C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Critical and Biographical Introduction
By William Schwenck Gilbert (18361911)
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The ‘Bab Ballads,’ and ‘More Bab Ballads’ which appeared in 1872, have become classic. In many of them may be found the germs of the librettos which have made Gilbert famous in comic opera. ‘Pinafore,’ ‘The Mikado,’ ‘Patience,’ and many others of a long and well-known list written to Sir Arthur Sullivan’s music, have furnished the public with many popular songs. A volume of dainty lyrics has been made up from them; and, entitled ‘Songs of a Savoyard’ (from the Savoy Theatre of London, where the operas were first represented), was published in 1890.
Gilbert was born in London November 18th, 1836, and educated in that city; after his graduation from the University of London he studied law, and was called to the bar of the Inner Temple in 1863. Five years later he became a captain of the Royal Aberdeenshire Highlanders. The success of his first play, ‘Dulcamara,’ in 1866, led him to abandon the law, and he has since devoted himself to authorship. Gilbert was knighted in 1907 and died in 1911.