William Schwenck Gilbert

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WS Gilbert

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (born November 18, 1836 in London ; † May 29, 1911 ibid) was a British writer , playwright and librettist . Together with the composer Arthur Sullivan , he wrote 14 comic operas that are on a par with the operettas of Jacques Offenbach in terms of pun and esprit .

Caricature WS Gilberts from 1881

Life

Gilbert was the son of a marine doctor who traveled a lot with his family in Europe. At the age of two, WS Gilbert was kidnapped by muggers in Italy and only released for a ransom. From an early age he showed inclinations for theater and literature, wrote small poems and pieces that were presented in private. For the time being, Gilbert decided to take a different path in life.

After leaving school, he embarked on an officer career and then studied military science with the aim of participating in the Crimean War. However, the war ended before he could finish his studies. Gilbert then joined the vigilante group, to which he remained loyal for 20 years.

After completing his military career, he worked in an administrative office and trained as a lawyer ( barrister , pleading lawyer at the higher courts of law). At the same time, he regularly wrote poems and ballads. Gilbert had shown a tendency to polished wit and sarcasm from an early age, and this talent would bring him to fame and greatness. Since 1861 he published theater reviews and ridiculous verses anonymously in the popular magazine FUN. Some of his works contained drawings and sketches that he signed with "Bab." Some of the characters from the later operas are sketched from the "Bab." Caricatures. In 1869 the Bab Ballads appeared as a book.

Gilbert he married in 1867 the daughter of an army officer, Lucy Agnes Turner.

1871 began the most fruitful period of Gilbert, in favor of which he could give up his profession as a lawyer. He published two comedies, which brought him great financial success, on the other hand he met the composer Arthur Sullivan know, to whom he provided the libretto for an opera called Thespis . Although this did not bring them any greater popularity, their collaboration lasted 25 years and a total of 14 comic operas, all of which were successes (see Gilbert and Sullivan ). The last opera, The Grand Duke , premiered in 1896 . Then both went their own way.

Gilbert was ennobled in 1907 by Edward VII . He died of a heart attack at the age of 74 while trying to save a young woman from drowning in the lake on his private estate in Harrow . The Gilbert Glacier on the West Antarctic Alexander I Island bears his name in his honor.

Works (libretti)

Poster for the opera HMS Pinafore
  • Ages Ago (with Fred Clay, 1869)
  • Our Island Home (with Thomas German Reed, 1870)
  • Thespis (1871)
  • Pygmalion and Galatea (1871)
  • Trial by Jury (1875)
  • The Sorcerer (1877)
  • HMS Pinafore (1878)
  • The Pirates of Penzance (1879)
  • Solitaire or Bunthornes Bride (1881)
  • Iolanthe (1882)
  • Princess Ida (1884)
  • The Mikado (1885)
  • Ruddigore (1887)
  • The Yeomen of the Guard (1888)
  • The Gondoliers (1889)
  • Haste to the Wedding (with Grossmith, 1892)
  • The Mountebanks (with Alfred Cellier, 1892)
  • Utopia Limited (1893)
  • The Grand Duke (1896)

Movie

The life of William Gilbert and his artistic collaboration with Arthur Sullivan is the subject of the 1999 Oscar-winning British film Topsy-Turvy by Mike Leigh .

literature

Web links

Commons : WS Gilbert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Author: WS Gilbert  - Sources and full texts (English)
personal data
SURNAME Gilbert, William Schwenck
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British novelist, playwright and librettist
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 1911
Place of death London