Editing Gilbert and Sullivan (section)

===Last works===
[[Image:Utopia Limited Poster.jpg|thumb|400px|The drawing room scene from Act II of ''[[Utopia, Limited]]'']]
''[[Utopia, Limited]]'' (1893), their penultimate opera, was a very modest success, and their last, ''[[The Grand Duke]]'' (1896), was an outright failure.<ref>Wolfson, passim</ref> Neither work entered the canon of regularly performed Gilbert and Sullivan works until the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company made the first complete professional recordings of the two operas in the 1970s. Gilbert had also offered Sullivan another libretto, ''[[His Excellency (opera)|His Excellency]]'' (1894), but Gilbert's insistence on casting [[Nancy McIntosh]], his protege from ''Utopia'', led to Sullivan's refusal, and ''His Excellency'' was instead composed by [[F. Osmond Carr]].<ref>Wolfson, pp. 61–65</ref> Meanwhile, the Savoy Theatre continued to revive the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, in between new pieces, and D'Oyly Carte touring companies also played them in repertory.<ref>Ainger, pp. 355–358</ref>

[[Image:Glad to See You Together.png|thumb|left|upright|The ''Entr'acte'' expresses its pleasure that Gilbert and Sullivan are reunited]]
After ''The Grand Duke'', the partners saw no reason to work together again. A last unpleasant misunderstanding occurred in 1898. At the premiere of Sullivan's opera ''[[The Beauty Stone]]'' on 28 May, Gilbert arrived at the Savoy Theatre with friends, assuming that Sullivan had reserved some seats for him. Instead, he was informed that Sullivan objected to his presence. The composer later denied that this was true.<ref name=Ford/> The last time they met was at the Savoy Theatre on 17 November 1898 at the celebration of the 21st anniversary of the first performance of ''The Sorcerer''. They did not speak to each other.<ref>Howarth, Paul. [http://gsarchive.net/sorcerer/programmes/1898_souvenir/so_1898.html "''The Sorcerer'' 21st Anniversary Souvenir"], The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 8 October 2009, accessed 21 August 2012</ref> Sullivan, by this time in exceedingly poor health, died in 1900, although to the end he continued to write new comic operas for the Savoy with other librettists, most successfully with [[Basil Hood]] in ''[[The Rose of Persia]]'' (1899). Gilbert also wrote several works, some with other collaborators, in the 1890s. By the time of Sullivan's death in 1900, Gilbert wrote that any memory of their rift had been "completely bridged over," and "the most cordial relations existed between us."<ref name=Ford/><ref name=Walbrook18>Walbrook, H. M. [http://gsarchive.net/books/walbrook/chap18.html "The English Offenbach"], ''Gilbert & Sullivan Opera: A History and a Comment'', reprinted at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 28 September 2003, accessed 27 May 2009</ref> He stated that "Sullivan ... because he was a composer of the rarest genius, was as modest and as unassuming as a neophyte should be, but seldom is...I remember all that he has done for me in allowing his genius to shed some of its lustre upon my humble name."<ref name=Walbrook18/>

[[Richard D'Oyly Carte]] died in 1901, after which his widow, [[Helen Carte|Helen]], directed the activities of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy and on tour. Gilbert went into semi-retirement, although he continued to direct revivals of the Savoy Operas and wrote new plays occasionally. Between 1906 and 1909, he assisted Mrs. Carte in staging two repertory seasons at the Savoy Theatre. These were very popular and revived interest in the works.<ref>Joseph, p. 146</ref> Gilbert was knighted during the first repertory season.<ref>Wilson and Lloyd, p. 83</ref> After Sullivan's death, Gilbert wrote only one more comic opera, ''[[Fallen Fairies]]'' (1909; music by [[Edward German]]), which was not a success.<ref name=Ford/><ref>Baily, p. 425</ref>