Queer Places:
Saint Paul's Cathedral,
London, City of London, Greater London, England
Sir
Arthur Seymour Sullivan
MVO (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best
known for 14
operatic
collaborations with the dramatist
W.
S. Gilbert, including
H.M.S. Pinafore,
The Pirates of Penzance and
The
Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten
choral works and
oratorios,
two ballets,
incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and
piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward,
Christian Soldiers" and "The
Lost Chord".
Caryl Brahms, author of "Gilbert and Sullivan: Lost Chords and Discords"
(1975), says that Sullivan had a relationship with
Alfred, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
The Gay Book of Days (Carol Publishing Corporation, 1985) and
The Alyson Almanac (Alyson Publications, 1990) both list Sullivan as a gay
composer.
The son of a military bandmaster, Sullivan composed his first anthem at the
age of eight and was later a soloist in the boys' choir of the
Chapel Royal. In 1856, at 14, he was awarded the first
Mendelssohn Scholarship by the
Royal Academy of Music, which allowed him to study at the academy and then
at the
Leipzig Conservatoire in Germany. His graduation piece,
incidental music to
Shakespeare's
The Tempest (1861), was received with acclaim on its first performance
in London. Among his early major works were a ballet,
L'Île Enchantée (1864), a
symphony, a
cello concerto (both 1866) and his
Overture di Ballo (1870). To supplement the income from his concert
works he wrote hymns,
parlour ballads and other light pieces, and worked as a church organist
and music teacher.
In 1866 Sullivan composed a one-act
comic
opera,
Cox
and Box, which is still widely performed. He wrote his first opera
with W. S. Gilbert,
Thespis, in 1871. Four years later, the
impresario
Richard D'Oyly Carte engaged Gilbert and Sullivan to create a one-act
piece,
Trial by Jury (1875). Its box-office success led to a series of twelve
full-length comic operas by the collaborators. After the extraordinary success
of H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879),
Carte used his profits from the partnership to build the
Savoy Theatre in 1881, and their joint works became known as the
Savoy operas. Among the best known of the later operas are The Mikado
(1885) and
The Gondoliers (1889). Gilbert broke from Sullivan and Carte in 1890,
after a quarrel over expenses at the Savoy. They reunited in the 1890s for two
more operas, but these did not achieve the popularity of their earlier works.
Sullivan's infrequent serious pieces during the 1880s included two
cantatas,
The Martyr of Antioch (1880) and
The Golden Legend (1886), his most popular choral work. He also wrote
incidental music for
West End productions of several Shakespeare plays and held conducting and
academic appointments. Sullivan's only
grand
opera,
Ivanhoe, though initially successful in 1891, has rarely been revived.
In his last decade Sullivan continued to compose comic operas with various
librettists and wrote other major and minor works. He died at the age of 58,
regarded as Britain's foremost composer. His comic opera style served as a
model for generations of musical theatre composers that followed, and his
music is still frequently performed, recorded and
pastiched.
Sullivan never married, but he had serious love affairs with several women.
The first was with Rachel Scott Russell (1845–1882), the daughter of the
engineer
John Scott Russell. Sullivan was a frequent visitor at the Scott Russell
home in the mid-1860s, and by 1865 the affair was in full bloom. Rachel's
parents did not approve of a possible union with a young composer of uncertain
financial prospects, but the two continued to see each other covertly. At some
point in 1868 Sullivan started a simultaneous (and secret) affair with
Rachel's sister Louise (1841–1878). Both relationships ended by early 1869.[168][n
25]
Sullivan's longest love affair was with the American socialite
Fanny Ronalds, a woman three years his senior, who had two children.[170]
He met her in Paris around 1867, and the affair began in earnest soon after
she moved to London in 1871.[170]
According to a contemporary description of Ronalds, "Her face was perfectly
divine in its loveliness, her features small and exquisitely regular. Her hair
was a dark shade of brown – châtain foncé [deep chestnut] – and very
abundant ... a lovely woman, with the most generous smile one could possibly
imagine, and the most beautiful teeth."[171]
Sullivan called her "the best amateur singer in London".[172]
She often performed Sullivan's songs at her famous Sunday soirées.[170]
She became particularly associated with "The Lost Chord", singing it both in
private and in public, often with Sullivan accompanying her.[173]
When Sullivan died, he left her the autograph manuscript of that song, along
with other bequests.[174]
Ronalds was separated from her American husband, but they never divorced.
Social conventions of the time compelled Sullivan and Ronalds to keep their
relationship private.[n
26] She apparently became pregnant at least twice and procured
abortions in 1882 and 1884.[176]
Sullivan had a roving eye, and his diary records the occasional quarrels when
Ronalds discovered his other liaisons, but he always returned to her.[n
27] Around 1889 or 1890 the sexual relationship evidently ended – he
started to refer to her in his diary as "Auntie"[178]
– but she remained a constant companion for the rest of his life.[179]
In 1896 the 54-year-old Sullivan proposed marriage to the 22-year-old
Violet Beddington (1874–1962), but she refused him.[180][n
28]
Sullivan loved to spend time in France (both in Paris and on the
Riviera), where his acquaintances included European royalty and where the
casinos enabled him to indulge his passion for gambling.[183]
He enjoyed hosting private dinners and entertainments at his home, often
featuring famous singers and well-known actors.[184]
In 1865 he was initiated into
Freemasonry and was Grand Organist of the
United Grand Lodge of England in 1887 during Queen Victoria's
Golden Jubilee.[185]
Sullivan's talent and native charm gained him the friendship of many not only
in the musical establishment, such as Grove, Chorley and Herman Klein, but
also in society circles, such as
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.[186]
Sullivan enjoyed playing tennis; according to
George Grossmith, "I have seen some bad lawn-tennis players in my time,
but I never saw anyone so bad as Arthur Sullivan".[184]
Sullivan was devoted to his parents, particularly his mother. He
corresponded regularly with her when away from London, until her death in
1882.
Henry Lytton wrote, "I believe there was never a more affectionate tie
than that which existed between [Sullivan] and his mother, a very witty old
lady, and one who took an exceptional pride in her son's accomplishments."[187]
Sullivan was also very fond of his brother Fred, whose acting career he
assisted whenever possible,[n
29] and of Fred's children.[192]
After Fred died at the age of 39, leaving his pregnant wife, Charlotte, with
seven children under the age of 14, Sullivan visited the family often and
became guardian to the children.[193]
In 1883 Charlotte and six of her children emigrated to
Los
Angeles, California, leaving the oldest boy,
"Bertie", in Sullivan's sole care.[194]
Despite his reservations about the move to America, Sullivan paid all the
costs and gave substantial financial support to the family.[195]
A year later, Charlotte died, leaving the children to be raised mostly by her
brother.[n
30] From June to August 1885, after The Mikado opened,
Sullivan visited the family in Los Angeles and took them on a sightseeing trip
of the American west.[197]
Throughout the rest of his life, and in his will, he contributed financially
to Fred's children, continuing to correspond with them and to be concerned
with their education, marriages and financial affairs. Bertie remained with
his Uncle Arthur for the rest of the composer's life.[198]
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