Yeoman could refer to a free man holding a small landed estate, a minor landowner, a small prosperous farmer (especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century), a deputy, assistant, journeyman, or a loyal or faithful servant. Work "performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner", especially work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work". Thus yeoman became associated with hard toil.

Yeoman was also a rank or position in a noble or royal household, with titles such as Yeoman of the Chamber, Yeoman of the Crown, Yeoman Usher, and King's Yeoman. Most of these, including the Yeomen of the Guard, had the duty of protecting the sovereign and other dignitaries as a bodyguard, and carrying out various duties for the sovereign as assigned to his office.

In modern British usage, ''yeoman'' may specifically refer to

a member of a reserve military unit called a yeomanry, similar to the militia) traditionally raised from moderately wealthy commoners in England and Wales, and today part of the Territorial Army;

a member of the Yeomen of the Guard or Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London

a servant in the Royal Household at Windsor Castle, such as the Yeoman of the Cellar

a non-commissioned officer usually with the rank of staff sergeant or Warrant Officer Class 1 in the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army, an appointment achieved upon completion of a 14-month technical course.

In the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, a yeoman is a rating usually with secretarial, clerical, payroll or other administrative duties.

In the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and other maritime forces which follow British naval tradition, a Yeoman of Signals is a signalling and tactical communications petty officer.

Etymology

The word yeoman was spelled in various ways in the Middle Ages, such as ''yeman'', ''yoman'', ''yoeman'', and may be derived from an Anglo-Saxon or other Germanic word ''yongeman'' or ''yongerman'', ''yonge man'' or ''iunge man'' ("young man"). This may have referred to a freeborn servant (''serviens'' or ''sergeant'') ranking between an esquire (shield escort, from ''scutum'') and a page (''pagus'', meaning "rustic" and later "young errand boy"). The term ''yongermen'' is found in text as early as the 12th century, and the term ''geongramanna'' is found in ''Beowulf'' at a much earlier period (700-800). Serving men of districts, since the days of the Gau polities in Germania, and the stretches of the Germanic peoples throughout Western Europe immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire would most likely be young men, or young men of the district. ''Yeoman'' or ''gauman'' within the definition of both land and/or service of a young man appeared mostly settled around the border regions or remote country sides of their districts, or kingdoms (both modern and ancient); thus a connection or association with ''pagus'' (pages), or rustics to the term ''yeoman''. In the 14th century the English language increasingly replaced Latin and Norman French in noble circles, and the French term ''valet'' and the Latin term ''valectus'' were replaced by the term ''yeoman''. The term ''yeoman'', primarily identified as "servant", is noted throughout the Calendar Patent Rolls in the early 14th century.

The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''.

History

Middle Ages

Throughout the medieval period the term ''yeoman'' was used in royal and noble households to indicate a servant's rank, position or status. A yeoman often fought in feudal or private warfare.

Long before chivalry developed, the term "knight" (Old English ''cniht'') meant "boy". Terms such as ''radman'', ''radcniht'', or ''radknight'' ("riding man", "road man", "riding boy", "road boy/page") were used. The different terms helped to distinguish the young riding men (yeomen) from the riding boys (pages) who provided a riding or road service. It also indicates a path of career progression within a noble or royal household.

There also 'socmen' or 'sokemen', probably derived from Anglian or Danish, equivalent in status to 'radman', thus combining land status and servile status as equals.

The classes of fighting men in the Middle Ages, from the knights (including knights bachelor), squires, yeomen, to pages, were often young servants; their relative statuses changed over time. Many serving men (servientes or sergeants) would be promoted to positions of importance within the king's or lord's household.

In the earlier Anglo Saxon period, the class of 'geneatas' would most likely be the classification a 'yeoman' in this period as an aristocratic peasantry.]

In the early Middle English period (noted in the text ''Pseudo Cnut De Foresta Constitutiones'' written in the late 11th century), the ‘yonger men’ chosen of liberi homini mediocre were to range the royal forests and is the first known use of the word ''yeoman'' being associated with the forests (both greenwood and royal or manorial hunting forests). The chief forester of such royal forests was stationed at the nearest castle and was also the constable of the castle with his deputy foresters or yeomen assisting in the maintenance and affairs of the royal forests.

The yeomanry was the first class of the commoners (peasants), which in Saxon days would be the equivalent to geneatas or villager. The yeoman was more military and bound to the manor or estate, comparable to the radman or radcniht (radknight) who would provide escorts, deliver messages, erect fences for the hunt, and repair bridges. He would be given land (copyhold or sometimes freehold) by his lord for services well rendered. Many similarities exist between radmen/radknights and yeomen of the crown, as yeomen had many of the same tasks, though he was not as heavily imposed with the intense labor requirements as the radman/radknight had during his time.

Yeomen in the Middle Ages typically owned land worth 40 to 80 shillings annually: roughly between ¼ hide and 1 hide (about 30 to 120 acres, or 12 to 50 hectares). In the early 12th century, 40 acres (16 hectares) of land was worth about 40 to 50 shillings. A yeoman during the 12th and 13th centuries was primarily a household and military (semi-feudal and feudal) term later associated with the days of private warfare.

The Assize of Arms of 1252 provided that small landholders should be armed and trained with a bow, and those of more wealth (wealthy yeomen) would be required to possess and be trained with sword, dagger and longbow (the war bow). That Assize referred to a class of 40-shilling freeholders, who became identified with 'yeomanry', and states "Those with land worth annual 40s-100s will be armed/trained with bow and arrow, sword, buckler and dagger". This status of landowner corresponds to the Knight's Yeoman in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (Yeoman's Portrait in the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales).

This association of the term ''yeoman'' with degree of land ownership may have originated in early Anglo-Saxon times.

The term ''yeoman'' was still used in the 16th century to denote the more prosperous, often owning either copyhold, freehold, or leasehold land.

Not all yeomen owned land: many were indentured or feudal servants in a castle.

Thus the yeoman may be considered as a middle class of sorts, in feudal or manorial service of the king or a lord, and perhaps as a link between nobility and the peasantry. The yeoman represented a status between the aristocratic knights and the lower-class foot soldiers and household servants (pages). The yeoman archer was typically mounted and fought either on foot or on horseback, in contrast with infantry archers,

Also possibly identified within a class of libri homines (freemen) in Domesday Book, the yeoman in service to a king or lord would be known as ''serviens'' or sergeant, or valet/valectus during the Norman period.

Yeomen are also noted as providing guard escorts to deliveries of victuals and supplies (not only fighting as an elite archer but also as a guard to the baggage train as well a protector of the nobility and royalty) to the expeditions of the Hundred Years' War. They also provided escorts for the sovereign and great nobles on their journeys and their pilgrimages across the realm and overseas. Yeomen of the Crown were essentially agents of the king who were allowed to sit and dine with knights and squires of any lord's house or estate. At retirement they were offered tenure of stewardship of royal forests at the king’s choosing.

14th to 18th centuries

In the late 14th to 18th centuries, yeomen were farmers who owned land (freehold, leasehold or copyhold). Their wealth and the size of their landholding varied.

Many yeomen were prosperous, and wealthy enough to employ servants and farm labourers. Some were as wealthy as the minor county or regional landed gentry and some even leased land to gentleman landowners. Some could be classed as gentlemen but did not aspire to this status: it was cheaper to remain a yeoman. Often it was hard to distinguish minor landed gentry from the wealthier yeomen, and wealthier husbandmen from the poorer yeomen. Some yeomen in the later Tudor and Stuart periods were descended from medieval military yeomen. This is attested mainly by weapons found above fireplace mantles in the West Midlands of England (especially in the border shires).

Yeomen were called upon to serve their sovereign and country well after the Middle Ages, for example in the Yeomanry Cavalry of the late 18th century and later Imperial Yeomanry of the late 1890s.

Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, Garter Principal King of Arms, wrote that "a Yeoman would not normally have less than 100 acres" (40 hectares) "and in social status is one step down from the Landed Gentry, but above, say, a husbandman. "(English Genealogy, Oxford, 1960, pps: 125-130).

A yeoman could be equally comfortable working on his farm, educating himself from books, or enjoying country sports such as shooting and hunting. By contrast members of the landed gentry and the aristocracy did not farm their land themselves, but let it to tenant farmers. Yeomen in the Tudor and Stuart periods might also lease or rent lands to the minor gentry. However, yeomen and tenant farmers were the two main divisions of the rural middle class, and the yeoman was a respectable, honourable class and ranked above the husbandmen, artisans, and labourers.

Isaac Newton and many other famous people such as Thomas Jefferson hailed from the yeoman class. Isaac Newton inherited a small farm which paid the bills for his academic work. Many yeomen were rich enough to send their sons to school to qualify for a gentlemanly profession. Earlier, the sons of many yeoman families served in royal or great noble households providing not menial, but honourable service, as his social status or degree in society was equal in the royal or noble household.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, (edited by H.W. & F.G. Fowler, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972 reprint, p. 1516) states that a yeoman was "a person qualified by possessing free land of 40/- (shillings) annual [feudal] value, and who can serve on juries and vote for a Knight of the Shire. He is sometimes described as a small landowner, a farmer of the middle classes."

In some ways the ancient "yeoman" was very similar to the "yeomanry" today, volunteers of the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom. Yeoman military corps takes origin from the volunteer cavalry in the mid-18th century, later becoming known as the Yeomanry Cavalry in the 1790s.

United States

In the United States, yeomen were identified in the 18th and 19th centuries as non-slaveholding, small landowning, family farmers. In Southern areas where land was poor, like East Tennessee, the landowning yeomen were typically subsistence farmers, but some managed to grow some crops for market. Whether they engaged in subsistence or commercial agriculture, they controlled far more modest landholdings than those of the planters, typically in the range of 50-200 acres. In the North, practically all the farms were operated by yeoman farmers as family farms.

Thomas Jefferson was a leading advocate of the yeomen, arguing that the independent farmers formed the basis of republican values. Indeed, Jeffersonian Democracy as a political force was largely built around the yeomen. After the Civil War, organizations of farmers, especially the Grange, formed to organize and enhance the status of the yeoman farmers.

Yeoman archers and yew war bows

The English war bow, known as the longbow, was the main weapon of a yeoman archer. It was typically but not always made of yew wood, often Wych Elm; but other woods were used for making bow staves. However, the Spanish, French and Italian yews were also highly sought after because of their superior growth qualities and the very limited availability of English yew in the late Middle Ages.

The 'yeoman archer' was unique to England and Wales (in particular, the south Wales areas of Monmouthshire with the famed archers of Gwent; and Glamorgan, Crickhowell, and Abergavenny; and South West England with the Royal Forest of Dean, Kingswood Royal Forest near Bristol, and the New Forest). Though Kentish Weald and Cheshire archers were noted for their skills, as well the Ettrick Archers of Scotland, it appears that the bulk of the 'yeomanry' was from the English and Welsh Marches (border regions) and the Scottish Borders).

The original Yeomen of the Guard (originally archers) chartered in 1485 were most likely of Briton descent, including Welshmen and Bretons. They were established by King Henry VII, himself a Briton who was exiled in Brittany during the Wars of the Roses. He recruited his forces mostly from Wales and the West Midlands of England on his victorious journey to Bosworth Field.

The Welsh were the first to be attested to have used the 'longbow' made of yew and elm (c.AD 650) either against the Mercians, or as allies of the Mercians against Northumbria. The incident at Abergavenny Castle, where a Welsh arrow pierced through armour and the legs of an English knight, was certainly known to King Henry II, and his grandson Henry III who created or signed the Assize of Arms 1252 identifying the 'war bow' as a national weapon for classes of men who held land under 80s or 100s annually. The 'Yongermen' fell under this classification. By Edward I's reign the bulk of the archers were Welsh, who defeated the Scots and would later be employed with great success by King Edward III in the Hundred Years War. The famous yeoman archers drawn from the Macclesfield Hundred and the Forest districts of Cheshire were specially appointed as bodyguard archers for King Richard II.

Historical roles

Yeomen filled many roles from the Middle Ages through to the 19th century. They were often constables of their parish, and sometimes chief constables of the district, shire or hundred. Many yeomen held the positions of bailiffs for the High Sheriff or for the shire or hundred. Other civic duties would include churchwarden, bridge warden, and other warden duties. It was also common for a yeoman to be an overseer for his parish. Yeomen, whether working for a lord, king, shire, knight, district or parish served in localised or municipal police forces raised by or led by the landed gentry.

Some of these roles, in particular those of constable and bailiff were carried down through families. Yeomen often filled ranging, roaming, surveying, and policing roles. In Chaucer's Friar's Tale, a yeoman who is a bailiff of the forest who tricks the Summoner turns out to be the devil ready to grant wishes already made.

The earlier class of franklins (freemen or French or Norman freeholders) were similar to yeomen: wealthy peasant landowners, freeholders or village officials. They were typically village leaders (aldermen), constables or mayors. Franklin militias were similar to later yeomanries. Yeomen took over those roles in the 14th century as many of them became leaders, constables, sheriffs, justices of the peace, mayors and significant leaders of their country districts. It was too much, for even ‘valets’ known as ‘yeoman archers’ were forbidden to be returned to parliament, indicating they even held power at a level never before held by the upper class of commoners. In districts remoter from landed gentry and burgesses, yeomen held more official power: this is attested in statutes of the reign of Henry VIII indicating yeomen along with knights and squires as leaders for certain purposes.

The yeoman also comprised a military class or status (usually known as in the third order of the fighting class, between the squire and the page). In contemporary feudal continental Europe, by contrast the divide between commoners and gentry was far wider: though a middle class existed, it was not as well respected or esteemed as the contemporary yeoman of England.

Usage as a compliment or praise

The term yeoman nowadays suggests someone upright, sturdy, honest and trustworthy, qualities attributed to the Yeomen of the Crown; and in the 13th century the Yeomen of the Chamber were described as virtuous, cunning, skillful, courteous, and experts in archery chosen out of every great noble's house in England. The King's Yeoman or King's Valectus (Valetti) is the earliest usage in a recognisable form such as King's Yeman or King's Yoman. Possibly the concept is derived from King's Geneatas, meaning either companion or a follower of a king. In ancient times before the establishments of feudalism and manorialism, a yeoman was a follower of a district (gau) chief or judice.

This may originate from their achievements in battle during the Hundred Years' War when the odds and numbers were stacked against the yeoman archers. It may also recall the excellent heroic service of the king’s servants, e.g. in foiling assassination attempts on his life, or protecting his castle or palace. These servants included the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London).

The term is used in contexts such as:

The forester provided 'yeoman service' in finding the lost children in the woods.

The Hubble Telescope has done ‘yeoman service’ or ‘yeoman’s duty’ since it was launched in 1990.

He made a 'yeoman’s effort' to clean the garage.

The security guard did 'yeoman’s work' last night by staying alert and preventing a break-in entry after working very long hours in austere conditions.

Breanne McGinty did 'yeoman's work' yesterday as she displayed valiant composure and focus during the delivery of her first born son.

Other references to yeoman

In literature

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince Hamlet states his under appreciated ability to write elegantly in a particular situation had done him "yeoman's service."

The Dr. Seuss book ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' includes a 'Yeoman of the Bowmen', a master archer who shoots a hat off the title character's head.

In ''JAG'', Petty Officer First Class Jason Tiner is the commanding officer, AJ Chegwidden's yeoman.

In ''Chasers'', William McNamara plays the "timid but trampish" yeoman, Seaman Apprentice Eddie Devane.

The followers of St. Gird (many of whom are farmers) call themselves the "Yeomen of Gird" in Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion fantasy novels.

According to Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Robin Hood's band of Merry Men is largely Yeomen.

In William Caxton's print of the Canterbury Tales there is a woodcut engraving of the knight's yeoman.

Traditional titles

Yeomanry Cavalry refers to the extrajudicial military force organised by the property-owning class to defend against French invasion in 18th-century England as well as to protect British occupation in 18th-century Ireland. Yeomanry Cavalry was officially formed in 1794 (formed unofficially circa. 1760s as a Volunteer Cavalry), it eventually became an expeditionary force known as the Imperial Yeomanry in 1899, and then was absorbed into the Territorial Army in 1907. Many units retain their 'Yeomanry' designation today and have seen service in both the World Wars and modern times, including the current "War on Terrorism". This contrasts with the title of Gentlemen Cavaliers of the Household Cavalry regiments.

Yeoman Riders of the Coursers Stables, Yeoman Riders of the Hunting Stables, Yeoman Riders of the Race and Running Horses, First Yeoman Rider, Second Yeoman Rider. (See British History Online.)

Yeomen of the Guard were established in 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth Field and were officially chartered by King Henry VII for their loyal service during the war. Later, King Henry VIII established the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London, which is the oldest of the Royal Bodyguards in England, and one of the oldest Royal Bodyguards and military organisations in the world. In essence Yeomen of the Guard and Yeomen Warders are direct modern day links to the days of warfare in the Middle Ages.

Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod is a deputy position to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and is the deputy sergeant-at-arms in the House of Lords. The position is an official figure in the parliaments of some Commonwealth countries.

There are several Yeoman positions in the staff of the Royal Household, under the Master of the Household.

Other

In falconry, the bird for the Yeoman is a goshawk, a forest bird.

Sir Gawain states that he was made a yeoman at Yule in Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.

The Yeoman is also the mascot for the Oberlin College athletic teams.

The Yeoman/Yeowoman is the former mascot for York University in Toronto, Ontario (Canada). The mascot was changed in 2003 to, and still remains as, a lion.

University of Cambridge, and some other traditional universities, possess (or once possessed) an office by the name of the Yeoman Bedell (cf. Esquire Bedell), which originally consisted primarily of running errands, such as serving summons to appear in the University's courts. Largely the office has either been abolished as a medievealism, or retained in a purely ceremonial form. At the University of Sydney the office has been retained as the manager in charge of the University's caretaking and security services.

Yeoman is also a petty officer's job (or rating) in both the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, as well as a similar clerical position in Starfleet in the fictional universe of Star Trek: The Original Series. During World War I, women were enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve Force as Yeomen to provide some of the additional workforce needed to support the war, working mainly in clerical positions. They were designated Yeoman (F) to distinguish them from their male counterparts and were released from the service shortly after the war ended.

The sinister supporter of the arms of Wisconsin is a yeoman, though the figure incorrectly shown on the flag seems to be a miner, a miner's helmet not being mentioned in the blazon.

The sergeant flagman at Windsor Castle carries the title of 'Yeoman of the Round Tower'.

See also

Plain Folk of the Old South, the American equivalent

Kulak (derogatory Russian term for prosperous peasant)

Notes

Further reading

Allen, Robert C. ''Enclosure and the Yeoman'' (1992) Oxford U. Press 376p.

Broad, John. "The Fate of the Midland Yeoman: Tenants, Copyholders, and Freeholders as Farmers in North Buckinghamshire, 1620-1800," ''Continuity & Change'' 1999 14(3): 325-347,

Campbell, Mildred. ''The English Yeoman''

Hallas, Christine S. "Yeomen and Peasants? Landownership Patterns in the North Yorkshire Pennines c. 1770-1900," ''Rural History'' 1998 9(2): 157-176,

External links

Yeomen of the Guard

Official Yeomen of the Guard

Yeoman Board Game

Knight's Yeoman

The Yeoman Warders

Worcester Yeomanry Cavalry

Category:Agrarianism Category:History of the British Isles Category:Etymologies Category:History of archery

da:Yeoman de:Yeoman es:Yeoman fr:Yeoman fy:Eigenierde ko:요먼 nl:Eigenerfde ja:ヨーマン nn:Yeoman pl:Yeoman pt:Yeoman ru:Йомен uk:Йомен zh:自耕农

Coordinates	51°22′4″N3°24′29″N
birth name	Owain Sebastian Yeoman
birth date	July 02, 1978
birth place	Chepstow, Wales
occupation	Actor
years active	-present
nationality	Welsh
spouse	Lucy Davis(2006-2011)}}

Owain Yeoman (born July 2, 1978, Chepstow, Wales) is a Welsh actor. His credits include ''The Nine'', ''Kitchen Confidential'' and the HBO series, ''Generation Kill''. He currently appears as Agent Wayne Rigsby in ''The Mentalist''.

Biography

Yeoman made his film debut as Lysander in the Oscar nominated film ''Troy''. He also had a small part in Broken Lizard's film, ''Beerfest'', and made a guest appearance on an episode of ''Midsomer Murders''.

He played the major villain, a T-888 model cyborg Terminator, in the pilot episode of ''Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles''. The role was taken by Garret Dillahunt in the series of the same name. Yeoman studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He holds a degree in English Literature from Brasenose College, Oxford University. On 9 December 2006 he married actress Lucy Davis at St Paul's Cathedral, London. Davis and Yeoman were permitted to marry there as her father, Jasper Carrott, had been awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours in 2002. As of February 2011 they are separated.

Yeoman is a vegetarian and was photographed for PETA's vegetarianism campaign.

Owain Yeoman now stars as Wayne Rigsby in ''The Mentalist''. He has starred in every episode, alongside Simon Baker and Robin Tunney.

Yeoman will next star in ''ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2''.

Trivia

Yeoman's nickname "Buzz" is derived from his resemblance to the character Buzz Lightyear in the computer-animated movie Toy Story.

References

External links

Agency profile

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Chepstow Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:Welsh film actors Category:Welsh television actors Category:Welsh expatriates in the United States Category:Welsh vegetarians Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

cs:Owain Yeoman de:Owain Yeoman es:Owain Yeoman fr:Owain Yeoman gl:Owain Yeoman it:Owain Yeoman hu:Owain Yeoman ms:Owain Yeoman pl:Owain Yeoman sh:Owain Yeoman fi:Owain Yeoman sv:Owain Yeoman

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for his internationally successful series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance'' and ''The Mikado''. Sullivan composed 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces, songs, parlour ballads, part songs, carols, and piano and chamber pieces.

Apart from his Savoy operas with Gilbert, Sullivan is best known for some of his hymns and parlour songs, including "Onward Christian Soldiers", "The Absent-Minded Beggar", and "The Lost Chord". His most critically praised pieces include his ''Irish Symphony'', his ''Overture di Ballo'', ''The Martyr of Antioch'', ''The Golden Legend'', his incidental music to ''The Tempest'' and, of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, ''The Yeomen of the Guard''. Sullivan's only grand opera, ''Ivanhoe'', was initially highly successful, but it has been little heard since his death.

Life and career

Beginnings

Sullivan was born in Lambeth, London. His parents were Thomas Sullivan (1805–1866), a military bandmaster, clarinettist and music teacher born in Ireland and raised in Chelsea, London, and Mary Clementina (''née'' Coghlan, 1811–1882), English born, of Irish and Italian descent. Thomas Sullivan was based from 1845 to 1857 at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he was the bandmaster. Young Sullivan became proficient with many of the instruments in the band and had composed an anthem, "By the waters of Babylon", by the age of eight. He later recalled:

Despite the boy's obvious musical talent, Thomas Sullivan knew the disappointments and insecurity of a musical career, and discouraged him from pursuing it. While studying at a private school in Bayswater, Sullivan, then aged 11, persuaded his parents and the headmaster, William Gordon Plees, to allow him to apply for membership in the choir of the Chapel Royal. Despite concerns that Sullivan at nearly 12 years of age was too old to give much service as a treble before his voice broke, he was accepted and soon became a soloist and, by 1856, was promoted to "first boy". Even at this age, Sullivan's health was delicate, and he was easily fatigued.

Sullivan flourished under the training of the Reverend Thomas Helmore, master of the choristers, and began to compose anthems and songs. Helmore encouraged the young Sullivan's composing talent and arranged for one of his pieces, "O Israel", to be published in 1855, Sullivan's first published work. Helmore also enlisted Sullivan's assistance in creating harmonisations for a volume of ''The Hymnal Noted'' and arranged for Sullivan's compositions to be performed; one of the boy's anthems was given at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace under the direction of Sir George Smart.

Mendelssohn scholar

In 1856, the Royal Academy of Music awarded the first Mendelssohn Scholarship to the 14-year-old Sullivan, granting him a year's training at the academy.|group= n}} His principal teacher there was John Goss, whose own teacher, Thomas Attwood, had been a pupil of Mozart. He studied piano with the head of the academy, William Sterndale Bennett. During this year at the Royal Academy, Sullivan continued to sing solos with the Chapel Royal, which provided a small amount of spending money.

Sullivan's scholarship was extended to a second year, and in 1858 in what the biographer Arthur Jacobs calls an "extraordinary gesture of confidence" the scholarship committee extended his grant for a third year so that he could study in Germany, at the Leipzig Conservatoire. While there, Sullivan studied composition with Julius Rietz, counterpoint with Moritz Hauptmann and Ernst Richter and the piano with Louis Plaidy and Ignaz Moscheles. He was trained in Mendelssohn's ideas and techniques but was also exposed to a variety of musical styles, including Schubert, Verdi, Bach, and Wagner. Visiting a synagogue, he was so struck by some of the cadences and progressions of the music that thirty years later he could recall them for use in his serious opera, ''Ivanhoe''. Originally intended to spend a year in Leipzig, Sullivan stayed there for three years.

During his years in Germany, Sullivan became friendly with the composer Franz Liszt, the singer and later impresario Carl Rosa, and the violinist Joseph Joachim. For his last year at Leipzig, his father scraped together the money for living expenses, and the conservatoire assisted by waiving its fees. Sullivan credited his Leipzig period with tremendous musical growth. His graduation piece, completed in 1861, was a set of incidental music to Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Revised and expanded, it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862, a year after his return to London, and was an immediate sensation. He began building a reputation as England's most promising young composer.

Rising composer

Sullivan embarked on his composing career with a series of ambitious works, interspersed with hymns, parlour songs and other light pieces in a more commercial vein. His compositions were not enough to support him financially, and from 1861 to 1872 he supplemented his income by working as a church organist, which he enjoyed, and as a music teacher, which he hated and gave up as soon as he could.

Sullivan's long association with works for the voice began with ''The Masque at Kenilworth'' (Birmingham Festival, 1864). During a spell as organist at Covent Garden, he composed his first ballet, ''L'Île Enchantée'' (1864), and had his first experience of opera, which was directed there by Michael Costa. In 1866, he premiered his ''Irish Symphony'' and ''Cello Concerto'', his only works in each such genre. In the same year, his ''Overture in C (In Memoriam)'', commemorating the recent death of his father, was a commission from the Norwich Festival. During his lifetime, it was one of his most popular works for orchestra. In 1867, his overture ''Marmion'' was premiered by the Philharmonic Society. ''The Times'' called it "another step in advance on the part of the only composer of any remarkable promise that just at present we can boast."

In the autumn of 1867, Sullivan travelled with George Grove to Vienna, in search of neglected manuscript scores by Schubert. They found and copied several, and were particularly excited about their final discovery, which Grove described thus: "I found, at the bottom of the cupboard, and in its farthest corner, a bundle of music-books two feet high, carefully tied round, and black with the undisturbed dust of nearly half-a-century. … These were the part-books of the whole of the music in ''Rosamunde'', tied up after the second performance in December, 1823, and probably never disturbed since. Dr. Schneider [curator] must have been amused at our excitement; but let us hope that he recollected his own days of rapture; at any rate, he kindly overlooked it, and gave us permission to take away with us and copy what we wanted."

Sullivan's first attempt at opera, ''The Sapphire Necklace'' (1863–64) to a libretto by Henry F. Chorley, was not produced and is now lost, except for the overture and two songs from the work, which were separately published. His first surviving opera, ''Cox and Box'' (1866), was originally written for a private performance. It then received charity performances in London and Manchester, and was later produced at the Gallery of Illustration, where it ran for an extraordinary 264 performances. W. S. Gilbert, writing in ''Fun'' magazine, pronounced the score superior to F. C. Burnand's libretto. The first Sullivan-Burnand collaboration was sufficiently successful to spawn a two-act opera, ''The Contrabandista'' (1867; revised and expanded as ''The Chieftain'' in 1894), which did not do nearly as well. Sullivan's last major work of the 1860s was a short oratorio, ''The Prodigal Son'', premiered in Worcester Cathedral as part of the 1869 Three Choirs Festival to much praise.

1870s; first collaborations with Gilbert

Sullivan's most successful orchestral work, the ''Overture di Ballo'', was composed for the Birmingham Festival in 1870.|group= n}} In 1871, he published his only song cycle, ''The Window; or, The Songs of the Wrens'' (1871), to words by Tennyson. In the same year, he wrote the first of a series of suites of incidental music for West End theatre productions of Shakespeare plays. In the same year, Sullivan composed a dramatic cantata, ''On Shore and Sea'', for the opening of the London International Exhibition. At the end of 1871, the impresario John Hollingshead commissioned Sullivan to work with W. S. Gilbert to create the burlesque-style comic opera ''Thespis'' for the Gaiety Theatre. Conceived as a Christmas entertainment, it ran through to Easter 1872, a satisfying run for such a piece. After ''Thespis'', Gilbert and Sullivan went their separate ways until they collaborated on three parlour ballads in late 1874 and early 1875.

Sullivan's large-scale works of the early 1870s were the ''Festival Te Deum'' (Crystal Palace, 1872); and the oratorio, ''The Light of the World'' (Birmingham Festival, 1873). He provided suites of incidental music for a production of ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' at the Gaiety in 1874 and ''Henry VIII'' at the Theatre Royal, Manchester in 1877. He continued to compose hymns throughout the decade, the most famous of which is "Onward, Christian Soldiers" (1872, words by Sabine Baring-Gould). In 1873, Sullivan contributed two songs to Burnand's Christmas "drawing room extravaganza", ''The Miller and His Man''.

In 1875, the manager of the Royalty Theatre, Richard D'Oyly Carte, needed a short piece to fill out a bill with Offenbach's ''La Périchole''. Carte had conducted Sullivan's ''Cox and Box''. Remembering ''Thespis'', Carte reunited Gilbert and Sullivan, and the result was the one-act comic opera ''Trial by Jury''. ''Trial'', starring Sullivan's brother Fred as the Learned Judge, became a surprise hit, earning glowing praise from the critics and playing for 300 performances over its first few seasons. The ''Daily Telegraph'' commented that the piece illustrated the composer's "great capacity for dramatic writing of the lighter class", and other reviews emphasised the felicitous combination of Gilbert's words and Sullivan's music. One wrote, "it seems, as in the great Wagnerian operas, as though poem and music had proceeded simultaneously from one and the same brain." Soon after the opening of ''Trial'', Sullivan wrote ''The Zoo'', another one-act comic opera, with a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. But the latter work had only a few short runs, and for the next 15 years, Sullivan's sole operatic collaborator was Gilbert; the two created an additional 12 operas together.

{|align=right | |} Sullivan also turned out more than 80 popular songs and parlour ballads, most of them written before the end of the 1870s. His first popular song was "Orpheus with his Lute" (1866), and a successful part song was "Oh! hush thee, my babie" (1867). The best known of his songs is "The Lost Chord" (1877, lyrics by Adelaide Anne Procter), written in sorrow at the death of his brother Frederic. The sheet music for his best received songs sold in large numbers, and were an important part of his income; many of them were adapted as dance pieces.

In this decade, Sullivan's conducting appointments included the Glasgow Choral Union concerts, 1875–77 and the Royal Aquarium, London, 1876. In addition to his appointment as Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, of which he was a Fellow, he was appointed as the first Principal of the National Training School for Music in 1876. He accepted the latter post reluctantly, fearing that discharging the duties thoroughly would leave too little time for composing. In this he was correct, as his successor Hubert Parry also discovered. Sullivan was not a success in the post, and resigned in 1881.

Sullivan's next collaboration with Gilbert, ''The Sorcerer'' (1877), ran for 178 performances, a success by the standards of the day, but ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' (1878), which followed it, turned Gilbert and Sullivan into an international phenomenon. ''Pinafore'' ran for 571 performances in London, and more than 100 unauthorised productions were quickly mounted in America alone. |group= n}} Among other favorable reviews, ''The Times'' noted that the opera was an early attempt at the establishment of a "national musical stage" ... free from risqué French "improprieties" and without the "aid" of Italian and German musical models. ''The Times'' and several of the other papers agreed, however, that while the piece was entertaining, Sullivan was capable of higher art, and frivolous light opera would hold him back. This criticism would follow Sullivan throughout his career. ''Pinafore'' was followed by ''The Pirates of Penzance'' in 1879, another international success that opened in New York and then ran in London for 363 performances.

Early 1880s

In 1880, Sullivan was appointed director of the Leeds Festival. For his first festival he was commissioned to write a sacred choral work. He chose Henry Hart Milman's 1822 dramatic poem based on the life and death of Saint Margaret the Virgin for its basis. Gilbert adapted the libretto for Sullivan, abridging it, rearranging sections, reassigning lines, and making a few additions of his own. ''The Martyr of Antioch'' premiered in October 1880. Sullivan was an unshowy conductor, and some thought him dull, Bernard Shaw, who praised Sullivan as a composer ("They trained him to make Europe yawn, and he took advantage of their teaching to make London and New York laugh and whistle.") was less impressed by Sullivan as a conductor: "Under his ''bâton'' orchestras are never deficient in refinement. Coarseness, exaggeration, and carelessness are unacquainted with him. So, unfortunately, are vigor and earnestness. … It is well for Sir Arthur to be fastidious; but one cannot help thinking that he would get a firmer grip sometimes if he took his gloves off."|group= n}} but his composition had an enthusiastic reception and was frequently revived. A grateful Sullivan presented his collaborator with an engraved silver cup inscribed "W.S. Gilbert from his friend Arthur Sullivan."

After the profitable run of ''The Pirates of Penzance'', Carte opened the next Gilbert and Sullivan piece, ''Patience'', in April 1881 at London's Opera Comique, where their past three operas had played. In October, ''Patience'' transferred to the new, larger, state-of-the-art Savoy Theatre, built with the profits of the previous Gilbert and Sullivan works. The rest of the partnership's collaborations were produced at the Savoy, as a result of which they are widely known as the "Savoy Operas". ''Iolanthe'' (1882), Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth extraordinary success in a row, was the first of the operas to premiere at the new theatre. Sullivan, despite the financial security of writing for the Savoy, increasingly viewed his work with Gilbert as unimportant, beneath his skills, and also repetitious. After ''Iolanthe'', Sullivan had not intended to write a new work with Gilbert, but he suffered a serious financial loss when his broker went bankrupt in November 1882. Therefore, he concluded that his financial needs required him to continue writing Savoy operas. In February 1883, he signed a five-year agreement with Gilbert and Carte, requiring him to produce a new comic opera on six months' notice.

On 22 May 1883, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria. Although the operas with Gilbert had earned him the broadest fame, the honour was conferred for his services to serious music. The musical establishment, and many critics, believed that this should put an end to his career as a composer of comic opera – that a musical knight should not stoop below oratorio or grand opera. Having just signed the five-year agreement, Sullivan suddenly felt trapped. In mid-December, Sullivan bade farewell to his sister-in-law Charlotte, Fred's widow, who emigrated with her young family to America. Sullivan's oldest nephew, Herbert, stayed behind in England as his uncle's ward. The next opera, ''Princess Ida'' (1884, the duo's only three-act, blank verse work), was noticeably less successful than its four predecessors, although Sullivan's score was praised. With box office receipts lagging, Carte gave the six months' notice for a new opera required under the partnership contract. Sullivan's close friend, the composer Frederic Clay, had suffered a serious stroke in early December 1883 that effectively ended his career at the age of 45. Sullivan, reflecting on this, on his own longstanding kidney problems, and on his desire to devote himself to more serious music, replied to Carte, "[I]t is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself."

Gilbert had already started work on a new opera involving a plot in which people fell in love against their wills after taking a magic lozenge. Sullivan pronounced it unacceptably mechanical and too similar to their earlier work, and he asked to leave the partnership. Gilbert wrote to Sullivan asking him to reconsider, but the composer replied that he had "come to the end of my tether" with the operas: "I have been continually keeping down the music in order that not one [syllable] should be lost. ... I should like to set a story of human interest & probability where the humorous words would come in a humorous (not serious) situation, & where, if the situation were a tender or dramatic one the words would be of similar character." The impasse was finally resolved when Gilbert proposed a plot that did not depend on any supernatural device. The result was Gilbert and Sullivan's most successful work, ''The Mikado'' (1885). The piece ran for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theatre, and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece, up to that time., and Gänzl, Kurt. "Cloches de Corneville, Les," ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 18 August 2011|group= n}}

Later 1880s

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'', based on Longfellow's poem of the same name. Apart from the comic operas, this proved to be Sullivan's most successful full-length work. 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 The work was so popular that only Handel's ''Messiah'' was performed more often in Britain in the 1880s and 90s. It remained in the repertory until about the 1920s, but since then it has been seldom performed, although it received its first professional recording in 2001. The musical scholar and conductor David Russell Hulme writes that the work influenced Elgar and Walton.

''Ruddigore'' followed ''The Mikado'' at the Savoy in 1887. It ran profitably for nine months but was less successful than most of the earlier Savoy operas. For their next piece, Gilbert submitted another version of the magic lozenge plot; Sullivan immediately rejected it. Gilbert finally proposed a comparatively serious opera, to which Sullivan agreed. 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. 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. ... Yes, it will be an historical work, and it is the dream of my life.” After ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' opened, Sullivan turned once again to Shakespeare, composing incidental music for Henry Irving's production of ''Macbeth'' (1888).

Sullivan wished to produce further serious works with Gilbert. He had collaborated with no other librettist since 1875. But Gilbert felt that the success of ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' had "not been so convincing as to warrant us in assuming that the public want something more earnest still." 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. 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." Nevertheless, a compromise was reached: Sullivan commissioned a grand opera libretto from Julian Sturgis (who was recommended by Gilbert), while suggesting to Gilbert that he revive an old idea for an opera set in the sunshine of Venice. The comic opera was completed first: ''The Gondoliers'' (1889) was a piece described by Hughes as a pinnacle of Sullivan's achievement. It was the last great Gilbert and Sullivan success.

1890s

The relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan suffered its most serious breach in April 1890, during the run of ''The Gondoliers'', when Gilbert objected to Carte's financial accounts for the production, including a charge to the partnership for the cost of new carpeting for the Savoy Theatre lobby. Gilbert believed that this was a maintenance expense that should be charged to Carte alone. Carte was building a new theatre to present Sullivan's forthcoming grand opera, and Sullivan sided with Carte, going so far as to testify erroneously as to certain old debts. Gilbert took legal action against Carte and Sullivan and vowed to write no more for the Savoy, and so the partnership came to an acrimonious end. Sullivan wrote to Gilbert in September 1890 that he was "physically and mentally ill over this wretched business. I have not yet got over the shock of seeing our names coupled ... in hostile antagonism over a few miserable pounds".

Sullivan's only grand opera, ''Ivanhoe'', based on Walter Scott's ''novel'', opened at Carte's new Royal English Opera House on 31 January 1891. Sullivan completed the score too late to meet Carte's planned production date, and costs mounted as the producer had to pay performers, crew and others, while the theatre sat empty. Sullivan was required to pay Carte a contractual penalty of £3,000 for his delay. The opera was a success, running for an unprecedented 155 performances and earning good notices for its music. Carte was unable to fill the new opera house with other opera productions, however, and ''Ivanhoe'' was blamed for the failure of the opera house. The opera passed into obscurity after a touring revival in 1894–95. The episode was, as the critic Herman Klein observed, "the strangest comingling of success and failure ever chronicled in the history of British lyric enterprise!" Sullivan did not seriously consider writing grand opera again. Later in 1891, Sullivan composed music for Tennyson's ''The Foresters'', which was a success at Daly's Theatre in New York in 1892, but a failure in London the following year.

Sullivan returned to comic opera, but because of the fracture with Gilbert, he and Carte sought other collaborators. Sullivan's next piece was ''Haddon Hall'' (1892), with a libretto by Sydney Grundy based loosely on the historical elopement of Dorothy Vernon with John Manners. Although still comic, the tone and style of the work was considerably more serious and romantic than most of the operas with Gilbert. It enjoyed a modest success, running for 204 performances, and earned critical praise. In 1895, Sullivan once more provided incidental music for the Lyceum, this time for J. Comyns Carr's ''King Arthur''.

The partnership with Gilbert had been so profitable that, after the financial failure of the Royal English Opera House, Carte and his wife sought to reunite the author and composer, eventually succeeding with the help of Tom Chappell, their music publisher. Their next opera, the expensively-produced ''Utopia Limited'' (1893), ran for 245 performances – barely profitable and disappointing in comparison to the team's bigger successes. Sullivan came to disapprove of the leading lady, Nancy McIntosh, and refused to write another piece featuring her, while Gilbert insisted that she must appear in his next opera. Instead, Sullivan teamed up again with his old partner, F. C. Burnand. ''The Chieftain'' (1894), a heavily revised version of their earlier two-act opera, ''The Contrabandista'', flopped. Gilbert and Sullivan reunited one more time, after McIntosh announced her retirement from the stage, for ''The Grand Duke'' (1896). This also failed, and Sullivan never worked with Gilbert again, although their operas continued to be revived with success at the Savoy.

In May 1897, Sullivan's full-length ballet, ''Victoria and Merrie England'', opened at the Alhambra Theatre to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The work's seven scenes celebrate English history and culture, with the Victorian period as the grand finale. Its six-month run was considered a great success. ''The Beauty Stone'' (1898), with a libretto by Arthur Wing Pinero and J. Comyns Carr was based on mediaeval morality plays. The collaboration did not go particularly well: Sullivan wrote that Pinero and Comyns Carr were "gifted and brilliant men, with ''no'' experience in writing for music", and, when he asked for alterations to improve the structure, they refused. Sullivan's score, moreover, was too serious for the Savoy audiences' tastes. The opera was both a critical and popular failure, running for only seven weeks.

In ''The Rose of Persia'' (1899), however, Sullivan returned to his comic roots, with a libretto by Basil Hood that combined an exotic ''Arabian Nights'' setting with plot elements of ''The Mikado''. Sullivan's tuneful score proved to be his most successful full-length opera apart from his collaborations with Gilbert. Another opera with Hood, ''The Emerald Isle'', quickly went into preparation, but Sullivan died before it could be completed.

Death, honours and legacy

Having suffered from long-standing recurrent kidney disease that made it necessary, from the 1880s, for him to conduct sitting down, Sullivan died of heart failure, following an attack of bronchitis, at his flat in London on 22 November 1900. His unfinished opera, ''The Emerald Isle'', was completed by Edward German and produced in 1901. His ''Te Deum'', written to commemorate the end of the Boer War, was performed posthumously.

A monument in the composer's memory featuring a weeping Muse was erected in the Victoria Embankment Gardens in London and is inscribed with Gilbert's words from ''The Yeomen of the Guard'': "Is life a boon? If so, it must befall that Death, whene'er he call, must call too soon". Sullivan wished to be buried in Brompton Cemetery with his parents and brother, but by order of the Queen he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. In addition to his knighthood, honours awarded to Sullivan in his lifetime included Doctor in Music, ''honoris causa'', by the Universities of Cambridge (1876) and Oxford (1879); Chevalier, Légion d'honneur, France (1878); The Order of the Medjidieh, by the Sultan of Turkey (1888); and appointment as a Member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) on 30 June 1897.

In all, Sullivan's artistic output included 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, one song cycle, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and other church pieces, songs, parlour ballads, part songs, carols, and piano and chamber pieces. His legacy, apart from writing the Savoy operas and other works that are still being performed, is felt perhaps most strongly today through his influence on the American and British musical theatre. The innovations in content and form of the works that he and Gilbert developed directly influenced the development of the modern musical throughout the 20th century. In addition, biographies continue to be written about Sullivan's life and work, and his work is not only frequently performed, but also frequently parodied, pastiched, quoted and imitated in comedy routines, film, television, advertising and other popular media.

Personal life

Romantic life

Sullivan never married, but he had serious love affairs with several women. The first was with Rachel Scott Russell (1845–1882). Sullivan and his friend Frederic Clay were frequent visitors at the Scott Russell home in the mid-1860s, and by 1866 the affair was in full bloom. Rachel's parents did not approve of a possible union to a young composer with 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 had ceased by the end of the decade.

Sullivan's longest love affair was with the American socialite, Mary Frances ("Fanny") Ronalds ''née'' Carter, a woman three years Sullivan's senior, who had two children. He met her in Paris around 1867, and the affair began in earnest soon after she moved to London permanently in 1871. A contemporary account described Fanny Ronalds this way: "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." Sullivan called her "the best amateur singer in London". She often performed Sullivan's songs at her famous Sunday soirees. She became particularly associated with "The Lost Chord", singing it both in private and in public, often with Sullivan accompanying her. When Sullivan died, he left her the autograph manuscript of that song, along with other bequests.

Ronalds was separated from her American husband, but she was never divorced. Social conventions of the time compelled Sullivan and Ronalds to keep their relationship private. In his diary, he would refer to her as "Mrs. Ronalds" when he saw her in a public setting, but "L. W." (for "Little Woman") or "D. H." (possibly "Dear Heart") when they were alone together, often with a number in parentheses indicating the number of sexual acts completed. It is thought that Ronalds was pregnant on at least two occasions, and she apparently procured an abortion in 1882 and again in 1884. Sullivan had a roving eye, and his diary records the occasional quarrel when Ronalds discovered his other liaisons, but he always returned to her. She was a constant companion up to the time of Sullivan's death, but around 1889 or 1890, the sexual relationship seems to have ended. He started to refer to her in the diary as "Auntie", and the tick marks indicating sexual activity were no longer there, although similar notation continued to be used for his relationships with other women who have not been identified, and who were always referred to by their initials.

In 1896, Sullivan proposed marriage to the 20-year-old Violet Beddington, but she refused him.

Leisure and family life

Sullivan loved to spend time in France (both in Paris and the south of France), where his friends ranged from Princess Marie-Amélie of Orleans to the composer Claude Debussy. In 1865 he was initiated as a Freemason of the aristocratic Studholme Lodge № 1451, where he met and dined with its numerous well-connected members. He was the Grand Organist of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1887 during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Sullivan was devoted to his parents, particularly his mother, with whom he corresponded regularly 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. Sullivan was also very fond of his brother Fred, whose acting career he assisted whenever possible, and of Fred's children. When Fred died at the age of 39, he left his pregnant wife, Charlotte, with seven children under the age of 14. After Fred's death, Arthur visited the family often and became guardian to all of the children.

In 1883, Charlotte and six of her children emigrated to Los Angeles, California, leaving the oldest boy, "Bertie", in Sullivan's sole care. Despite his reservations about the move to America, Sullivan paid for the trip and continued to give very substantial financial support to the family. Only a year after moving to Los Angeles, in January 1885, Charlotte died, leaving the six children to be raised mostly by her brother and the older girls. From June to August 1885, after ''The Mikado'' premiered, Sullivan visited the family in Los Angeles and took them on a sightseeing trip of the American west. He continued, throughout the rest of his life, and in his will, to take good care of Fred's children, continuing to correspond with them and to be concerned with their education, marriages and financial affairs. Bertie stayed with his uncle Arthur for the rest of the composer's life.

Three of Sullivan's cousins, the daughters of his uncle John Thomas Sullivan, performed with D'Oyly Carte: Rose, Jane ("Jennie") and Kate Sullivan, the first two of whom used the stage surname Hervey. Kate was a chorister who defected to the Comedy Opera Company's rival production of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' where she had the opportunity to play Josephine in 1879. Jennie was a D'Oyly Carte chorister for fourteen years. Rose took principal roles in many of the companion pieces that played with the Savoy operas.

Music

Method and text setting

Sullivan told an interviewer, Arthur Lawrence, "I don't use the piano in composition – that would limit me terribly". Sullivan explained that his process of composition was not to wait for inspiration like "a miner seated at the top of a shaft", waiting for "the coal to come bubbling up to the surface. ... He has to dig for it. ... The first thing I have to decide upon is the rhythm, and I decide on that before I come to the question of melody. The notes must come afterwards. ... I mark out the metre in dots and dashes, and not until I have quite settled on the rhythm do I proceed to actual notation." Sullivan's text setting, compared with that of his 19th century English predecessors or his European contemporaries, was "vastly more sensitive. ... Sullivan's operatic style attempts to create for itself a uniquely English text-music synthesis", and, in addition, by adopting a conservative musical style, he was able to achieve "the clarity to match Gilbert's finely honed wit with musical wit of his own."

In composing the Savoy operas, Sullivan wrote the vocal lines of the musical numbers first, and these were given to the actors. He, or an assistant, improvised a piano accompaniment at the early rehearsals; he wrote the orchestrations later, after he had seen what Gilbert's stage business would be. He left the overtures until last and often delegated their composition, based on his outlines, to his assistants often incorporating his suggestions or corrections. Those Sullivan wrote himself include ''Thespis'', ''Iolanthe'', ''Princess Ida'', ''The Yeomen of the Guard'', ''The Gondoliers'', ''The Grand Duke'' and probably ''Utopia Limited''. Most of the overtures are structured as a ''potpourri'' of tunes from the operas in three sections: fast, slow and fast. However, those for ''Iolanthe'', and ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' are written in a modified sonata form. The overtures from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas remain popular, and there are many recordings of them. Sullivan invariably conducted the operas on their opening nights.

In 1957, a review in ''The Times'' gave this rationale for "the continued vitality of the Savoy operas": :"[T]hey were never really contemporary in their idiom. ... Gilbert and Sullivan's [world was] an artificial world, with a neatly controlled and shapely precision. ... For this, each partner has his share of credit. The neat articulation of incredibilities in Gilbert's plots is perfectly matched by his language.... [Of] equal importance ... Gilbert's lyrics almost invariably take on extra point and sparkle when set to Sullivan's music. ... Sullivan's tunes, in these operas, also exist in a make-believe world of their own. ... [He is] a delicate wit, whose airs have a precision, a neatness, a grace, and a flowing melody".

Melody and rhythm

''The Musical Times'' noted that Sullivan's tunes, at least in the comic operas, appeal to the professional as much as to the layman: his continental contemporaries such as Debussy, Leoncavallo and Saint-Saëns held the Savoy operas in high regard. Hughes writes, "When Sullivan wrote what we call 'a good tune' it was nearly always 'good music' as well. Outside the ranks of the giants there are few other composers of whom the same could be said." Sullivan told Lawrence that his melodies sprang from rhythm, although some of his themes may have been prompted by his chosen instrumentation or his harmonic techniques.

{|align=left | |} In the comic operas, where many numbers were in verse-plus-refrain form, Sullivan frequently was required to produce two climaxes in the melodic line. Hughes instances "If you go in" (''Iolanthe'') as a good example. In Hughes's view, though most of the tunes in the Savoy operas are good ones, Sullivan rarely reached the same class of excellence elsewhere when he had no librettist to feed his imagination. Even so, on those occasions when Gilbert wrote in unvaried metre, Sullivan often followed suit and produced phrases of simple repetition, such as "Love is a plaintive song" (''Patience'') and "A man who would woo a fair maid" (''The Yeomen of the Guard'').

Sullivan's deliberate echoes of other composers are covered below under "Musical Quotations", but other echoes may not have been conscious: Hughes cites the concluding bars of "Tell a tale of cock and bull" from ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' as an example of Handel's influence, and another critic, Edward Greenfield, found a theme in the slow movement of the Irish symphony "an outrageous crib" from Schubert's Unfinished.

Harmony and counterpoint

;Harmony Sullivan was trained in the classical style, and contemporary music did not greatly attract him. Harmonically his early works used the conventional formulae of Auber, Donizetti, Balfe and Schubert. Later he drew on Gounod and Bizet. Mendelssohn's influence, conspicuous in early works, appears intermittently in later ones. As a contemporary writer observed, Sullivan draws on these various influences while remaining recognisably himself.

In general, Sullivan preferred to write in major keys. In the Savoy operas, there are only eleven substantial numbers wholly in a minor key (less than 5% of the musical numbers), and even in his serious works the major prevails. Examples of Sullivan's rare excursions into minor keys include the long E minor melody in the first movement of the Irish Symphony, "Go away, madam" in the Act I finale of ''Iolanthe'' (echoing Verdi and Beethoven) and the funeral march in the Act I finale of ''The Yeomen of the Guard''.

Both Hughes and Jacobs in ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' comment adversely on Sullivan's over-use of tonic pedals, usually in the bass, which Hughes attributes to "lack of enterprise or even downright laziness". Another Sullivan trademark criticised by Hughes is the excessive use of the chord of the augmented fourth at moments of pathos. In his serious works, Sullivan attempted to avoid harmonic devices associated with the Savoy operas, with the result, according to Hughes, that ''The Golden Legend'' is a "hotch-potch of harmonic styles". The same writer comments that harmonic contrast in the Savoy works is enhanced by Sullivan's characteristic modulation between keys, as in "Expressive glances" (''Princess Ida''), where he smoothly negotiates E major, C sharp minor and C major, or "Then one of us will be a queen" (''The Gondoliers''), where he writes in F major, D flat major and D minor.

Though generally conservative in his harmony, Sullivan was happy on occasion to use chords traditionally considered technically incorrect. When reproached for using consecutive fifths in ''Cox and Box'', he replied "if 5ths turn up it doesn't matter, so long as there is no offence to the ear." In the field of harmony, Hughes writes, Sullivan remained an eclectic: "He had easily recognisable ''habits'' but his style never achieved individuality".

;Counterpoint Despite his thorough academic contrapuntal training in London and Leipzig, as well as his experience as a church organist, Sullivan rarely composed fugues. Hughes cites the examples from the Epilogue to ''The Golden Legend'' and ''Victoria and Merrie England''. In the Savoy operas, fugal style is reserved for making fun of legal solemnity in ''Trial by Jury'' and ''Iolanthe'' (it is the Lord Chancellor's motif in the latter). Less formal counterpoint is employed in numbers such as "Brightly Dawns our Wedding Day" (''The Mikado'') and "When the Buds are Blossoming" (''Ruddigore'').

Sullivan's best known contrapuntal device was "the simultaneous presentation of two or more distinct melodies previously heard independently". He was not the first composer to combine themes in this way, but it became a characteristic feature of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Sometimes the melodies were for solo voices, as in "Once more the face I loved so well" (''The Zoo''), and "I am so proud" (''The Mikado''), which combines three melodic lines; other examples are in choruses, where typically a graceful tune for the ladies is combined with a robust one for the men. Examples include "When the Foeman bares his steel" (''The Pirates of Penzance''), "Gaily tripping" (''H.M.S. Pinafore''), "In a doleful train" (''Patience''), "Welcome, gentry" (''Ruddigore''), and "Night has spread her pall once more" (''The Yeomen of the Guard''). At other times, notably in "How beautifully blue the sky" (''The Pirates of Penzance''), one theme is given to the chorus and the other to solo voices.

Orchestration

Gervase Hughes concludes his chapter on Sullivan's orchestration: "in this vitally important sector of the composer's art he deserves to rank as a master." Sullivan was a competent player of at least four orchestral instruments (flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone) and a technically highly skilled orchestrator. Though sometimes inclined to indulge in grandiosity when writing for a full symphony orchestra, he was adept in using smaller forces to the maximum effect. Percy Young writes that orchestral players generally like playing Sullivan's music: "Sullivan never asked his players to do what was either uncongenial or impracticable."

Sullivan's orchestra for the Savoy Operas was typical of any other pit orchestra of his era: 2 flutes (+ piccolo), oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trombones, timpani, percussion and strings. According to Geoffrey Toye, the number of players in the Savoy orchestra was originally 31. Sullivan argued hard for an increase in the pit orchestra's size, and starting with ''The Yeomen of the Guard'', the orchestra was augmented with a second bassoon and a bass trombone. Sullivan generally orchestrated each score at almost the last moment, noting that the accompaniment for an opera had to wait until he saw the staging, so that he could judge how heavily or lightly to orchestrate each part of the music. For his large-scale orchestral pieces, Sullivan added a second oboe part, sometimes double bassoon and bass clarinet, more horns, trumpets, tuba, and sometimes an organ and/or a harp. Many of these pieces used very large orchestras.

One of the most recognisable features in Sullivan's orchestration is his woodwind scoring. Hughes especially notes Sullivan's clarinet writing, exploiting all registers and colours of the instrument, and his particular fondness for oboe solos. For instance, the ''Irish Symphony'' contains two long solo oboe passages in succession, and in the Savoy operas there are many shorter examples. In the operas, and also in concert works, another characteristic Sullivan touch is his fondness for pizzicato passages for all the string sections. Most of the operas have at least one number that Hughes calls "virtually a ''pizzicato ostinato''"; he instances "Kind sir, you cannot have the heart" (''The Gondoliers''), "Free from his fetters grim" (''The Yeomen of the Guard'') and "In vain to us you plead" (''Iolanthe'').

Musical quotations and parodies

Sullivan often quoted or imitated famous themes and passages from popular tunes or parodied the styles of well-known composers such as Schubert, Donizetti, Bellini, Gounod and Mendelssohn. He also liked to evoke familiar musical styles, such as his madrigals in ''The Mikado'', ''Ruddigore'' and ''The Yeomen of the Guard'', glees in ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' and ''The Mikado'' and gavottes in ''Ruddigore'' and ''The Gondoliers''. In ''The Sorcerer'', there is a country dance and folksy duet between the men and women's chorus in "If you'll marry me." Of the sextette "I hear the soft note" in ''Patience'', Sullivan said to the singers, "I think you will like this. It is Dr. Arne and Purcell at their best."

In early pieces, according to Debussy, in addition to his reflection of Mendelssohn (for example in his incidental music for ''The Tempest''), Sullivan imitated Auber in his ''Henry VIII'' music and Gounod in ''The Light of the World''. In his comic operas, Sullivan followed Offenbach's lead in guying the idioms of French and Italian opera, such as those of Donizetti, Verdi and Bellini. Later, Sullivan's music shows the influence of Handel, Schubert and, conspicuously in the fairy music in ''Iolanthe'', Mendelssohn. The then-popular Michael Balfe is parodied in ''The Sorcerer'' and ''The Pirates of Penzance'', and "Twenty Love Sick Maidens" imitates William Vincent Wallace's "Alas Those Chimes" from ''Maritana''. The sextet "A Nice Dilemma" in ''Trial by Jury'' parodies "D'un pensiero" in Bellini's ''La Sonnambula''.

Other examples of opera parody include Mabel's aria "Poor Wand'ring One" in ''The Pirates of Penzance'' and the duet "Who are you, sir?" from ''Cox and Box''. In ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', the whispered plans for elopement in "This very night" parodies the conspirators' choruses in Verdi's ''Il Trovatore'' and ''Rigoletto'', and the octet, "Farewell, my own," evokes the ensemble "Mag der Himmel euch vergeben" in Flotow's ''Martha'' and such concerted numbers as the sextet in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor''. The mock-jingoistic "He is an Englishman" in ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' and choral passages in ''The Zoo'' satirise patriotic British tunes auch as Arne's "Rule, Britannia!".

In ''Princess Ida'', there is a strong Handelian flavour to Arac's song in Act III ("This helmet, I suppose"), and the Act II quartet "The world is but a broken toy" has been called "Gounodesque". Florian's statement in "Gently, Gently": "In this college, useful knowledge/Everywhere one finds" is a quotation from Chopin's Waltz No. 5 in A-flat Major (Op. 42). In ''The Gondoliers'', there are the Spanish cachucha, the Italian saltarello and tarantella, and the Venetian barcarolle. Hughes compares "Here is a case unprecedented" from ''The Gondoliers'' to the Act II quintet from Bizet's ''Carmen''. In "A more humane Mikado", when the Mikado mentions "Bach interwoven with Spohr and Beethoven", the clarinet and bassoon quote the fugue subject of Bach's ''Fantasia and Fugue in G minor''. ''The Golden Legend'' shows the influence of Liszt and Wagner.

Sullivan frequently gives groups or locations their own characters and motifs. Hughes points to the striking difference between the male chorus of rustics in ''The Sorcerer'' and the eponymous gondoliers, and between the fairies in ''Iolanthe'' and the undergraduates in ''Princess Ida''. ''H.M.S Pinafore'' retains "a nautical tang ''throughout''", and in ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' the Tower of London is evoked continually by its own motif. This use of Wagnerian leitmotif technique is repeated and developed further in ''Ivanhoe''.

Reputation and criticism

Sullivan's critical reputation has undergone extreme changes since he first came to prominence in the 1860s. At first he was hailed as the long-awaited great English composer. His incidental music to ''The Tempest'' received an acclaimed premiere at the Crystal Palace in April 1862. The ''Athenaeum'' wrote:

His ''Irish Symphony'' of 1866 won similarly enthusiastic praise, but as Arthur Jacobs notes, "The first rapturous outburst of enthusiasm for Sullivan as an orchestral composer did not last." A comment typical of those that followed him throughout his career was that "Sullivan's unquestionable talent should make him doubly careful not to mistake popular applause for artistic appreciation."

When Sullivan turned to comic opera, the serious critics began to express disapproval. The critic Peter Gammond writes of "misapprehensions and prejudices, delivered to our door by the Victorian firm Musical Snobs Ltd. … frivolity and high spirits were sincerely seen as elements that could not be exhibited by anyone who was to be admitted to the sanctified society of Art." Few critics denied the excellence of Sullivan's theatre scores; ''The Theatre'' wrote that "''Iolanthe'' sustains Dr Sullivan's reputation as the most spontaneous, fertile, and scholarly composer of comic opera this country has ever produced." However, comic opera, no matter how skilfully crafted, was viewed as an intrinsically lower form of art than oratorio. ''The Athenaeum's'' review of ''The Martyr of Antioch'' declared, "[I]t is an advantage to have the composer of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' occupying himself with a worthier form of art.

Sullivan's knighthood in 1883 gave the serious music critics further ammunition. ''The Musical Review'' of that year wrote:

Sullivan redeemed himself in critical eyes with ''The Golden Legend'' in 1886. ''The Observer'' hailed it as a "triumph of English art" and wrote of "a sublimity about the music which transcends description". Hopes for a new departure were evident in the ''Daily Telegraph'''s review of ''The Yeomen of the Guard'', Sullivan's most serious opera to that point: "[T]he music follows the book to a higher plane, and we have a genuine English opera, forerunner of many others, let us hope, and possibly significant of an advance towards a national lyric stage. Sullivan's only wholly serious opera, ''Ivanhoe'' (1891), received generally favourable reviews; J. A. Fuller Maitland wrote in ''The Times'' that the opera's "best portions rise so far above anything else that Sir Arthur Sullivan has given to the world, and have such force and dignity, that it is not difficult to forget the drawbacks which may be found in the want of interest in much of the choral writing, and the brevity of the concerted solo parts."

Although the more solemn members of the musical establishment could not forgive Sullivan for writing music that was both comic and popular, he was, nevertheless, "the nation's ''de facto'' composer laureate".

In the decade after his death, Sullivan's reputation sank considerably. In 1901, Fuller Maitland took issue with the generally laudatory tone of most of the obituaries: "Is there anywhere a case quite parallel to that of Sir Arthur Sullivan, who began his career with a work which at once stamped him as a genius, and to the height of which he only rarely attained throughout life?... [H]ow can the composer of "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "The Absent-Minded Beggar" claim a place in the hierarchy of music among the men who would face death rather than smirch their singing robes for the sake of a fleeting popularity?" Edward Elgar, to whom Sullivan had been particularly kind, rose to Sullivan's defence, branding Fuller Maitland's obituary "the shady side of musical criticism... that foul unforgettable episode."

Fuller Maitland's followers, including Ernest Walker also condemned Sullivan, as "merely the idle singer of an empty evening". As late as 1966, Frank Howes, music critic of ''The Times'' condemned Sullivan for "inability to perceive the smugness, the sentimentality and banality of the Mendelssohnian detritus … to remain content with the flattest and most obvious rhythms, this yielding to a fatal facility, that excludes Sullivan from the ranks of the good composers." In the 1920s, Thomas F. Dunhill wrote a chapter entitled "Mainly in Defence" in his 1928 book, ''Sullivan's Comic Operas''; the defence was necessary because "[Sullivan]'s music has suffered in an extraordinary degree from the vigorous attacks which have been made upon it in professional circles. These attacks have succeeded in surrounding the composer with a kind of barricade of prejudice which must be swept away before justice can be done to his genius." Sir Henry Wood continued to perform Sullivan's serious music, but it was not until the 1960s that Sullivan's music began to be widely revived and reassessed.

In 1960 Gervase Hughes published the first full-length book about Sullivan's music "taking note of his weaknesses (which are many) and not hesitating to castigate his lapses from good taste (which were comparatively rare) [and attempting] to view them in perspective against the wider background of his sound musicianship" The work of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society, founded in 1977, and books about Sullivan by musicians such as Percy Young (1971) and Arthur Jacobs (1986) have contributed to the re-evaluation of Sullivan's music.

The ''Symphony in E'' had its first professional recording in 1968, and a considerable number of Sullivan's non-Gilbert works have since been recorded, including ballet music, the cello concerto, and solo piano and chamber music. Scholarly critical editions of Sullivan's works have been published.

In a 2000 article in ''The Musical Times'', Nigel Burton wrote: |}}

Recordings

In 1888, Thomas Edison sent his "Perfected" Phonograph to George Gouraud in London, England, and on 14 August 1888, Gouraud introduced the phonograph to London in a press conference, including the playing of a piano and cornet recording of Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made.

A series of parties followed, introducing the phonograph to members of society at the so-called "Little Menlo" in London. Sullivan was invited to one of these on 5 October 1888. After dinner, he recorded a speech to be sent to Thomas Edison, saying, in part:

These recordings were discovered in the Edison Library in New Jersey in the 1950s.

See also

Gilbert and Sullivan

Savoy opera

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Arthur Sullivan biography and further information

Extensive list of, and links to Sullivan works at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive

Obituary notices in ''The Times''

Detailed 1879 article about Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan Discography

"Sir Arthur Sullivan Buried in St. Paul's" ''The New York Times'', November 28, 1900, p. 9

"The Other Side of Sullivan", lecture by Robin Wilson on the non-operatic musical output of Sullivan, given at Gresham College, 11 June 2008.

Sir Arthur Sullivan Society

Article on Sullivan's rhythmic treatment of Gilbert's texts

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cs:Arthur Sullivan da:Arthur Sullivan de:Arthur Sullivan el:Σερ Άρθουρ Σίμορ Σάλιβαν es:Arthur Sullivan eo:Arthur Sullivan fr:Arthur Sullivan id:Arthur Sullivan it:Arthur Sullivan he:ארתור סאליבן lv:Arturs Salivens mk:Артур Саливан nl:Arthur Sullivan ja:アーサー・サリヴァン no:Arthur Sullivan nn:Arthur Sullivan pl:Arthur Sullivan pt:Arthur Sullivan ru:Салливан, Артур simple:Arthur Sullivan sk:Arthur Sullivan sl:Arthur Sullivan fi:Arthur Sullivan sv:Arthur Sullivan zh:阿瑟·萨利文

Anthony Michaels-Moore (born 8 April 1957) is an English operatic baritone. After beginning studies in singing in 1981 and attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1984-85, his career has focused on the Italian repertoire throughout Europe where, in addition to the standard repertoire, he has sung the baritone roles of some of the less-known 19th Century Italian operas. In North America he has appeared at most of the major houses, sometimes tackling some of the less familiar roles or apppearing in a world world premiere such as his 2009 appearances at the Santa Fe Opera's summer festival.

Biography

Early years

Michaels-Moore was born in Essex. Between 1975 and 1978, he was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Tank Regiment while studying at Newcastle University, and, after a year at teacher training college, he became a primary school teacher. He studied singing privately from 1981 onwards, was a member of the chorus at the English Bach Festival from 1982-4, and in 1984-5 attended the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1985 he was the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition and sang the roles of Messenger (''Oedipus rex'') for Opera North and Scarpia in ''Tosca'' for Scottish Opera Go Round.

Subsequent career

His career has been centred around the Italian repertoire, starting with lyric roles, but now focused on the great Verdi baritone roles. A review of his 2009 performances of ''Rigoletto'' with English National Opera noted his ability to be both "gloriously lyrical and terrifyingly baleful at the same time", combining beautiful Italianate legato with "monstrous power". Another reviewer of that production opined that "he is [Britain's] leading Verdi baritone". Performances in Canada as Rigoletto ("performing with amazing presence, his dark voice suited the character perfectly… brought a remarkable breadth of expression to the role") and in Europe as Scarpia ("he is obsequiously, sadistically, loathsomely mellifluous") as well as Falstaff in 2010 have also drawn high praise.

Michaels-Moore made his début at London's Royal Opera House in 1987 and has subsequently appeared in many productions there including ''L’elisir d'amore'', ''La Bohème'', ''Pagliacci'', ''The Barber of Seville'', ''Tosca'' (2000), ''Macbeth'' (2002), ''The Marriage of Figaro'', ''Andrea Chénier'', ''Il trovatore'' (2007), ''Falstaff'', ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' and ''La traviata''. He has also appeared with all the other major British companies: English and Welsh National Operas, Opera North, Scottish Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

In Europe he has appeared at major houses such as the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Milan, the Opéra National de Paris, Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper, the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Barcelona's Liceu, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Madrid's Teatro Real and Zurich Opera House.

He also appears regularly in North America, and has performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Colorado and Florida Grand Opera.

In the USA, Michaels-Moore has a particularly strong relationship with the Santa Fe Opera; in their summer festivals he has appeared in classic Verdi parts such as Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff in 2008 and Germont ''pere'', as well as creating the role of Robert Crosbie in Paul Moravec's ''The Letter'' (2009), which brought him particular critical approval.

The baritone has also appeared in ''Andrea Chénier'' at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Repertoire

Verdi

Title-roles in ''Nabucco, Macbeth'', ''Rigoletto''''Simon Boccanegra'' and ''Falstaff''

Francesco Foscari in ''I due Foscari''

Ezio in ''Attila''

Germont in ''La traviata''

Count di Luna in ''Il trovatore''

Stankar in ''Stiffelio''

Vasconcello in ''I vespri siciliani''

Don Carlo in ''La forza del destino''

Rodrigo in ''Don Carlos''

Iago in ''Otello''

Ford in ''Falstaff''

Puccini

Lescaut in ''Manon Lescaut''

Marcello in ''La Bohème''

Scarpia in ''Tosca''

Sharpless in ''Madama Butterfly''

Jack Rance in ''La fanciulla del West''

Donizetti

Enrico in ''Lucia di Lammermoor''

Belcore in ''L'elisir d'amore''

Antonio in ''Linda di Chamounix''

Other Italian repertoire

The Count in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' by Mozart

Figaro in ''The Barber of Seville'' by Rossini

Chief Priest in ''La Vestale'' by Spontini

Gérard in ''Andrea Chénier'' by Giordano

Alfio in ''Cavalleria rusticana'' by Mascagni

Silvio in ''Pagliacci'' by Leoncavallo

De Guiche in ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' by Alfano

Repertoire in other languages

Title-roles in ''Eugene Onegin'' by Tchaikovskyand ''Hamlet'' by Thomas

Oreste in ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' by Gluck

Lescaut in ''Manon'' by Massenet

Zurga in ''The Pearl Fishers'' by Bizet

Balstrode in ''Peter Grimes'' by Britten

Robert Crosbie in ''The Letter'' by Paul Moravec

Recordings

Complete operas

Orazio in ''Orazi e Curiazi'' by Mercadante with David Parry and the Philharmonia Orchestra (Opera Rara)

Balstrode in ''Peter Grimes'' by Britten with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live)

2nd Yeoman/2nd Citizen in ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' with Sir Neville Marriner (Philips Classics)

Alphonse in ''La favorita'' by Donizetti with Marcello Viotti (BMG Classics)

Enrico in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' by Donizetti with Sir Charles Mackerras (Sony)

Ford in ''Falstaff'' by Verdi with John Eliot Gardiner (Decca)

Egberto in ''Aroldo'' by Verdi with Fabio Luisi (Philips Classics)

Renato in ''A Masked Ball'' by Verdi with David Parry (Chandos)

''La vestale'' by Spontini with Riccardo Muti (Sony)

Other recordings

Szymanowski's ''Stabat Mater'' with Claus Peter Flor (BMG Classics)

Orff's ''Carmina Burana'' with André Previn (Deutsche Grammophon)

Purcell's ''The Fairy Queen'' with Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec Classics)

Puccini arias with the Royal Opera House Orchestra (Conifer)

Mendelssohn's ''Die erste Walpurgisnacht'' with the Philharmonia Orchestra

References

Category:English opera singers Category:Operatic baritones Category:1957 births Category:Living people

fi:Anthony Michaels-Moore

Sylvia McNair (born June 23, 1956) is an American opera singer and classical recitalist who has also achieved notable success in the Broadway and cabaret genres. McNair, a soprano, has made several critically acclaimed recordings and has won two Grammy Awards.

Early life and musical training

Sylvia McNair was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the daughter of George and Marilou McNair. As a youth, she studied violin. She originally enrolled in the undergraduate music program at Wheaton (Ill.) College as a violin major but was encouraged by a violin instructor there to study voice as well. She commenced vocal studies at Wheaton with Margarita Evans, and finding herself more suited to singing, discontinued violin as her major. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1978 from Wheaton and subsequently a Master of Music with Distinction in 1983 from Indiana University (whose music school is now the Jacobs School of Music), where she studied voice with Virginia MacWatters, John Wustman, and Virginia Zeani.

Career

Sylvia McNair made her professional concert debut in 1980 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Her operatic debut, in 1982, was as Sandrina in Haydn's ''L'infedeltà delusa'' with the Mostly Mozart Festival. She appeared regularly at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Santa Fe Opera, the San Francisco Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera, and has soloed with many major European and American orchestras.

Since the late 1990s, McNair has changed the focus of her singing career to Broadway and jazz styles. In these genres she has achieved considerable critical acclaim and commercial success.

In 2006, McNair joined the voice faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, her alma mater. She teaches English diction (IPA), opera workshop, and private lessons.

Critical commentary

"Her phrasing is exemplary. Her modulations are inspired. Her time is enviable. . . . I could get used to this kind of ecstasy." —Rex Reed, 2005

Personal

McNair married conductor Hal France in 1986. The couple are now divorced.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. Her treatments have included mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Recorded repertoire

Sylvia McNair has made over 70 recordings, including many complete operas and recitals ranging from ''Mozart arias'' with Sir Neville Marriner and the ''Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields'' to CDs with Andre Previn of music by Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen (''Sure Thing'' and ''Come Rain or Come Shine''). Samuel Barber"Knoxville Summer of 1915".

Awards and honors

McNair's awards and honors include the following:

National Metropolitan Opera Auditions, first place, 1982

Marian Anderson Award, 1990

Grammy Awards, 1993 and 1996

Honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Westminster Choir College, 1997, and Indiana University, 1998

Governor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Entertainment from Ohio Governor Bob Taft, 1999

Command recital performances for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Hillary Clinton, Pope John Paul II

Sources

"McNair, Sylvia" in ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', Eighth Edition, ed. Nicolas Slonimsky. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992. ISBN 0-02-872415-1

Sylvia McNair Biography at musicianguide.com

"Sylvia McNair Recovering From Breast Cancer, Joining Indiana University Faculty" by Matthew Westphal. ''Playbill Arts'', 7 August 2006. (link)

Sylvia McNair to join Jacobs School of Music faculty from Indiana University Media Relations

External links

Official website

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:American musicians Category:Indiana University alumni Category:Indiana University faculty Category:People from Mansfield, Ohio Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American opera singers Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni

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