Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography
by Michael Ainger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael AingerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-02-11
ISBN: 0195386930
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography
Book Review: What a good biography!
Summary: 5 Stars
Since my early childhood in the 1940s, I have known the basic stories of how Sullivan and Gilbert died; and this is the first time I have cried upon rereading the facts. Not that Ainger's writing can be called "sentimental." It is clear, calm, and objective -- exactly the style I like best in nonfiction. (If more biographies for young people had been written like this, I might today be reading biographies for pleasure instead of research.) Following an earlier reviewer's suggestion, I read Ainger's biography side by side with Leslie Bailey's and, while Bailey's does have some interesting tidbits absent from Ainger's account, it is a coffee-table book to this newer one. Nor does Ainger squander wordage with critical analysis of the works themselves, as too many literary and musical biographers do, to the probable annoyance of any reader whose critical opinion differs. I think that the key to what makes Ainger's easily the best biography I have yet read about either Gilbert, Sullivan, or both -- Steadman's on Gilbert is the only one that comes close -- is that Ainger treats them as people rather than icons. He doesn't gloss over the things that went wrong, but where possible he looks for human reasons why these things happened. If you want a really well-told reconstruction of the lives of influential Victorians, this is the shop for it.
Summary of Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography
'A Gilbert is of no use without a Sullivan.' With these words, W.S. Gilbert summed up his reasons for persisting in his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan despite the combative nature of their relationship. In fact, Michael Ainger suggests in Gilbert and Sullivan the success of the pair's work is a direct result of their personality clash, as each partner challenged the other to produce his best work. After exhaustive research into the D'Oyly Carte collection of documents, Ainger offers the most detailed account to date of Gilbert and Sullivan's starkly different backgrounds and long working partnership. Having survived an impoverished and insecure childhood, Gilbert flourished as a financially successful theater professional, married happily and established himself as a property owner. His sense of proprietorship extended beyond real estate, and he fought tenaciously to protect the integrity of his musical works. Sullivan, the product of a supportive family who nourished his talent, was much less satisfied with stability than his collaborator. His creative self-doubts and self-demands led to nervous and physical breakdowns, but it also propelled the team to break the successful mode of their earliest work to produce more ambitious pieces of theater, including The Mikado and The Yeoman of the Guards . Offering previously-unpublished draft libretti and personal letters, this thorough double-biography will be an essential addition to the library of any Gilbert and Sullivan fan.Theater Books
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