Editing Arthur Sullivan (section)

===Harmony and counterpoint===
Sullivan was trained in the classical style, and contemporary music did not greatly attract him.<ref name=Hughes44>Hughes, p. 44</ref> Harmonically his early works used the conventional formulae of early-nineteenth-century composers including Mendelssohn, [[Daniel Auber|Auber]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]], [[Michael William Balfe|Balfe]] and Schubert.<ref>Hughes, pp. 44 and 49</ref> Hughes comments that harmonic contrast in the Savoy works is enhanced by Sullivan's characteristic modulation between keys, as in "Expressive Glances" (''Princess Ida''), where he negotiates smoothly E major, C sharp minor and C major, or "Then One of Us will Be a Queen" (''The Gondoliers''), where he writes in F major, D flat major and D minor.<ref>Hughes, p. 59</ref>

When reproached for using [[consecutive fifths]] in ''Cox and Box'', Sullivan replied "if 5ths turn up it doesn't matter, so long as there is no offence to the ear."<ref name=musicaltimes/> Both Hughes<ref>Hughes, p. 48</ref> and Jacobs in ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]''<ref name=grove/> comment adversely on Sullivan's overuse of [[Pedal point|tonic pedals]], usually in the bass, which Hughes attributes to "lack of enterprise or even downright laziness". Another Sullivan trademark criticised by Hughes is the repeated use of the chord of the [[augmented fourth]] at moments of pathos.<ref>Hughes, pp. 47–48</ref> In his serious works, Sullivan attempted to avoid harmonic devices associated with the Savoy operas, with the result, according to Hughes, that ''The Golden Legend'' is a "hotch-potch of harmonic styles".<ref>Hughes, p. 66</ref>

[[file:Mikado-trio.tif|thumb|upright=2.75|Characteristic "counterpoint of characters" from ''The Mikado'', Act 1|alt=Excerpt of music – part of "I Am So Proud"]]
One of Sullivan's best-known devices is what Jacobs terms his "'counterpoint of characters': the presentation by different personages of two seemingly independent tunes which later come together" simultaneously. He was not the first composer to combine themes in this way,{{refn|An earlier exponent of the device was [[Hector Berlioz]], who called it the ''réunion de deux thèmes''. The article on Berlioz in ''Grove'' cites examples including the finale of the ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]'', where the "witches' sabbath" theme is combined with the [[Dies irae]].<ref>[[Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|Macdonald, Hugh]]. [https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.51424 "Berlioz, (Louis-)Hector"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001 accessed 11 October 2018 {{subscription}}</ref>|group= n}} but in Jacobs's phrase it became almost "the trademark of Sullivan's operetta style".<ref name=grove/><ref name=h78>Hughes, p. 78</ref> Sometimes the melodies were for solo voices, as in "I Am So Proud" (''The Mikado''), which combines three melodic lines.<ref>Hughes, pp. 79 and 81–82</ref> Other examples are in choruses, where typically a graceful tune for the women is combined with a robust one for the men. Examples include "When the Foeman Bares his Steel" (''The Pirates of Penzance''), "In a Doleful Train" (''Patience'') and "Welcome, Gentry" (''Ruddigore'').<ref>Hughes, pp. 79–80</ref> In "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" (''The Pirates of Penzance''), one theme is given to the chorus (in 2/4 time) and the other to solo voices (in 3/4).<ref>Rees, p. 80</ref>

Sullivan rarely composed [[fugue]]s. Examples are from the "Epilogue" to ''The Golden Legend'' and ''Victoria and Merrie England''.<ref>Hughes, pp. 73–74</ref> In the Savoy operas, fugal style is reserved for making fun of legal solemnity in ''Trial by Jury'' and ''Iolanthe'' (e.g., the Lord Chancellor's [[leitmotif]] in the latter).<ref name=h75/> Less formal counterpoint is employed in numbers such as "Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day" (''The Mikado'') and "When the Buds Are Blossoming" (''Ruddigore'').<ref name=h75>Hughes, p. 75</ref>