Editing Arthur Sullivan (section)

===Beginnings===
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| image1 = Arthur Sullivan as a child.webp
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|alt1=Photo of a little boy in Victorian clothing
| caption1 =Aged four or five
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|alt2=Photo of boy in Chapel Royal choir uniform
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|caption2=Aged twelve
|caption3=As Chapel Royal chorister
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Sullivan was born on 13 May 1842 in [[Lambeth]], London, the younger of the two children, both boys, of Thomas Sullivan (1805–1866) and his wife, Mary Clementina ''née'' Coghlan (1811–1882). His father was a military bandmaster, clarinettist and music teacher, born in Ireland and raised in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London; his mother was English born, of Irish and Italian descent.<ref>Young, pp. 1–2</ref> Thomas Sullivan was based from 1845 to 1857 at the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], where he was the bandmaster and taught music privately to supplement his income.<ref name=Ancestry>Ainger, pp. 6 and 22–23</ref><ref>Jacobs, pp. 6–7</ref> Young Arthur became proficient with many of the instruments in the band and composed an [[anthem]], "By the Waters of Babylon", when he was eight.<ref>Jacobs, p. 7</ref> He later recalled:
{{quote|I was intensely interested in all that the band did, and learned to play every wind instrument, with which I formed not merely a passing acquaintance, but a real, life-long, intimate friendship. I gradually learned the peculiarities of each&nbsp;... what it could do and what it was unable to do. I learned in the best possible way how to write for an orchestra.<ref name=young4>Sullivan, quoted in Young, pp. 4–5</ref>|}}

While recognising the boy's obvious talent, his father knew the insecurity of a musical career and discouraged him from pursuing it.<ref>Young, p. 5</ref> Sullivan studied at a private school in [[Bayswater]]. In 1854 he persuaded his parents and the headmaster to allow him to apply for membership in the choir of the [[Chapel Royal]].<ref>Jacobs, p. 7; and Ainger, p. 24</ref> Despite concerns that, at nearly 12 years of age, Sullivan was too old to give much service as a [[Boy soprano|treble]] before his voice broke, he was accepted and soon became a soloist. By 1856, he was promoted to "first boy".<ref>Jacobs, pp. 8 and 12</ref> Even at this age, his health was delicate, and he was easily fatigued.<ref name="Jacobs, pp. 12–13">Jacobs, pp. 12–13</ref>

Sullivan flourished under the training of the Reverend [[Thomas Helmore]], [[Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal]], and began to write anthems and songs.<ref name=Jacobs11>Jacobs, pp. 10–11</ref> Helmore encouraged his compositional talent and arranged for one of his pieces, "O Israel", to be published in 1855, his first published work.<ref>Young, p. 8</ref> Helmore enlisted Sullivan's assistance in creating harmonisations for a volume of ''The Hymnal Noted''<ref name=musicaltimes>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3368297 "Arthur Sullivan"], ''The Musical Times'', 1 December 1900, pp. 785–787 {{subscription}}</ref> and arranged for the boy's compositions to be performed; one anthem was performed at the Chapel Royal in [[St James's Palace]] under the direction of [[George Thomas Smart|Sir George Smart]].<ref name=Jacobs11/>