Arthur Sullivan’s only grand opera, premiered in 1891, has always languished beside the operettas he wrote with W.S. Gilbert. It’s an old-fashioned “number” opera, with some effective choruses and a ...

Ivanhoe opened to a great fanfare in January 1891. It was the inaugural production at the Royal English Opera House, built by D’Oyly Carte to be the London home of – yes – English opera. It ran for an ...

Sir Arthur Sullivan long nourished a dream to escape from the celebrated comic operettas he wrote with W?S Gilbert and create a truly great English opera. Ivanhoe was the result, and in it he tried to ...

Ivanhoe, Sullivan's most important work without Gilbert, was an ambitious attempt to establish an English operatic tradition that would rival those of continental Europe. Its history was chequered ...

Sullivan’s take on Scott’s epic historical novel was his bid to escape the shackles of popular musical theatre and Gilbertian libretti. No more than Britten 60 years later did Sullivan strive to be at ...