Publisher's Synopsis
This is a revised, enlarged edition of a book which on its original appearance in 1984 was hailed as a landmark in the study of Victorian musical life. It presents the figure of Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) not only as the celebrated co-creator of light operas with W.S. Gilbert, but as a composer of all sorts of music from symphony and concerto to ballads such as "The Lost Chord" and hymns such as "Onward Christian Soldiers". A prominent public life, with a knighthood in 1883, is contrasted with an unconventional private life with a liaison of almost 30 years with an American living in London, Mary Frances Ronalds. The author had access to Sullivan's diary at Yale University and to letters and other documents at the Peirpont Morgan Library in New York. An additional chapter updates research to the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, 1992, and incorporates music examples.
