Arthur Sullivan

Arthur Sullivan was Victorian Britain’s most celebrated composer, whose music still reaches a wider audience than that of any of his contemporaries. Yet the comic operas on which Sullivan’s reputation is chiefly based have been consistently belittled or ignored, while his serious works have until recently remained virtually unknown. This book offers a new appraisal of the music of this most notable 19th-century British composer. Focusing on key pieces in all the major genres in which he composed, it includes accounts of his most important serious works alongside examination of the celebrated operas created with W.S. Gilbert to present a balanced portrayal of Sullivan’s musical achievement.