Editing Arthur Sullivan (section)

===Later 1880s===
[[File:Sullivan by Millais.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Portrait by [[John Everett Millais|Millais]] (1888) in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]], London |alt=Painting of Sullivan, seated with one leg crossed over the other, looking intently at the artist]]
In 1886 Sullivan composed his second and last large-scale choral work of the decade. It was a cantata for the Leeds Festival, ''[[The Golden Legend (cantata)|The Golden Legend]]'', based on [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]]'s poem of the same name. Apart from the comic operas, this proved to be Sullivan's best received full-length work.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 242–243</ref> It was given hundreds of performances during his lifetime, and at one point he declared a moratorium on its presentation, fearing that it would become over-exposed.<ref>Turnbull, Stephen. [https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/html/sull_biog.html "Sullivan Biography"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 28 July 2018</ref> Only [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' was performed more often in Britain in the 1880s and 1890s.<ref name=hulme>Russell Hulme, David. Notes to Hyperion CD set CDA67280, ''The Golden Legend'' (2001)</ref> It remained in the repertory until about the 1920s, but since then it has seldom been performed;<ref>Jacobs, p. 243</ref> it received its first professional recording in 2001.<ref name=hulme/> The musical scholar and conductor [[David Russell Hulme]] writes that the work influenced [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]] and [[William Walton|Walton]].{{refn|"''King Olaf'', ''Caractacus'' and ''[[The Dream of Gerontius|Gerontius]]'' owe much to ''The Golden Legend'' – as, via them, does Walton's ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)|Belshazzar's Feast]]''."<ref name=hulme/>|group= n}}

''[[Ruddigore]]'' followed ''The Mikado'' at the Savoy in 1887. It was profitable, but its nine-month run was disappointing compared with most of the earlier Savoy operas.<ref>Ainger, pp. 259–261</ref> For their next piece, Gilbert submitted another version of the magic lozenge plot, which Sullivan again rejected. Gilbert finally proposed a comparatively serious opera, to which Sullivan agreed.<ref>Ainger, pp. 265, 270</ref>  Although it was not a grand opera, ''[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]'' (1888) provided him with the opportunity to compose his most ambitious stage work to date.<ref>Ainger, pp. 281–282; and Jacobs, pp. 274–275</ref> As early as 1883 Sullivan had been under pressure from the musical establishment to write a grand opera. In 1885 he told an interviewer, "The opera of the future is a compromise [among the French, German and Italian schools] – a sort of eclectic school, a selection of the merits of each one. I myself will make an attempt to produce a grand opera of this new school.&nbsp;... Yes, it will be an historical work, and it is the dream of my life."<ref name=sfc>"Sir Arthur Sullivan: A Talk With the Composer of ''Pinafore''", ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', 22 July 1885, p. 9</ref> After ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' opened, Sullivan turned again to Shakespeare, composing incidental music for [[Henry Irving]]'s [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]] production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' (1888).<ref>Hughes, p.19</ref>

Sullivan wished to produce further serious works with Gilbert. He had collaborated with no other librettist since 1875. But Gilbert felt that the reaction to ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' had "not been so convincing as to warrant us in assuming that the public want something more earnest still".<ref name=WriteTwoOperas/> He proposed instead that Sullivan should go ahead with his plan to write a grand opera, but should continue also to compose comic works for the Savoy.{{refn|Gilbert wrote, "We have a name, jointly, for humorous work, tempered with occasional glimpses of earnest drama. I think we should do unwisely if we left, altogether, the path which we have trodden together so long and so successfully. I can quite understand your desire to write a big work, well, why not write one? But why abandon the Savoy business? Cannot the two things be done concurrently? If you can write an oratorio like ''[[The Martyr of Antioch]]'' while you are occupied by pieces like ''[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]'' and ''[[Iolanthe]]'', can't you write a grand opera without giving up pieces like ''The Yeomen of the Guard''?"<ref name=WriteTwoOperas>Letter from Gilbert to Sullivan, 20 February 1889, quoted in Jacobs, p. 282</ref>|group= n}} Sullivan was not immediately persuaded. He replied, "I have lost the liking for writing comic opera, and entertain very grave doubts as to my power of doing it."{{refn|Sullivan continued, "I have lost the necessary nerve for it, and it is not too much to say that it is distasteful to me. The types used over and over again (unavoidable in such a company as ours), the [[George Grossmith|Grossmith]] part, the middle-aged woman with fading charms, cannot again be clothed in music by me. Nor can I again write to any wildly improbable plot in which there is not some human interest.&nbsp;... You say that in serious opera, ''you'' must more or less sacrifice yourself. I say that this is just what I have been doing in all our joint pieces, and, what is more, must continue to do in comic opera to make it successful. Business and syllabic setting assume an importance which, however much they fetter me, cannot be overlooked. I am bound, in the interests of the piece, to give way. Hence the reason of my wishing to do a work where the music is to be the first consideration – where words are to suggest music, not govern it, and where music will intensify and emphasize the emotional effects of the words.<ref>Letter from Sullivan to Gilbert, 12 March 1889, quoted in Jacobs, pp. 283–284</ref>|group= n}} Nevertheless, Sullivan soon commissioned a grand opera libretto from [[Julian Sturgis]] (who was recommended by Gilbert), and suggested to Gilbert that he revive an old idea for an opera set in colourful [[Venice]].<ref>Jacobs, pp. 282–283 and 288; and Ainger, p. 294</ref> The comic opera was completed first: ''[[The Gondoliers]]'' (1889) was a piece described by [[Gervase Hughes]] as a pinnacle of Sullivan's achievement.<ref name="Hughes, p. 24">Hughes, p. 24</ref> It was the last great Gilbert and Sullivan success.<ref>Ainger, p. 303</ref>