Gilbert, William Schenck

1836-

English writer, dramatist and opera librettist, who for a quarter of a century collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan in the production of a succession of operettas, which captivated the English-speaking world and stamped English operetta as an art form to be considered seriously. Gilbert was born in London and was educated at the London University, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the age of nineteen. He is said to have passed most of his time while at school between play-writing and fighting, always being of a decidedly pugnacious disposition. At college he won a few prizes. After his graduation he was a clerk in the Privy Council office from 1857 to 1862, and was called to the bar in 1864, becoming a barrister at Inner Temple. In 1861 he joined the staff of Fun, a comic weekly, and to its columns contributed the Bab Ballads, some of which found their way into his operettas later, to be set to Sir Arthur Sullivan's music, others having been since published in book form. He was most versatile, often illustrating his verses with little pen sketches, which were pronounced " inimitably Gilbertian. 1 * In several of the ballads Gilbert touched upon situations which he afterward elaborated in his comic operas. In 1867 he was married to Lucy Agnes Turner, a daughter of Captain Turner, but the marriage proved unhappy. The following year Mr. Gilbert was appointed captain of the Royal Aberdeenshire Highs (Militia). He wrote for numerous London periodicals and newspapers, and in 1868 became dramatic critic for two of the London papers, but shortly afterward resigned both positions. During this period Gilbert was constantly writing plays and farce comedies and society dramas. In one of his most ambitious pieces, Pygmalion and Galatea, Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, the eminent English actors, made their reputation on the stage.

In 1871 Gilbert first met Sullivan, then firmly established as one of England's foremost composers. This meeting was the beginning of a long partnership with Sullivan and D'Oyley Carte, the latter of whom built for the collaborators the famous London Savoy Theatre, for the production of their operettas. The first work they collaborated upon was Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, which received its first performance at the London Gaiety Theatre in 1871. Four years later they wrote jointly, Trial by Jury, for D'Oyley Carte. This was a great success. The Sorcerer was given in 1877 and was the first of a long series of Savoy Theatre operas. Following it came, perhaps, the collaborators' greatest success, Her Majesty's Ship, Pinafore, then Pirates of Penzance; lolanthe; Princess Ida; then another great success, The Mikado; Ruddygore; Yeomen of the Guard; and The Gondoliers. After the production of the last named, Sullivan and Gilbert had their first differences, and each decided to go his own way. Alone, they never did as good work. Their quarrels were finally adjusted through the friends of both and they once more combined forces and brought out Utopia, Limited, which was well received, as the other operas had been. Again they parted company, and again united in the opera, The Grand Duke, produced in 1896, but it too plainly bore the marks of having been written to order, and was not the success the others had been. The separation was final this time and Gilbert and Sullivan parted never to unite again. After the final separation Gilbert turned to drama, but added little or nothing to his fame. Of late years Gilbert has filled the position of justice of the peace in the County of Middlesex, and enjoyed the life of an English gentleman of leisure. His estate is at Grim's Dyke, on Harrow Weald, very near the place where Byron passed his school-days. Gilbert and Sullivan made the operetta as characteristic a form as opera bouffe, and it is as distinctly English as the latter is French. They had many imitators, but never in the history of the stage has anything reached the vogue that the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas enjoyed so long. The up-to-dateness of the libretto had a great deal to do with its success and this of course was due to Gilbert. His plays had a neatness of dialogue, much originality and his ability to hit off the foibles of the day and to satirize society's follies found an immediate audience. In Pinafore he gave many sly digs at the red tape practised in the British navy, and in Patience he satirized the aesthetic craze in England during the 70s. In all their operettas Gilbert and Sullivan did all in their power to wipe out the grosser element from the stage and their plays were clean and wholesome, as well as clever and tuneful. While Gilbert brought out many plays that were more or less successful, his efforts in comic opera completely overshadowed his work in other lines, and it is as the author of the librettos of the Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy operas that he will live in memory.