W. S. Gilbert bibliography

This is a selected list of W. S. Gilbert's works, including all that have their own Wikipedia articles. For a complete list of Gilbert's dramatic works, see List of W. S. Gilbert dramatic works.

Poetry

• The Bab Ballads, a collection of comic verse published roughly between 1865 and 1871
• Songs of a Savoyard, London: George Routledge and Sons, 1890, a collection of Gilbert's song lyrics^[1]

Selected short stories

• Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales, a collection of short stories and essays, mainly from before 1874.^[2]
• Links to several Gilbert stories

Publications that include one or more of Gilbert's short stories that are not in Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales

• Gilbert, W. S. (1985). Peter Haining, ed., ed. The Lost Stories of W.S. Gilbert. London(?): Robson Books. ISBN 9780860513377.
• Belgravia, vol. 2 (1867). “From St. Paul’s to Piccadilly,” pp. 67–74
• Fun, vol. 1 new series (1865-1866) (several contributions by Gilbert; near end of volume, Fun Christmas Number 1865, with Gilbert’s “The Astounding Adventure of Wheeler J. Calamity,” pp. 17–18)
• London Society, vol. 13 (1868) (three “Thumbnail Sketches” by Gilbert, pp. 50–57, 132-136, 315-319)
• On the Cards: Routledge’s Christmas Annual (1867) (“Diamonds,” pp. 25–37, and “The Converted Clown,” pp. 137–139)

Other books

• The Pinafore Picture Book, London: George Bell & Sons, 1908, retelling the story of H.M.S. Pinafore for children, in prose narrative form^[1]
• The Story of The Mikado, London: Daniel O'Connor, 1921, a similar retelling of The Mikado for children^[1]

Plays and musical stage works

Selected stage works that were important to Gilbert's career or were otherwise notable, in chronological order, excluding those listed under other headings below:

• Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack (1866 musical spoof of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore). Gilbert's first solo success for the theatre, and the first of his five "operatic burlesques".
• La Vivandière (1867), a parody of Donizetti's La figlia del regimento
• Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren (1867), a Christmas pantomime.
• The Merry Zingara (1868), a parody of Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl
• Robert the Devil (1868), a parody of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. One of Gilbert's most successful early plays, it opened the Gaiety Theatre, London and ran in the provinces for 3 years.
• The Pretty Druidess (1869), a parody of Norma – the last of Gilbert's five "operatic burlesques"
• An Old Score (1869) (rewritten as "Quits!" in 1872) Gilbert's first full-length comedy.
• The Princess (1870). Musical farce; the precursor to Princess Ida.
• The Palace of Truth (1870). The first of Gilbert's blank verse "Fairy Comedies".
• Creatures of Impulse (1871), with music by Alberto Randegger, based on Gilbert's 1870 short story called "A Strange Old Lady".
• Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). Gilbert's most successful work up to this time. A reinterpretation of the Pygmalion myth in which the innocent former statue, Galatea, is unable to bear the cynicism and jealousies of the real world.
• Randall's Thumb (1871). A comedy that opened the Royal Court Theatre.
• The Wicked World (1873). A fairy comedy about how mortal love upsets the fairy world.
• The Happy Land (1873). This work was briefly banned for its sharp satire of government ministers. It also travesties The Wicked World.
• The Realm of Joy (1873). Set in the box office of a thinly-disguised The Happy Land, it satirises the audience for scandalous plays and the Lord Chamberlain's censorship of plays.
• The Wedding March (1873) a farce adapted from Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie by Eugène Labiche
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern (published 1874, performed 1891). Gilbert's burlesque of Hamlet.
• Charity (1874). Concerns Victorian attitudes towards sex outside of marriage. Anticipates the 1890s "problem plays" of Shaw, Ibsen.
• Sweethearts (1874). A drama about love revisited after 30 years.
• Tom Cobb (1875). This was possibly one of Gilbert's best comedies.^[3]
• Broken Hearts (1875). The last of Gilbert's "fairy comedies", this was one of Gilbert's favourite plays.
• Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876). A three-act drama that introduced antecedents of some of Gilbert's later characters.
• Engaged (1877). Probably the most famous of Gilbert's non-Sullivan works for the theatre.
• The Ne'er-do-Weel (1878); rewritten as "The Vagabond" after a few weeks. Friendship, sacrifice and rotating lovers: it unsuccessfully combined sentimental scenes with comedy.
• The Forty Thieves (1878). An "amateur pantomime at the Gaiety," written with three other writers, in which WSG played Harlequin.
• Gretchen (1879). One of Gilbert's favorites – his take on the Faust legend.
• Foggerty's Fairy (1881). Gilbert's Back to the Future play.
• Brantinghame Hall (1888), a drama. Gilbert's biggest flop, it sent producer Rutland Barrington into bankruptcy.
• The Fortune Hunter (1897). Not a good play; its reception provoked WSG to announce retiring from writing for the stage.
• The Fairy's Dilemma (1904). WSG finally works out a lifelong obsession with pantomime and harlequinade.
• The Hooligan (1911). Gilbert's last play, written in a new, serious style.

German Reed Entertainments

Gilbert wrote six one-act musical entertainments for the German Reeds between 1869 and 1875. They were successful in their own right and also helped form Gilbert's mature style as a dramatist. These include:

• No Cards (1869)
• Ages Ago (1869). Gilbert's first collaboration with Frederic Clay, and his first hit with the German Reeds, running for 350 performances.
• Our Island Home (1870)
• A Sensation Novel (1871)
• Happy Arcadia (1872)
• Eyes and No Eyes (1875)

Early comic operas

• The Gentleman in Black (1870; music by Frederic Clay). The score is lost.
• Les Brigands (1871), an English adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's operetta.
• Topsyturveydom (1874; music by Alfred Cellier). This one-act operetta concerns a country that is the opposite of England. The score is lost.
• Princess Toto (1876; music by Frederic Clay). A three-act opera, Gilbert's last with Clay.

The Gilbert and Sullivan operas

All of these operas are full-length two-act works, except for Trial by Jury, which is in one act, and Princess Ida, which is three acts.

• Thespis (1871)
• Trial by Jury (1875)
• The Sorcerer (1877)
• H.M.S. Pinafore (1878)
• The Pirates of Penzance (1879)
• Patience (1881)
• Iolanthe (1882)
• Princess Ida (1884)
• The Mikado (1885)
• Ruddigore (1887)
• The Yeomen of the Guard (1888)
• The Gondoliers (1889)
• Utopia, Limited (1893)
• The Grand Duke (1896)

Later operas without Sullivan

Though not as popular as the works with Arthur Sullivan, a few of Gilbert's later works arguably have stronger plots than the last two Gilbert and Sullivan operas.^[4]

• The Mountebanks (1892; music by Alfred Cellier). This is the "lozenge plot" that Sullivan declined to set on several occasions.
• Haste to the Wedding (1892; music by George Grossmith). An unsuccessful adaptation of The Wedding March.
• His Excellency (1894; with music by Osmond Carr). Gilbert felt that if Sullivan had set it, the piece would have been "another Mikado".
• Fallen Fairies (1909; music by Edward German). Gilbert's last opera, which was a failure.

Parlour ballads

Gilbert is known to have written lyrics for twelve parlour ballads.^[5] These are:

• "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell", with music by Alfred Plumpton. One of the Bab Ballads. Published by Charles Jeffreys in 1869.^[5]
• "Thady O'Flynn", with music by James L. Molloy. Published by Boosey & Co on 7 October 1868. From No Cards.^[6]
• "Would You Know that Maiden Fair", with music by Frederic Clay. From Ages Ago. Published by Boosey c. 1869.^[7]
• "Corisande", with music by James L. Molloy. Published by Boosey on 18 June 1870.^[5]
• "Eily's Reason", with music by James L. Molloy. Published by Boosey on 27 February 1871.^[5]
• Three songs from A Sensation Novel: "The Detective's Song", "The Tyrannical Bridegroom", and "The Jewel". Published by Hopwood & Co in 1871.^[8]
• "The Distant Shore", with music by Arthur Sullivan. Published by Chappell & Co on 18 December 1874.^[5]
• "The Love that Loves me Not", with music by Arthur Sullivan. Published by Novello, Ewer & Co in 1875.^[5]
• "Sweethearts", with music by Arthur Sullivan. Based on the play of the same name and used to promote it. Published by Chappell & Co in 1875.^[9]
• "Let Me Stay", with music by Walter Maynard. Published by Boosey on 13 December 1875. The same lyric was set by Edward German for Broken Hearts.^[5]

See also

• List of W. S. Gilbert dramatic works
• List of musical compositions by Arthur Sullivan

Notes

1. Crowther, Andrew. "Gilbert's Non-Dramatic Works", The W.S. Gilbert Society, accessed 13 September 2015
2. Gilbert (1890), passim
3. Crowther (2000), p. 81
4. See, e.g., Wolfson, pgs 64-65.
5. Allen, p. 74
6. Allen p. 25
7. Allen p. 28
8. Allen p. 32
9. Allen, p. 41

References

• Allen, Reginald (1963), W. S. Gilbert: An Anniversary Survey and Exhibition Checklist with Thirty-five Illustrations, The Biographical Society of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.
• Crowther, Andrew (2000). Contradiction Contradicted – The Plays of W. S. Gilbert. Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3839-2.
• Gilbert, W. S. (1890). Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales. London: George Routledge and Sons.
• Gilbert, W. S. (1875). Original Plays: First Series. London: Chatto and Windus.
• Stedman, Jane W. (1996). W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816174-3.
• Wolfson, John (c. 1976). Final Curtain: The Last Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. London: Chappell & Company Ltd. ISBN 0-903443-12-0.