The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan
Book Review: Why, damme, it's too bad!
Summary: 3 Stars
$42.00?? C'mon now, this is a paperback for pity's sake! I would have no problems with the price if this book really had enough information contained to make it worthwhile. Basically it consists of the librettos of all the G & S (Thespis excluded. so how is it so darn complete?) operas on the right-hand page, with notes etc. on the left page. In all fairness the notes are on the exhaustive side, but without an index it become a chore to find anything revelant to which you may want to apply them. Coupled with some perfunctory introductions I can't in fairness give this more than 3 stars. Perhaps a bio of the respective librettist & composer would have come in handy, as well as a few illusrations showing productions of the operas over the years; would make me harp less about the price. Book Review: The Gilbert And Sullivan Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is the ultimate source for information on all things Gilbert and Sullivan. Written for a contemporary audience, it has a plethora of background info on the productions of the Savoy operas, the singers who originated the roles, the translations to some of the meaning of the words in the lyrics (which were inside jokes back in the time of Gilbert and Sullivan:1870-1900 and a history of performances throughout the 20th century. There are profiles and biographies of William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as well as Richard D'Oyly Carte. William Gilbert was a playwright, poet and writer for the satirical magazine Fun. His comic style of writing came to its full powers when he wrote the lyrics and libretti for all the light operas he conceived. Arthur Sullivan was a serious English composer, who at the time was probably competing against the bigger names of Elgar, Ralph Vaughn Williams or Benjamin Britten. Arthur Sullivan wrote English equivalent for German Lieder as Victorian drawing room songs, as well as symphonies and concerti. The Irish Symphony and the Program Music- The Tempest are his most acclaimed. Gilbert and Sullivan were not always a perfect match. Their personalities were distinctly different. Gilbert was humorous, witty, playful and always catering to popular tastes. Arthur Sullivan was intellectual, artistic, serious and introverted. All his life he was unable to step out of the fame he got for the light operas he wrote with Gilbert. He wanted the fame of the serious music composer and not just the silly light operas he made so popular in what was at the time the ancestor of today's Armerican Broadway- the Savoy.Richard D'Oyly Carte was the manager and impresario for Gilbert and Sullivan. He first collaborated with them in Trial By Jury in 1875. He would manage finances for the Savoy, a theatre built especially for Gilbert and Sullivan light operas. D'Oyly Carte's children and grandchildren, among them Bridget D'Oyly Carte, would continue to produce Gilbert and Sullivan operas after his death. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued successfully launching all the great titles- The H.M. S. Pinafore (first premiered 1878) Pirates Of Penzance (1879-1880) The Mikado (1885)
as well as other great but less popular Princess Ida, Iolanthe, Patience, The Gondoliers, The Yeoman Of The Guard, The Grand Duke and Utopia Limited. The D'Oyly Carte Opera has had a rich history of performers- baritone John Reed, soprano Valerie Masterson, tenor Phillip Potter and mezzo soprano Christene Palmer as well as bass Donald Adams. There is a sensational film made in 1967 of The Mikado starring these legendary singers. I hope this great book gets you into Gilbert and Sullivan. It's enough info for you to acquire a Ph.D. in light opera
Book Review: This book has no index!
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this book and then returned it because,astonishingly, it has no index.
And only a perfunctory table of contents (as you can see above).
Fine if you want to read it like a novel,
but for a reference these are serious shortcomings.
Book Review: Just the best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is just the best of several annotated G & S libretto collections that have been published over the years. It is actually a republication (with revisions) of two paperbacks by Bradley published some years earlier. They are listed as out of print, which they are, but that doesn't matter with this excellently produced single volume now available. Bradley doesn't have space to give us the last word on all aspects of the operas, but he is exhaustive on the texts, and no real G & S fan can afford not to have this on the shelf. The only other one to look for (it is out of print) is the volume by Martyn Green because his notes include a lot of valuable information about staging.Book Review: A must for any G&S Fan
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the only book for a true Gilbert and Sullivan fan, especially since it literally is the only complete collection of their works available today for purchase. Luckily, it's a good one: it includes all of their Savoy operettas as well as their lesser-known later works such as Utopia Ltd. The real jewels of the collection, however, remain their best operas: HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, The Sorcerer. This book is especially helpful because it contains all of the lyrics to all of the songs, and most CD recordings of the operas do not come with the lyrics (for many of the songs, it is impossible to catch all of the words simply by hearing them). Ian Bradley's notes, printed off to the side, are also interesting and help shed light on obscure words and phrases. Enjoy!