has accomplished so much
that we desire more and have a greedy
propensity for pandering to an ever-increasing
appetite.
As it is the present day fashion to detach a
composer's life into periods we shall review Sul-
livan's work from three points of view, which may
be classified as the Sacred, the Secular, and the
Dramatic. It was in the domain of church art
that he first displayed the signs of a creative
talent which was afterwards to bear such rich
302 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
fruit, and which has to a certain extent coloured
all his subsequent endeavours. Even in his
operas we find it sprouting forth, sometimes
with a peculiarly touching effect and at others
with that subtle strain of humour that is ever
enchanting without being offensive. No better
example of this latter can be found than in the
ecclesiastical accompaniment which attends the
presence of Friar Tuck through " Ivanhoe," his
most ambitious operatic attempt. Here the
broad harmonies and cadences of the church are
employed with such refined taste, with such
dramatic appropriateness, that it is impossible
for the most fastidious to take offence. Again,
we have the delightful parody of the Handelian
style in the martial music given to Arac and the
Three Knights in the third act of " Princess Ida."
Then, too, the results of his studies of the old
English masters are equally obvious in the glees
and madrigals which abound in his operas, and
nothing more perfect of its kind exists than his
humorous parody of the glee of the latter end of
the seventeenth century in " A British Tar is a
soaring soul," in the first act of " H.M.S. Pina-
fore." But these are points which may be more
AS A COMPOSER 303
fittingly discussed when we arrive at the dramatic
section of his work. Reference is now only
made to them in order to illustrate his remarka-
ble aptitude for putting acquired knowledge to
practical use. There are many composers who
are as theoretically well equipped as Sullivan,
but lack this serviceable power, just as there
are learned men at our universities whose minds
are stored with the philosophy of ages, but lack
the inestimable gift of being able to commu-
nicate their mental wealth to their fellow-men,
and who, for the most part, are walking encyclo-
paedias with two-thirds of their leaves stuck
together. With this general reference to Sulli-
van's work we may now proceed to deal with it
more in detail; with this reservation, his achieve-
ment will be measured by his more important
contributions to musical literature, and no
attempt will be made to survey the complete list
of his compositions, or to indulge in a technical
analysis which would be as mystifying and un-
profitable as it would be uninteresting to the
general reader, to whom dullness is the one
unpardonable crime in an author or reviewer.
SACRED MUSIC
IN his career as a composer Sir Arthur Sullivan
has enjoyed two advantages which do not
fall to the lot of the many, and both of which
have largely influenced his work. In the first
place he was cradled to the sound of the military
band, and, secondly, he was made to study music
from a practical standpoint at an age when most
boys are more versed in the gentle arts of hop-
scotch and leap-frog. His earliest footsteps took
him to the practice room of his father's soldier
musicians at Sandhurst, and there began his
intimate acquaintance with instrumental music,
while as a chorister at the Chapel Royal he was
initiated into the fine vocal excellences of com-
posers who remain unsurpassed in their contribu-
tions to our choral literature. Seldom, indeed,
have such unique opportunities been presented to
one so eminently favoured, and seldom have they
been turned to better advantage. It really
seemed that the gods were bent on adding to the
304
SACRED MUSIC 305
gift of a great natural talent all the accessories of
musical art for daily consumption with his bread
and butter, that his receptive and intellectual
faculties generally should be taught to assimilate
musical form and sound with that unconscious
certainty which is one of the blessings of pre-
cocious childhood. It is impossible to exaggerate
the importance of this association with instru-
mental music from his infancy, for he then
undoubtedly possessed himself of a practical
knowledge that stood him in good stead when he
was called upon to pursue his theoretical studies,
and in later years enabled him to score his works
with a readiness and exactitude that largely
accounts for the spontaneous quality of his com-
positions and their apposite instrumentation. Nor
could any training have been better adapted to
Sullivan's characteristic bent as a second course
than that which he received as a chorister at the
Chapel Royal. Spread out before him were the
masterpieces of Tallis, Byrd, and Gibbons; of
Pelham Humphreys, Blow, and the immortal
Purcell; of Boyce, Battishill, Attwood, and a
score of others who have bequeathed to us music
which will co-exist with the English Church, and
306 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
perhaps survive it. The sacred motet or anthem
and the hymn tune, brought into prominence by
Luther, became an integral part of the church
service from the early years of Elizabeth, and
with these glorious examples before him it was
only to be expected that Sullivan would try his
prentice hand at imitation. Church music, there-
fore, forms no inconsiderable feature of his life's
work, and, to put aside the youthful exercises in
this direction, he is responsible for two services,
a score of anthems and miscellaneous pieces, and
about fifty hymn tunes, to which must be added
his more important festival productions. His
anthems are characterised by the best attributes
of their kind, and are well-known in all choirs and
places where they sing ; while some of his hymn
tunes are familiar to well-nigh every cottage home,
in fact, his "Onward, Christian Soldiers," might
almost be described as the war song of the English
Church Militant of the nineteenth century. We
may now pass on to Sullivan's more ambitious
devotional music.
If Englishmen have not been wholly nurtured
on hymns, anthems, chants, and oratorios, there is
no doubt that their musical proclivities owe not a
SACRED MUSIC 307
little of their peculiar bent to those forms of com-
position. To our forefathers, indeed, the music
of the parish church was the mainstay of their
knowledge of the art, and music and the Bible
were so associated in their minds that the way
was made easy and clear for the oratorios of
Handel and Haydn, Bach and Mendelssohn.
The words appealed to their religious instincts,
and the music supplied a picturesque colouring
which gratified their sensuous cravings; the same
causes are at work to-day, and so it is that certain
oratorios are still in the zenith of their popularity
with middle-class England, and will remain so
while we are a church-loving nation. Naturally,
therefore, almost every English composer has
essayed this form of composition, or its half-
brother, the cantata, and it is scarcely necessary
to say that Sullivan is numbered among the eager
aspirants for honours in this direction. Emerson
has said that " The sweetest music is not in the
oratorio, but in the human voice when it speaks
from its instant life tones of tenderness, truth, or
courage. The oratorio has already lost its relation
to the morning, to the sun, and the earth, but that
persuading voice is in tune with these." By this
3 o8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
we are to understand that we have lost the free-
dom of form, the infinite essence of true art, the
sweet flowing fountain of invention and beauty.
The severe critic would probably say much worse
of the oratorio that owes its birth to contemporary
endeavour, and it is an undoubted fact that
England has not produced a simple composer who
has given to the world a work of the enduring
quality of the " Elijah," and only one who has
produced something on a smaller scale that rivals
in popularity and merit Mendelssohn's "Hear my
Prayer."
Sullivan's first oratorio was " The Prodigal
Son," which was produced at the Worcester
Festival of 1869. In this work he broke new
ground and made a very satisfactory attempt to
do justice to his own genius and to show that he
was capable of sustained effort in a class of com-
position that tries the strength of a man almost
beyond any other form of vocal and instrumental
work. The music of " The Prodigal Son" is
intensely devotional and the composer makes no
attempt to sever himself from the religious aspect
of the subject, while the choruses, as might be
expected, are admirable exhibitions of sacred
SACRED MUSIC 309
writing. That the work is now only heard at
long intervals is no disparagement to its worth
as a composition, for although the oratorio-loving
public will courteously listen to novelties, perhaps
give a grateful ear to them a second time, their
standard is the " Messiah" and " Elijah," and
unless an oratorio has the captivating power of
Handel, or the mellifluous quality of Mendelssohn,
it has no chance of being even temporarily en-
rolled among the people's favourites.
' The Light of the World," a more ambi-
tious and elaborate oratorio was produced at
the Birmingham Festival of 1873, where both it
and the composer met with a flattering reception.
To maintain the peculiar quality of sacred
music throughout a long and diffuse text restrains
within too narrow a limit a gift which leans so
closely to the dramatic as Sullivan's; but again
we are constrained to admire the wonderful art
of the part-writing and the beauty of the orches-
tral accompaniments. A fine illustration of his
accomplishment in the direction of concerted
vocal music is the imposing chorus, " I will pour
my spirit," while his more delicate method is
well instanced by the grateful children's chorus,
3 io SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
" Hosanna to the Son of David "; and his exqui-
site handling of four and five part harmony is
adequately shown in the unaccompanied quar-
tette and quintet. A somewhat singular feature
in connection with this work is that it presents
Jesus in the first person, and an inner orchestra is
provided especially to accompany the utterances
of the Saviour, which throughout are of a par-
ticularly solemn character. " The Light of the
World" may not take rank with the highest
examples of oratorio art, but its undoubted
merits entitle it to an honoured and intimate com-
panionship with its more favoured brethren. It is
a member of the same family, it has the noble
traits of a great inheritance; but it is of the
younger branch and once removed from the
direct line of succession. Its production gave an
additional cachet to the composer's fame, and its
musicianly qualities will certainly not lessen his
reputation in the eyes of the student of the
future.
Only a few composers have been successful in
producing pieces d 1 occasion that have in them
sufficient merit to stand the test of an initial per-
formance, and it would not have been surprising
SACRED MUSIC 311
if Sullivan's Festival "Te Deum" had shared
the usual fate of these hasty works of art, more
especially when it is borne in mind that it was
presented under difficulties which would have
handicapped any work whatsoever. To celebrate
the recovery of the Prince of Wales, the Crys-
tal Palace Company organised an enormous fete
and commissioned Mr. Sullivan to write the hymn
of praise which was to be sung in testimony of
the people's gratitude for the return to health of
the heir to the English throne. The perform-
ance of the " Te Deum " took place in that
section of the Palace which is utilised for the
purpose of the Handel Festival, in the presence
of a large audience that it would be a wild
stretch of fancy to describe as musical or as in
any way capable of appreciating fine musical
work. The very circumstances of the day were
unpropitious for the presentation of a new and
unfamiliar work, for the people had foregathered
as to a national fete of which the " Te Deum "
was but an incident among many others more
alluring to the public mind. The first perform-
ance of Berlioz's " Symphonic Funebre " was
scarcely given under worse conditions ; but the
3 i2 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
merits of the " Te Deum " were sufficiently
obvious to the appreciative few, and although
seldom heard in the metropolis we know of its
repeated performance by small choral societies
to the simple accompaniment of pianoforte and
harmonium. One of the most characteristic
features of the work is the ingenious way in
which the composer has manipulated the well-
known St. Anne's hymn tune; the contrapuntal
writing to be found in the " Finale " is quite
remarkable, while a striking effect is obtained by
the use of a military band for the " Domine
Salvam fac Reginam."
We now pass from the strictly sacred work of
Sullivan to another phase, which, however, is so
closely allied to the sacred that it may well be
included under that heading. The sacred or
dramatic cantata has the advantage of offering
the composer a wide scope for the exercise of
his talent and less restriction in the matter of
form and style. He is more at liberty to follow
the dictates of fancy and to colour his work with
the hues of a vivid imagination. That Sullivan
should recognise the suitability of the dramatic
poem to his particular requirements after the
SACRED MUSIC 313
striking success that had attended his efforts on
the stage was only to be expected, and the pro-
duction of "The Martyr of Antioch" at the
Leeds Festival of 1880 fully justified his expecta-
tions. The work achieved an instant success
and its frequent performance is sufficient testi-
mony to its abiding charm. Last year the Carl
Rosa Opera Company had the cantata adapted
for stage purposes, and some very effective
representations were given in the leading pro-
vincial cities. The air " Come, Margarita," has
long since become popular with tenors for con-
cert room purposes, and another solo number
which is strongly attractive is the contralto air
" lo Paeon," with its peculiarly quaint accom-
paniment. One of the most important numbers
is " The Hymn to Apollo," which takes up
seventy-two pages of the vocal score and is a fine
example of Sullivan's scholarly attainment and
original charm.
The next work of its kind was " The Golden
Legend," which was produced at the Leeds
Festival of 1886 with a success so pronounced, so
striking, so unequivocal that its like had not
been witnessed for half a century, not since,
3 i 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
indeed, Mendelssohn conducted his " Elijah " at
the Birmingham Festival of 1846. To slightly
alter a phrase of Balzac's with regard to Victor
Hugo, we might remark of "The Golden
Legend," "It's a great work; let's say no more
about it." For, whatever variety of opinion there
may be with regard to Sullivan's other ambitious
endeavours, there can be no two opinions with
respect to the qualities that make his second,
and unfortunately up to the present time, his last
cantata popular in every town and district of the
United Kingdom. In this work Sullivan reaches
his highest level of utterance. Nothing in
English modern art surpasses it; nothing equals
it; nothing even approaches it in beauty of design,
conciseness, symmetry, execution, and achieve-
ment. It stands unique among compositions of
its class. The master hand grips the attention
from the moment the original and thoughtful
writing of the prologue falls on the ear and holds
it to the last strain of its choral epilogue. The
music allotted the respective characters is so dis-
tinctly characteristic, so dramatically appropri-
ate, so teeming with suggestiveness, that we do
not find in it one superfluous bar, one unneeded
SACRED MUSIC 315
note. How beautifully tender are the numbers
in which Elsa is engaged; how abundantly clever
the orchestration that accompanies Lucifer; how
quaint the mixture of monkish chant with
Satanic malignity, how almost cloyingly sweet
the unaccompanied hymn "O Gladsome Light"!
In short, the marvellous completeness of the
cantata justifies the enthusiasm with which it
has been received, and however much of Sulli-
van's work may find its way into the Wallet of
Oblivion we may surely assume that "The
Golden Legend " will live as a worthy memorial
of musical art during the Victorian era and as a
lasting tribute to the genius of its most popular
composer.
SECULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC
NO review of Sir Arthur Sullivan's music
would be complete without some few
special comments on the songs which did
so much so make his name popular with the Eng-
lish public three decades ago. We have always
been a ballad-loving nation, and the list of com-
posers who have left behind them worthy exam-
ples of the art of song writing is extremely
lengthy and varied. But in the middle part of
the present century the old virility and charm of
song-making had seemingly vanished, and at
a time when we were beginning to be inundated
with the mawkish sentimentality of the drawing-
room ballad, Sullivan appeared on the scene,
and by his art and engaging qualities did not a
little to bring back the taste of the public to
something more nearly akin to that which pre-
vailed in the early part of the century, when
Henry Bishop was chief among a very able num-
ber of composers, who were largely influenced
316
REGULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC 3 i 7
by Purcell and his immediate successors. To the
melodious beauty of the old English ballad, Sul-
livan added the finish and refinement of modern
workmanship, and most satisfactory to the musi-
cal mind are his Shakesperean songs, his setting
of the Tennyson series " The Window; or, The
Loves of the Wren," and " O, fair dove." But it
is an invidious task to mention merely a few out
of a collection that numbers close on one hun-
dred and with such melodies ringing in the
mind as " Once Again," " Let me dream again,"
" Looking Back," " O, ma charmante," " The
Distant Shore," to say nothing of " The Lost
Chord," of which more than a quarter of a
million copies have been sold, and which still
charms and captivates English-speaking audi-
ences the whole world over. In his songs there
is the same careful attention to musicianly details,
the same apt fancy for arriving at appropriate-
ness of thought and expression, which charac-
terises his more elaborate and ambitious work ;
and although he does not always succeed in
maintaining the same high level of achievement,
there is not one among them to which, great as
his reputation now is, he need be ashamed of
3 i8 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
seeing his name attached. In his part songs he
was equally conscientious and equally success-
ful, and there is scarcely an amateur vocalist
who is not acquainted with " O, hush thee, my
babie."
And now it becomes our duty to consider the
works which, when all is said and done, stand for
a memorial of Sullivan's accomplishment in ab-
stract art, and as indicative of what he might
have achieved had he taken a wholly ideal view
of his mission in life, and pursued it with unhes-
itating firmness and persistency. Even those of
us who are his warmest admirers, who recognise
the great service he has accomplished in doing
what he has done for comic opera, who still
delight lovingly to pursue our way through the
vocal scores of " Pinafore," " Patience," and the
others of that wonderful series, occasionally
dwell pensively and sometimes sadly on the
little he has given us of that higher beauty
which one might almost say transcends art,
and approximates the grander products of
nature. And yet who could wish " The Gondo-
liers " unwritten? Pondering over Sullivan's
career is like sitting on two stools, and the ulti-
SECULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC 319
mate choice of either would leave us frankly dis-
satisfied. We would not be without our Savoy
reminiscences, and yet we would have him clas-
sically allied with Beethoven and Bach and
sharing their domain ; in short, to take an illustra-
tion from nature herself, we would that we could
liken him to those mountains of the Cordilleras
which, having their base in a torrid zone and
their peaks in the snowy clouds, pass through
the varying temperatures of the spheres, their
sides bedecked with the herbaceous growths of
every latitude. But, perhaps, in our enthusiasm
and admiration for his talent we over-estimate
his limitations; perhaps he himself has gauged
them more accurately and from a more modest
standpoint. In choosing as he did, whether
actuated by art or profit, it matters not which,
he has attained as near perfection as possible,
and better is it for man to do something super-
latively, irreproachably well than something
which his fellows can equal, and which his pred-
ecessors have surpassed. Let us, therefore,
descend from the misty heights of speculation,
and come direct to the more material subject of
actual accomplishment.
320 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
The production of his " Tempest " music at the
Crystal Palace in 1862 was rightly hailed at the
time as a significant epoch in the history of Eng-
lish musical art. It was the work of a boy of
eighteen, and yet to the astutest critic there were
no signs of inexperience, crudity, or ill-digested
thought. Chronicling the production, H. C.
Chorley, the eminent critic, remarked " that there
has been no such first appearance in England in
our time," and we can well understand by the
light of performances in our own day the effect
the composition must have had on an audience as
visibly impressed by the youthfulness of the com-
poser as by the remarkable quality of his work.
That the " Tempest " music strongly reflects the
influence of Mendelssohn detracts in no way
from its captivating merit. Mendelssohn at the
time Arthur Sullivan was a student at Leipzig
was almost as paramount as Wagner is at pres-
ent, and his winning personality added not a lit-
tle to the dominion he held over the musical stu-
dents of the middle part of the century. But the
listener of to-day can easily discern in the work
the characteristics that have marked Sullivan's
music throughout his whole career, and which
SECULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC 321
belong to himself and to none other. If we
simply take as an example the shipwreck music
of the third act, we have the familar charm of
his orchestration, the quaint fancy and conceit of
a mind devoid of vulgarity ; or again, in the
admirable prelude to act five, we have that poet-
ical and mysterious sweetness which has ever
been a noticeable feature of Sullivan's sedater
moments. His incidental contributions to the
Shakespearean literature include the delightful
music to the masque in the " Merchant of Venice,"
a work that was performed at the recent Leeds
Festival, and wholly fascinated an audience
which was astonished at the freshness, the charm,
and the modernity of the composition. The
" Henry VIII." music, equally delightful, main-
tains its position in the concert programme ;
while the overture to the " Macbeth " music, com-
posed for the Lyceum in 1888, is a remarkably
majestic and impressive piece of writing. Men-
tion must also be made of the " Marmion" over-
ture, and the graceful and melodious " Overture
di Ballo," which, composed for the Birmingham
Festival of 1870, remains one of his most popular
works. Allusion has previously been made to
3 22 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
the " In Memoriam" overture and the source of
its inspiration, and a brief return need only be
made to it for the purpose of drawing special
attention to the pathetic beauty of the work as a
whole ; its combination of pious hope and poign-
ant grief, and its wonderfully impressive finale,
wherein the organ joins the instrumental family
with all the grandeur of its breadth and power.
There are some few weak moments in the second
movement, but he must be a stony-hearted cynic
indeed who can listen to its performance
unmoved, or fail to realise in its religious spirit
the active current of man's best emotional
instincts.
The year of the " In Memoriam," 1886, also
saw the production of the Symphony in E minor,
which has been erroneously termed the "Irish"
Symphony, This is the most ambitious effort
Sullivan has made in the pure regions of abstract
art, and its recent performances at the Crystal
Palace enabled not a few to appreciate at a much
higher value his remarkable talent. The work
was composed when Sullivan was but twenty-two
years of age, and its aesthetic bearing seems to
have been induced by a visit to Ireland, for
323
although the Hibernian title is denied it, yet
there is sufficient internal evidence to show that
it contains the evidence of Irish character, not, it
might be said, a difficult thing for Sullivan to
accomplish, seeing he was but speaking the
language of his race. In its various movements
there is to be found the plaintive chord of sad-
ness, the irrepressible and ebullient humour, the
strange contradiction of melancholy and mirth,
the close association of laughter and tears, which
are typically characteristic of the Celt, and only
a composer of keen dramatic instinct could have
invested his theme with such psychological truth-
fulness. Sullivan, in this symphony, writes with
the authority of a master, the form and sym-
metry of classic design must have been his by
natural inspiration, as we have here a complete
work of its kind, full of intellectuality, and lack-
ing in no indication of creative greatness. Music
is not made by Rule of Three, but produced, as
Socrates said of the poet's achievement, " under
the influence of enthusiasm, like prophets and
seers." Alas ! it is the only symphony the com-
poser has given us, and it is too late in the day
to expect that he will make good the deficiency.
3 2 4 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
Sullivan's dramatic music is so well known, and
its fine qualities are so generally admitted, that it
almost becomes a work of supererogation to
deal with it from a critical point of view, and the
purposes of this review will be served by lightly
touching on a few of its salient features, for to
dwell on the detailed charm of all that excites
our admiration in his brilliant series of comic
operas would be to begin with Bouncer's song in
" Cox and Box," and end with the final chorus
in "The Beauty Stone." The one fact, however,
which may be driven home in the minds of the
unthinking is their superiority to any works of
the kind that any composer of native birth has
produced, and we might go further and include
alien musicians. What Boieldieu did for opera
comique in France at the beginning of the cen-
tury Sullivan has done for comic opera in Eng-
land at its end. It used to be the fashion to dub
him " the English Offenbach," a compliment to
the Frenchman certainly, but except in one partic-
ular the two are as distinct in quality as the Pari-
sian diamond and the genuine crystal of nature.
Given a favourable light the one sparkles with
almost the brilliancy of the other, but a fairly
SECULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC 325
competent judge is quickly able to distinguish
the meretricious from the true, the artistically
beautiful from the merely alluring. Offenbach
has the same free fancy for inventing melody,
but his talent has its affinity in the cafe chantant ,
while Sullivan's is instinct with the charm of an
eminently refined nature ; added to which he has
that technical mastery of his craft which Offen-
bach never possessed. Seldom, indeed, has poet,
painter, or musician ever succeeded more com-
pletely in achieving the art of concealing art.
The instrumental scores of his comic operas are
as complete and as perfect in their way as the
masterpieces of Beethoven and Brahms ; they
abound with every indication of ripe scholarship,
with a wealth of the most delicious melody, and
they have the rare quality of a humour so gen-
uinely racy, so opposed to the vulgarisms which
had hitherto been allowed to pass muster, that
Sullivan may almost be credited with the dis-
tinction of inventing a new and delightful phase
of art.
It was our original intention to have touched
briefly on the leading features of each opera, but
on reflection that course appears unnecessary.
326 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
The words of approval suited to the one are
equally adapted to each of the others. The rich
vein of ore that was discovered in " Cox and
Box " runs through the remainder of the series,
for in the little operetta he wrote in collaboration
with Mr. F. C. Burnand he sprang, after the
manner of Minerva, full-grown and fully armed
into the world of comic opera. " Cox and Box "
is as complete in its way as " The Mikado," and
the essential characteristics of the one are the
essential characteristics of the other. " H.M.S.
Pinafore " was the work which unquestion-
ably first gave Sullivan and Gilbert their world-
wide reputation, and " The Yeoman of the
Guard " we hold to take the highest rank as a
work of art, although from a musical point of
view " Ruddigore," the least successful of the
series, runs it very close. Special attention may
be directed to the wonderful orchestration of the
" dream " song in " lolanthe," and this done we
may cease to explore and explain the obvious.
In "Haddon Hall" a more pretentious stand was
taken, and again in " The Beauty Stone," and
each work bears the unmistakable stamp of Sul-
livan, although they are not distinguished by any
SECULAR AND DRAMATIC MUSIC 32?
new features which call for special notice. In
" Ivanhoe," however, Sullivan undoubtedly es-
sayed a distinctly higher form of art, and his
music is characterised by a much more ambi-
tious fancy ; but like so many of his predecessors
he was handicapped by the nature of the libretto,
and this has told against the permanent success
of the work. Its orchestration is extremely able
and appropriate, the vocal part-writing, although
somewhat simple in texture, is very charming,
and from a lyrical point of view the work is
wholly delightful. The Templar's love song in
C flat in the third scene of act two is the best
example of passionate writing that Sullivan has
accomplished, and the duet which follows it is so
strikingly beautiful and powerful that it would
scarcely be exceeding the bounds of discretion
to describe it as the finest to be found in the
whole range of English opera.
Enough has now been said of Sullivan's work
for contemporary purposes; what the judgment
of posterity will be we have no manner of know-
ing. In years to come it may be thought that
the diadem which might have adorned the fair
brow of our English Muse has not received its
328 SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
adequate equivalent in the golden treasure that
has been given to the world for the past three
decades. But this much may be said in reply.
Sullivan's comic opera music has made the world
healthier and happier; it has given exquisite
pleasure to myriads of his race; it has cheered
the family circle and lightened the burden of
many a wearisome day. And, this acknowledged,
can it be said that he has misused his great gift,
that he has not fulfilled his artistic mission; that
he has failed to put to good purpose his " five
talents" ? The academical and the pedantic may
regret that he did not confine himself more
devotedly to the path of abstract art; but how
many more have rejoiced at the rapturous notes,
the blissful melody, the gush of harmonious
sound that have been borne on the bosom of
enchanted winds to the four corners of the
earth !
APPENDIX
COMPRISING A COMPLETE LIST OF
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN'S
WORK
COMPILED BY WILFRID BENDALL
33
APPENDIX
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332
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Procession,
incess of Wale
Kenil worth.
The Sapphire
Necklace.
W *- e
till
Marmion.
Di Ballo.
Additional ac-
mps. to Hande!
Jephthah.
(S
8
APPENDIX
333
Worcester.
Albert Hall
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334
APPENDIX
SERVICES, ANTHEMS, CAROLS, AND PART SONGS.
Title.
Description.
Publisher.
Date.
When Love and Beauty.
Madrigal.
Novello.
1863
pub-
lished
1898
O Love the Lord.
Anthem.
M
1864
We have heard with our ears.
j (
f ?
1865
Te Deum, Jubilate and Kyrie.
Service.
,,
1866 &
1872
The Rainy Day.
Part Song.
,,
1867
(S.A.J.B.)
O Hush Thee, My Babie.
t t
O Taste and See.
Anthem.
1868
Rejoice in the Lord.
,,
Boosey.
Evening.
Part Song.
Novello.
(S.A.J.B.)
Joy to the Victor.
,,
Parting Gleams.
,,
,,
Echoes.
M
M
Song of Peace (from On Shore
,,
Boosey.
and Sea).
I Sing the Birth.
Sacred
,,
,,
Part song
(S.A.J.B.)
The Long Day Closes.
Part song
Novello.
,,
(S.AJ.B.)
The Beleaguered.
'
M
Sing, O Heavens.
Anthem.
Boosey.
1869
All this Night.
Carol.
Novello.
1870
O God, Thou Art Worthy.
Anthem.
,
1871
I Will Worship.
It came upon the Midnight.
Sacred
Boosey.
"
Part song
(S.AJ.B.)
Lead, Kindly Light.
M
Through Sorrow's Path.
M
Watchman, what of the Night ?
M
The Way is Long and Drear.
,,
Festival Te Deum (see Table B).
APPENDIX 335
SERVICES, ANTHEMS, CAROLS AND PART SONGS Continued.
Title.
Description.
Publisher.
Date.
Choruses
adapted
Turn Thee Again.
from
Boosey.
1874
Mercy and Truth.
Russian
Church
Music.
I Will Mention.
Anthem.
t f
1875
Upon the Snowclad Earth.
Carol.
Metzler.
1876
Hearken unto Me.
Anthem.
Novello.
1877
I will Sing of Thy Power.
,,
,,
"
Turn Thy Face.
,,
M
1878
Who is Like unto Thee ?
M
M
1883
Hark, what means ?
Carol.
Patey
-_
Willis.
Wreaths for our Graves.
Anthem.
Novello.
1898
SONGS, ETC.
Name.
Publisher.
Date.
O Israel (Sacred) .
Novello.
1855
Bride from the North .
Cramer.
1863
I heard the Nightingale
Chappell.
,,
Arabian Love Song
tt
1866
Orpheus with his Lute .
Metzler.
O Mistress Mine
Sigh no more, Ladies
The Willow Song .
Sweet Day, so Cool
Rosalind ....
Over the Roof (from The Sappl
lire
Nee
k-
lace)
Cramer.
Thou art Lost to Me
Boosey.
Will he Come ?
A Weary Lot is Thine .
Chappell.
If Doughty Deeds .
-
She is not Fair to Outward View
Boosey.
County Guy ....
Ashdown.
1867
The Maiden's Story
Chappell.
336
APPENDIX
SONGS, ETC. Continued.
Publisher.
Date.
Give
In the Summers Long Ago ... "I
afterwards
My Love beyond the Sea . j
What does Little Birdie Say ?
The Moon in Silent Brightness
O Fair Dove, O Fond Dove ....
Sweet and Fair
1 Wish to Tune my quiv'ring Lyre
The Snow lies White
The Mother's Dream
The Troubadour
Birds in the Night (from Cox and Box, with
different words)
Sad Memories . . .
Dove Song
A Life that Lives for You ....
The Village Chimes
Looking Back
The Window; or the Loves of the Wren, a
cycle of twelve songs ....
Once Again
Golden Days
None But I can Say ....
Guinevere
The Sailor's Grave ....
The Maid of Arcadia (from Thespis) .
There Sits a Bird
Looking Forward
The Young Mother (three songs) .
The Days are Cold ....
afterwards
Little Darling, Sleep Again .
Ay di Mi
The First Departure .
afterwards
The Chorister
O Ma Charmantc
O Bella Mia (Italian version)
Boosey.
Metzler.
Ashdown.
Metzler.
Ashdown.
Boosey.
Metzler.
Boosey.
Strahan.
Boosey.
Cramer.
Boosey.
Cramer.
Metzler.
Cramer.
Metzler.
Cramer.
Metzler.
Cramer.
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1876
1873
1876
1873
1878
1873
APPENDIX
SONGS, ETC. Continued.
337
Name.
Publisher.
Date.
Sweet Dreamer .....
Two songs in The Miller and his Men :
(drawing-room entertainment)
The Marquis de Mincepie
Finale
Nel Ciel Sereno (Merchant of Venice) .
Venetian Serenade ....
Sleep, my Love, Sleep ....
Mary Morison ......
The Distant Shore .....
Thou art Weary .....
My Dear and only Love .
Living Poems .....
Tender and True .....
Christmas Bells at Sea ....
The Love that Loves me not
Love laid his Sleepless Head
Let me Dream Again ....
Thou'rt Passing Hence ....
Sweethearts ......
My Dearest Heart .....
Sometimes ......
The Lost Chord .....
When Thou art Near ....
I Would I Were a King
King Henry's Song (from Henry VIII.)
Morn, Happy Morn (trio) (in the play
Olivia) . .....
Old Love Letters .....
St. Agnes' Eve .....
Edward Gray ......
The Sisters (duet) (originally published in
the Leisure Hour) ....
In the Twilight of our Love (from Patience,
with different words) ....
A Shadow ......
Ever
Etu NolSai \ < i
Bid me at Least
Cramer.
Bosworth.
Boosey.
Chappell.
Boosey.
Chappell.
Novello.
Boosey.
Chappell.
Boosey.
Metzler.
Boosey.
S. Lucas.
Chappell.
Patey
Willis.
Chappell.
1873
1898
1874
1875
1876
1877
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1885
1887
1889
1894
338
APPENDIX
HYMN TUNES.
Name.
Where first Published.
Publisher.
Date.
Hymn of the
Good Words.
Strahan
1867
Homeland.
(afterwards
Boosey ) .
Thou God of
Book of Praise Hymnal.
Macmillan.
1867
Love.
Of Thy Love.
Mount Zion.
Psalms and Hymns for
Nisbet.
, ,
Divine Worship.
Formosa
Psalms and Hymns for
tt
(Falfield).
Divine Worship.
St. Luke.
Psalms and Hymns for
Divine Worship.
The Strain
Brown Borthwick's
Novello.
1868
Upraise.
Supplemental Hymn
and Tune Book.
The Son of
Brown Borthwick's
ii
t
God.
Supplemental Hymn
and Tune Book.
Hymn of the
Boosey.
99
Homeland.
Gennesareth
Sarum Hymnal.
1869
(Heber).
Lacrymas, 222.
The Hymnary.
Novello.
1872
Lux Mundi, 225.
,,
t>
, ,
Saviour, when
,,
,,
f ,
in Dust, 249.
Welcome,
>
H
,,
Happy Morn-
ing, 284.
St. Revin, 285.
it
M
i
Onward, Chris-
H
,,
tian Soldiers
(St. Gertrude),
476.
Safe Home, 507.
M
,,
Gentle
M
,,
Shepherd, 509.
Angel Voices,
,,
,,
532.
Propior Deo,
>
,,
570.
APPENDIX
HYMN TUNES Continued.
339
Name.
Where first Published.
Publisher.
Date.
Venite (Rest),
The Hymnary.
Novello.
1872
597-
St. Edmund, 646
M
M
M
Christus, 496.
Church Hymns with Tunes
S.P.C.K.
1874
Coena Domini,
,,
,,
207.
Coronao, 354.
! 99
t)
()
Dulce sonans,
>
,,
316.
Ever Faithful,
1
99
,,
414.
Evelyn, 390.
l
99
,,
Golden
99 99
,,
,,
Sheaves, 281.
Hanford, 400.
99
99
,,
Holy City, 497.
99
99
,,
Hushed was
99
99
99
the Evening
Hymn 572.
Litany, 585.
99
99
,,
59 2 -
99 99
99
,,
Paradise, 473.
99 99
99
n
Pilgrimage, 367.
Resurrexit, 132.
99 99
99 99
"
St. Francis, 220.
99 99
ti
,,
St. Nathaniel,
99 99
99
,,
257.
Saints of God,
99 99
99
,,
191.
Ultor Omni-
99 99
99
potens, 262.
Valete, 30.
99 99
f}
,,
Veni, Creator,
99 99
,,
,,
346.
St. Mary
99 99
99
99
Magdalene, 494.
Lux in Tenebris,
99 )>
99
,,
409.
Lux Eoi, 67.
99 99
99
99
St. Patrick, 144.
99
,,
St. Theresa, 566.
>,
"
340
APPENDIX
HYMN TUNES Continued.
Name.
Where first Published.
Publisher.
Date.
(Also seven
Church Hymns with Tunes
S.P.C.K.
1874
tunes specially
adapted or
arranged. )
Dominion
Chappell.
1880
Hymn.
Courage,
Good Words.
Strahan.
1882
Brother.
O King of Kings
(Bishopgarth)
Written by command for
the Queen's Jubilee.
Eyre and
Spottis-
1897
woode,
afterwards
Novello.
WORKS FOR PIANO.
Name.
Publisher.
Date.
Thoughts, two pieces for piano solo .
Cramer.
1862
Afterwards published as
Reverie in A )
Phillips
Melody in D f
and Page.
The same arranged for piano and violin
Phillips
and Page.
Day Dreams, six pieces for piano solo .
Boosey.
1867
Twilight
Chappell.
1868
Duo concertanto for piano and 'cello
Lamborn
Cock.
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
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