GILBERT* AND SULLIVAN*

GILBERT* AND SULLIVAN*

1875 - In England the brilliant pair, Gilbert* and Sullivan* (Sir William Schwenck Gilbert* 1836-1911, playwright and poet and Sir Arthur Sullivan* 1842-1900, composer) come out with their hit, Trial by Jury*. It's produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte* (1844-1901), who will later build a theatre (the Savoy* ) to house their plays. They will go on to write (among other things) H.M.S Pinafore* (1878), The Pirates of Penzance* (1879), The Mikado* (1885), Ruddigore * (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard* (1888), and The Gondoliers* (1889). Sullivan's music is delightful and Gilbert*'s lyrics are hysterically funny. The satire of English 1875 - In England the brilliant pair, Gilbert* and Sullivan* (Sir William Schwenck Gilbert* 1836-1911, playwright and poet and Sir Arthur Sullivan* 1842-1900, composer) come out with their hit, Trial by Jury*. It's produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte* (1844-1901), who will later build a theatre (the Savoy* ) to house their plays. They will go on to write (among other things) H.M.S Pinafore* (1878), The Pirates of Penzance* (1879), The Mikado* (1885), Ruddigore * (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard* (1888), and The Gondoliers* (1889). Sullivan's music is delightful and Gilbert*'s lyrics are hysterically funny. The satire of English

The immensely popular grand opera, Carmen*, by Georges Bizet* (1838-75), is launched this year, too. The romantic ballet begins a renaissance in Russia where many of the great standard ballets will be created.

1875 This is the time (1875-77) the Russian, Tolstoy*, writes his second masterpiece, Anna Karenina*. Later we will get to his plays.

This year Great Britain buys the Suez Canal*. It is a smart move. 1876 The United States welcomes Colorado as the 38th state. That communication business is

taking off and this year Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) gets a patent for a telephone*. That German engineer, Otto*, develops the four-stroke Otto cycle for the internal-combustion

engine. This little jewel will show up in the automobile, airplane and other motors.

A German bacteriologist, Robert Koch* (1843-1910), discovers the bacterial cause of a lot of infectious diseases (this discovery will continue into the next century). Between improving ways of keeping food healthy and preventing disease, the death rate begins to drop and the beginning of overpopulation is underway.

Mark Twain* publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*. 1877 - The English novelist and poet, George Meredith* (1828-1909) this year lectures on On

the Idea of Comedy* and Uses of the Comic Spirit* (these won't be published until 1897). 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes* comes in as the 19th president of the United States. It is a pretty

dubious election but, at least, he will finally bring an end to the Reconstruction. Another American inventor is busy coming up with useful devices. This year Thomas Alva

Edison* (1847-1931) comes out with the carbon michrophone which they use in telephones and later in sound recording, radio, etc.

The French novelist, Emile Zola* (1840-1902), is busy writing a whole bunch of novels. This year he comes out with one of his best known, The Dram Shop*. He will be the leader of the naturalism* movement and a vocal supporter of the victim of the Dreyfus* affair (see 1898).

********************** Afterword

Realism* in literature and the theatre is now fully up and running and Ibsen* is about to join it. Everybody is doing it and the next step will be to do it really well. Society is busily rushing into what we call the modern world, in all directions. Political, social, economic, philosophical and artistic movements are charging off in all directions and at great speed, gathering momentum and size as they go like a bewildering series of snowballs hurtling down hill at alarming rates. We will try to follow them into the eighties.

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