Editing Arthur Sullivan (section)

===Melody and rhythm===
''The Musical Times'' noted that Sullivan's tunes, at least in the comic operas, appeal to the professional as much as to the layman: his continental contemporaries such as [[Saint-Saëns]] and the Viennese critic [[Eduard Hanslick]] held the Savoy operas in high regard.<ref>Jacobs, p. 244; and Harding, p. 119</ref> Hughes writes, "When Sullivan wrote what we call 'a good tune' it was nearly always 'good music' as well. Outside the ranks of the giants there are few other composers of whom the same could be said."<ref name=Hughes129/> Although his melodies sprang from rhythm,<ref name=Lawrence2/> some of his themes may have been prompted by his chosen instrumentation or his harmonic techniques.<ref name=Hughes129>Hughes, p. 129</ref>

[[File:If-you-go-in-verse-refrain.tif|thumb|upright=2.75|Climaxes of verse and refrain of "If You Go In" (''[[Iolanthe]]'')|alt=Excerpt of music – part of Tolloller's line]]
In the comic operas, where many numbers are in verse-plus-refrain form, Sullivan shaped his melodies to provide a climax for the verse, capped by an overall climax in the refrain.<ref name=h128/> Hughes cites "If you go in" (''Iolanthe'') as an example. He adds that Sullivan rarely reached the same class of excellence in instrumental works, where he had no librettist to feed his imagination.<ref name=h128>Hughes, p. 128</ref> Even with Gilbert, on those occasions when the librettist wrote in unvaried metre, Sullivan often followed suit and produced phrases of simple repetition, such as in "Love Is a Plaintive Song" (''Patience'') and "A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid" (''The Yeomen of the Guard'').<ref>Hughes, p. 125</ref>

Sullivan preferred to write in [[major key]]s, overwhelmingly in the Savoy operas, and even in his serious works.<ref name=Hughes52>Hughes, p. 52</ref> Examples of his rare excursions into minor keys include the long E minor melody in the first movement of the ''Irish Symphony'', "Go Away, Madam" in the Act I finale of ''Iolanthe'' (echoing [[Verdi]] and [[Beethoven]]) and the execution march in the Act I finale of ''The Yeomen of the Guard''.<ref name=Hughes52/>