Editing Gilbert and Sullivan (section)

===Sullivan before Gilbert===
{{main|Arthur Sullivan}}
Sullivan was born in London on 13 May 1842. His father was a military bandmaster, and by the time Arthur had reached the age of eight, he was proficient with all the instruments in the band. In school he began to compose [[anthem]]s and songs. In 1856, he received the first [[Mendelssohn Scholarship]] and studied at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] and then at [[Leipzig]], where he also took up conducting. His graduation piece, completed in 1861, was a suite of [[The Tempest (Sullivan)|incidental music]] to [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[The Tempest]]''. Revised and expanded, it was performed at [[the Crystal Palace]] in 1862 and was an immediate sensation. He began building a reputation as England's most promising young composer, composing a symphony, a concerto, and several overtures, among them the ''[[Overture di Ballo]]'', in 1870.<ref name=Lawrence1>[http://gsarchive.net/sullivan/interviews/lawrence.html "An Illustrated Interview with Sir Arthur Sullivan, by Arthur H Lawrence, Part 1"], ''The Strand Magazine'', Volume xiv, No.84 (December 1897). See also [http://gsarchive.net/sullivan/letters/001.html Sullivan's Letter to ''The Times''], 27 October 1881, Issue 30336, pg. 8 col C</ref>

[[Image:Crystal Palace.PNG|thumb|left|[[The Crystal Palace]], where several early Sullivan works were first performed]]
His early major works for the voice included ''[[The Masque at Kenilworth]]'' (1864); an [[oratorio]], ''[[The Prodigal Son (Sullivan)|The Prodigal Son]]'' (1869); and a dramatic [[cantata]], ''On Shore and Sea'' (1871). He composed a ballet, ''[[L'Île Enchantée]]'' (1864) and incidental music for a number of Shakespeare plays. Other early pieces that were praised were his ''[[Symphony in E, Irish|Symphony in E]]'', ''[[Cello Concerto (Sullivan)|Cello Concerto]]'', and ''[[Overture in C (In Memoriam)]]'' (all three of which premiered in 1866).<ref>Shepherd, Marc, [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/sullorch.htm ''Discography of Sir Arthur Sullivan: Orchestral and Band Music''], ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', accessed 10 June 2007</ref> These commissions were not sufficient to keep Sullivan afloat. He worked as a church organist and composed numerous [[hymn]]s, popular songs, and [[parlour ballads]].<ref name=Turnbull>[http://gsarchive.net/sullivan/html/sull_biog.html Stephen Turnbull's Biography of Arthur Sullivan], ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', accessed 22 November 2006</ref>

Sullivan's first foray into comic opera was ''[[Cox and Box]]'' (1866), written with the librettist [[Francis Cowley Burnand|F. C. Burnand]] for an informal gathering of friends. Public performance followed, with W. S. Gilbert (then writing dramatic criticism for the magazine ''[[Fun (magazine)|Fun]]'') saying that Sullivan's score "is, in many places, of too high a class for the grotesquely absurd plot to which it is wedded."<ref>Harris, pp. X–XI</ref> Nonetheless, it proved highly successful, and is still regularly performed today. Sullivan and Burnand's second opera, ''[[The Contrabandista]]'' (1867) was not as successful.<ref>Ainger, p. 72</ref>