G. & S.: The Copyright Aspect

THE SAVOY OPERAS of Gilbert and Sullivan represent one of the most fruitful and interesting partnerships in musical history. This marriage of two complementary minds, the masculinity of Gilbert and the softer, more feminine personality and talent of Sullivan, produced a series of works which are just as popular today as when they were written over seventy years ago. Neither man was really successful without the other; even their collaboration lacked a clear artistic purpose because both deprecated it as running counter to what they conceived to be their true function as writer or musician. On Sullivan's part, in particular, one senses the root cause whereby one work followed another in a long series; namely, the need to support a chosen mode of living within the orbit of high society. Moreover, these operas have had no real successors and the extent to which they have been appreciated and performed in non‐English speaking countries has been negligible. Yet most of them, written and produced with the normal intent of topical entertainment, have survived for three‐quarters of a century, seemingly unaffected by outdated allusions in the text and a basic churchiness in much of the music. Their continuous popularity in Great Britain and the United States has not only been reflected in capacity audiences all through the years, but also in the establishment of Gilbert and Sullivan societies and a steady flow of books about the lives of the two men and their joint works. This very element of success is the underlying reason why copyright protection, or indeed the lack of it, is such an important factor in the history of the Savoy operas, not only during the lifetimes of Gilbert and Sullivan, but also in our own day. It has affected both performances and the printed music of these works very considerably, amounting to a special study in itself, well worthy of examination.