Product Description

The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan provides the complete text of all the Gilbert & Sullivan operas which are still performed today, together with extensive annotations covering 'lost' songs, alterations and additions, obscure allusions, production points, and comments of interest. Each opera has an introduction which places it in its context, and a potted history of performances up to the present. No other book provides such extensive commentary on the texts of the Savoy Opera nor such a source of innocent merriment to fans of the incomparable Victorian duo. For each opera, there is a short introduction describing how the work came to be written, and giving its performance history. The text, including stage directions, is given on the right-hand page, and on the left (keyed in by line numbers) are notes. These give such information as the identity of a real-life person appearing or mentioned as a character, wordings that were different in the original edition (the one sent to the Lord Chamberlain for licensing), changes made for the first American performance, glosses on technical terms (e.g. legal terms), literary references, cross-references to similar items in other Savoy operas, comments from first-night critics, and many other things

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89033 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1214 pages

Musical Opinion
"Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about G&S here comes another book with even more information to swell the cards of Trivial Pursuit."

Review
a beautifully produced door-stopper of a book. (Times Literary Supplement )

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about G&S here comes another book with even more information to swell the cards of Trivial Pursuit. (Musical Opinion )

superbly edited by Ian Bradley with a succinct but informative introduction to each opera and copiously detailed notes explaining away the wildest fancies of Gilbert's wide-ranging erudition. (Classical Music )

Classical Music
"superbly edited by Ian Bradley with a succinct but informative introduction to each opera and copiously detailed notes explaining away the wildest fancies..

Customer Reviews

A must have for all G&S fans
This is the single most important book in the library of a Gilbert and Sullivan lover. It contains the entire text of the 14 Savoy operas as now generally performed on the right hand page whilst on the left hand page Ian Bradley has noted explanations of words and phrases and also includes the words of many songs and sections of libretto that were cut from the repertoire by Gilbert. The book is well researched and full of useful information.

No Gilbert & Sullivan fan should be without it.

An essential guide to the Savoy Operettas
This book brings together Bradleys two previous sets of annotated notes and adds the details for Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke. Anyone who has an interest in the Savoy Operas will appreciate this book as it gives a great insight into some of the language and phrases in the libretto. It also gives a lot of useful background into the thirteen operettas and has regular references to Thespis, the lost show. As a regular performer and director of G& S shows I use this book constantly to answer questions and to understand the reason why they are as they are.

Pure, ecstatic joy for any G&S fan, A MUST BUY!
Ian Bradley at his best, accurately researched, beautifully written and excitedly well executed. I cannot think of a more suitable author for such a mammoth task. In this ode to all things Gilbert and Sullivan, Ian Bradley shines. What a vast wealth of anecdotes, parodies and previously unknown information; beautiful edited by the well-known and much loved Gilbert and Sullivan expert Ian Bradley. With his wit, knowledge and passion for the subject Bradley takes us through every comic operetta ever to be created by the famous pair.

A full, completed picture of Victorian Musical theatre. A must buy for any G&S fan, young or old. Ideal as a gift -true value for money!