Arthur Sullivan: A Victorian Musician

<p>Published in 1992. This is a revised enlarged edition of a book which on its original appearance in 1984 was hailed as a landmark in the study of Victorian musical life. It presents the figure of Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1990) not only as the celebrated co-creator of light operas with W.S Gilbert but as a composer of all kinds of music from symphony and concerto to ballads such as ‘The Lost Chord’ and hymns such as ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. A prominent public life with a knighthood in 1883 is contrasted with an unconventional private life involving a liaison of almost thirty years with an American living in London Mary Frances Ronalds.</p><p>The author’s access to Sullivan’s diary held by Yale University and to letters and other documents at the Pierpont Morgan library in New York gives this book both a unique authority and a deep human understanding. A new chapter updates research to the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth 1992 and incorporates music examples. </p>