THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 276, 22 November 1927, Page 6

THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

NOVEMBER 22.— DEATH OF SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN.

(By CHARLES CONWAY.)

Twenty-seven ( years ago, on November 22, 1900, Sir Arthur Sullivan, one of the greatest geniuses and- most popular composers in the history of British music, died at the age of 58. He was born in London on May 13, 1842, and inherited his wonderful musical gifts from his father, who was the leading- military bandmaster of his day. At the age of eight Sullivan was able to play every wind instrument in the Sandhurst Royal Military College Band, of which his father was the conductor, and when he was twelve his fine treble voice and musical ability gained him a place in the choir of the Chapel Royal, of which he soon became the leading vocalist. He remained in the choir for four years, and during that time he composed an anthem which was used in the royal services. At the age of fourteen he won the coveted Mendelssohn Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, and two years later, when his voice ■broke and he had to leave the choir, he was sent to Leipzig, where he continued • his musical studies under Lizst and other famous masters. During the two years that he stayed at Leipzig he made a highly successful debut as an orchestral conductor, and produced several of his own compositions.

Soon after he returned to London his incidental music to Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest," was first played, and it won for the young composer, then only twenty years of age, universal recognition of his genius. During the next few years lie produced numerous successful works, including ballets, overtures, oratorios, cantatas and songs, all of which added to his fame, but it was his collaboration in a few of Sir Francis Burnand's popular extravaganzas, then the rage of London, that first revealed to the world his gift of musical drollery, an accomplishment which was to gain for him his widest and most enduring fame. It was in 1871 that Sullivan met William Schwenk Gilbert, the greatest writer of burlesque comedy of his day, and their meeting resulted in the production of that absolutely unique series of light musical plays known as the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, which have made the names of their author and composer household words throughout the civilised world. Their first collaboration was a burlesque in 1872, but it was not until three years later that they joined forces with Richard D'Oyly Carte, the theatrical manager, and commenced to produce the everpopular light operas which marked an epoch in the history of the musical drama.

The first production of the three partners was "Trial by Jury," the music of which was composed by Sullivan in less than three weeks, and during the next twenty years the inimitable trio presented to the world "The Sorcerers," "H.ALs. Pinafore," "The Pirates of Penzance," "Patience," "lolanthe," "Princess Ida," "The Mikado," "Ruddigore," "The Yeoman of the Guard" and "The Gondoliers." Tho enormous success which attends the constant revival of these light operas in all parts of the world has tended to overshadow Sullivan's great achievements in other fields of the musical art, notably in the production.of church music, of which "The Golden Legend" is considered to be his masterpiece.