 by Frank Desprez and Alfred Cellier. This little opera about friendship and love was lost for the past 100 years or so, and is being presented here after considerable work by collectors in finding the lost pieces.
by W.S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay. Opened November 22, 1869, at the Royal Gallery of Illustration.  This operetta was a great success, making Gilbert the most important playwright at the Gallery of Illustration. Features a picture gallery in an old castle, with ancestors stepping out of the picture frames. This theme was to appear again in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Ruddigore. This one is more of a comedy than Ruddigore, with lots of sprightly, happy music.
 Opened May 28, 1898. Sullivan's next to last full opera.
The longest Savoy opera, lasting over four hours on opening night. In its original version, it requires a cast of 21 principals. The Devil comes to Mirlemont, a fifteenth century Flemish village, bearing with him a stone which, when worn around the neck, conveys upon the wearer perfect beauty.
by Frank Desprez and Quade Winters. Another first for the G&S Archive -- the first opera scored specifically for the World Wide Web. The original score for this little opera, which played at the Savoy Theatre in 1886 and 1887, was written by Alfred Cellier. This reconstruction has been scored for the G&S Archive by Quade Winter, the composer in residence for the Ohio Light Opera company.
 Libretto by F. C. Burnand, music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. This opera is a revison of the two men's earlier work, The Contrabandista, of 1867. The Chieftain ran at the Savoy Theatre for 97 performances in 1894-95.
Libretto by F. C. Burnand, music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Opened at St.  George's Hall, London, on December 18, 1867. This one is a real rarity -- considerable detective work was involved in coming up with the libretto and score for this Web Opera. This was Sullivan's first two-act operetta, and only his second operetta (the first being Cox and Box). Contains some very nice music.
 Sullivan's first opera, with lyrics by F. C. Burnand. Sergeant Bouncer, an old soldier, has a scheme to get double rent from a single room. By day he lets it to Mr. Box (a printer who is out all night) and by night to Mr. Cox (a hatter who works all day). But then Mr. Cox gets an unexpected day off. This delightful little opera has been a perennial favorite since it was first performed in 1866.
Lyrics and music by George Grossmith. There is an understanding between Mrs. Worcester and General Deelah, each of whom has a collection of old china. However, it turns out that neither collection is quite what it is "cracked" up to be, and after an initial disappointment the two decide that they really do like each other better than their old china.
The Emerald Isle (1901) was the last score undertaken by Sir Arthur Sullivan,
who died before completing it. Producer Richard D'Oyly Carte contracted Edward German to complete the
score after Sullivan's death. Before the production got to the stage, Carte, too, had died and The Emerald Isle was mounted by his widow, Helen. The shows songs are often reminiscent of the earlier Gilbert and Sullivan works, but it is revived today most often as a concert piece for choral societies.
 Alfred Tennyson wrote his verse play "The Foresters", subtitled "Robin Hood and Maid Marian", at the request of the America theatre manager Augustin Daly in 1892. Daly, who had met Sullivan in California, asked him to write the music and Sullivan composed the nine short numbers which comprise the score. The Web Opera of this rarity not only includes midi files of the entire score, but also the score itself in downloadable form, all provided to the Archive by Paul Howarth.
 A musical comedy in two acts by Owen Hall, with music by Sidney Jones and Lionel Monckton. Opened at Daly's Theatre 8 June 1898, and played for 349 performances. Sidney Jones musical style of brevity and brightness is evident in this fine score, perhaps his most ambitious with 28 numbers comprising some 195 pages of score. It contains some exceptional choral writing and beautifull songs, duets and quartettes.
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 Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall elopes with John Manners, son of the Duke of Rutland. Her father has unfortunately arranged a marriage for her with her cousin Rupert, a recent unwilling convert to puritanism, in order for the family to retain the Haddon estate.
 Words by Harry Greenbank and music by Ernest Ford. This one act operetta played at the Savoy Theatre in 1893 as a companion piece to two different operas. Has its own special brand of humor, and some very neat music.
The most popular Gilbert and Sullivan opera, and arguably the most popular  opera ever written. This opera has delighted audiences for more than a century, and spawned a number of imitations. But none were nearly as good as the original, which represented both Gilbert and Sullivan at the height of their creative geniuses.
The Mountebanks was W.S. Gilbert's first libretto after the
infamous Carpet Quarrel of 1890 which broke up (temporarily) his
partnership with Arthur Sullivan. The story, that of people drinking a
potion to make them actually become the characters they are pretending
to be, was apparently very important to Gilbert, who tried several times
to get Sullivan to set it. Alfred Cellier composed the music. The Mountebanks premiered on January 4, 1892.
 This opera opened May 28, 1878, at the Opera Comique and ran for 571 performances. The captain's daughter and a common sailor on his ship fall
in love. The first smash hit Gilbert and Sullivan opera, and one of the Big Three today.
 Opened April 2, 1880 at Opera Comique and ran for 363 performances. The second smash hit Gilbert and Sullivan opera, and the first ever Web Opera. A young pirate just out of his "indentures" is in love with Mabel, Major General Stanley's ward, while the rest of the pirate crew want to marry the general's other wards.
 Opened January 5, 1884 at the Savoy Theatre and ran for 246 performances. Princess Ida decides that men are little more than monkeys in suits, so retreats to Castle Adamant to run a women's college. The men first infiltrate, then invade, the castle. The only three act G&S opera.
 With words by Basil Hood and music by Sullivan, this opera was the Savoy's most financially successful hit of the 1890's. Has some really wonderful music, and a very clever libretto. The first modern recording of this opera was distributed with the May 1999 edition of the BBC Music Magazine.
 The only one act Gilbert and Sullivan Opera and the only one without spoken dialogue. This is the oldest G&S Opera to have survived intact. This opera has been a perennial favorite since it was first performed in 1875.
The darkest of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, Yeomen ends with a broken-hearted main character and at least two reluctant engagements, rather than the usual armful of marriages. However, Gilbert's "pointed" satire and punny one-liners abound, there are plenty of topsy-turvy plot complications, and many believe that the score is Sullivan's finest.
 Libretto by B. Rowe (B. C. Stephenson), and music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Hi-jinks on a sunny afternoon in the London Zoological Gardens. First performed on June 5, 1875, a few weeks after Trial By Jury opened. It was produced as an afterpiece to Gilbert's farce Tom Cobb. Like
Trial by Jury, The Zoo is a one-act piece without spoken
dialogue.
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