Sullivan, SIR ARTHUR SEYMOUR

Sullivan, SIR ARTHUR SEYMOUR, was born in London, 13th May 1842. He studied music under Sterndale Bennett and Goss, and at Leipzig, and had his music to The Tempest performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862. He then produced the cantata Kenilworth in 1864, the overtures In Memoriam (1866), Marmion (1867), and Di Ballo (1869), the oratorios The Prodigal Son (1868) and The Light of the World (1873), a Festival Te Deum for the Prince of Wales's recovery in 1872, and at Leeds in 1880 and 1886 The Martyr of Antioch and The Golden Legend. To the general public, however, he is better known by his hymn tunes, his songs, and still more his tuneful and popular operas and operettas. The latter began with Cox and Box in 1866, and include the long list given already in the article on W. S. Gilbert (q.v.); they are notable for an orchestration full of subtle and humorous touches that render his operas of special interest to musicians. The fertility and technical resource squandered on these productions were devoted to higher work in the grand opera of Ivanhoe (1891). He was the first principal (1876-81) of the National Training School for Music, was made Mus. Doc. of Cambridge in 1876 and of Oxford in 1879, received the Legion of Honour in 1878, and in 1883 was knighted. He died 22d November 1900, and was buried in St Paul's.