There was much more to composer Arthur Seymour Sullivan than the topsy-turvydom of The Mikado.

 

Ever since I appeared in The Pirates of Penzance as a boy, I have had a fascination for Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan. Sullivan’s collaborations with WS Gilbert are still immensely popular – but there’s more to him than that. Sullivan composed numerous “serious” works for the concert hall and was for many years the British musical establishment’s brightest hope for the future.

Sullivan was born in London on May 13, 1842. As a boy his fine singing voice gained him a prized place in the choir of the Chapel Royal. In his teens he studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He was the inaugural holder of the Mendelssohn Scholarship, enabling him to study at the Leipzig Conservatory.