Evening star., 1911-05-30
DEATH OF GILBERT
Author Of Famous Comic
Operas Drowned in Lake.
KNIGHTED BY EDWARD VII
With Sir Arthur Sullivan He Wrote
"Pinafore," "The Mikado" and
Other Popular Pieces.

LONDON. May 30-Sir W. s. Gilbert
the noted dramatic author and librett-
ist, who, in collaboration with Arthur
Sullivan, wrote the famous Savoy
operas, including III NJ s. Pinafore,' y
Patience" "Iolanthe" and "The Mika-
= do" met a tragic end yesterday. He
spent the morning in London. and re-
turned to his residence at Harrow In
the afternoon. AS was his custom, he
went down to the lake In his grounds
to enjoy a half hours swim. He dived
in and was a long time in coming to
the surface.
Women Unable to Aid.
Woman friends who had accompanied
him to the lake observed that he was
in difficulties and was struggling. They
rushed off for help. and Sir William
sank again. Servants came as quickly
as possible to the scene. but when the
body was recovered life was extinct.
The precise cause Of death is not
known, but 1t Is believed to have been
due to syncope. The lake was only a
few feet deep. and the bottom was
free from stones.
From Poet to Playwright.
In spite of the fact that Sir William 8.
Gilbert had been q playwright almost all
his life and had written several serious
pieces of more than average success, his
fame can never be dissociated from the
series Of comic operas that were produced
in the Savoy Theater, London. With Sir
Arthur Sullivan. he created q new form
Of musical entertainment, as different
from the risque translatiOns of opera
, comique, which IT superseded, as from the
vapid musical comedy that has driven 1t
from the boards.
For nearly twenty years these operas
formed one of the principal attractions
OF the English dramatic world, and the
was. In spite of the difference over busi-
ness matters which separated them for a
few years, one of the happiest examples
of collaboration in the history of the
stage To the partnership Sullivan
brought not merely tuneful pen that
could write melodies to set every errand
boy whistling, but power of caricaturing
in numbers the mannerisms of grand
opera and a facility for having fun with
notes that delighted the most stern OF
musical critics. Gilbert met him more
than half way by an extraordinary knack
of versiication and a realization of the
Quaintances to be got out Of rhymes.
and. moreover. in the most extrayagant
of his books never stopped to a jest that
had not behind it mock seriousness of
idea and a grotesque logic in its applica-
ton.
Clerk and Then Lawyer.
Sir William was born in London on
November Is. 1896, and was educated at
Great Ealing and at Kings College. Lon
don. Ii the Crimean war had lasted a
few months longer he would have en-
tered the army, but as peace closed
military career to him he entered the
privy council Office. For five years he
was civil service clerk and. It seems
amid the serfo-comic routine OF q gov
ernment Office he developed that satir-
ical form Of humor which found Its chief
subjects In the foibles of the men around
him. A windfan of $1,000 afforded him
the means of escape from dull routine
called in 1854 and for four years he fol-
lowed the legal profession.
He had already. like so many impecu-
nious young men. been trying TO add to
his income by his. pen. In 1862 he ap-
peared in print, his first published work
being a quasi-humorous poem Satisfied
Isaiah Jones'. which was accepted by
the weekly comic Journal Fun. Soon
periodical, to which the lovers OF anus
ing verse owe the Bah Ballads. Week
by week there appeared. illustrated oy
rough drawings by the author. these wit
~ poems, of which perhaps The Yarn
Of the Nancy Bell is the best known.
and as they brought Mr.. Gilbert money
they not less certainly won for him pO-
sition in the literary world of London
Meanwhile the young barrister in the
Intervals between briefs had been trying
his hand as a playwright. In 1866 Miss
Herbert needing Christmas piece asked
Tom Robertson to write it for her. He was
the "Bab Ballads" Gilbert accepted the
commission and wrote 'Dulcamara, or
the Little Duck and the Great Quack.
1t is recorded that he wrote it IN eight
Ao1- o~1 4fccH hnrffS a ~ GER mai
him $50 for ii. he remarked:
Take an old stager's advice and never
again sell so good play for so little
money.
His Career as Playwright.
Gilbert was now started as a play
wright. and plays of all description-farce,
burIesque. pantomime and operetta-fol-
lowed from his pen for several years.
Few of them are now remembered, but
1t Is to be noted that in three Of them.
1.-THE Wicked World" Broken Hearts
and Gretchen" the author threw aside
every consideration bu. his art and wrote
OF nfe .'The Palace of Truth and
"Pygmalicn and Galatea" are perhaps
the best remembered. however, of all these
earlier pieces: and Engaged comedy.
But 1t was not till 1875 that he wrote
the first OF the Savoy operas. Trial BY
Jury" which was actually produced at
the Royalty Theater.
Gilbert had met Sullivan four years
before and turned to him to set to
music an elaboration of one of the Bah
Ballads, when Carl Rosa, who had un-
dertaken to write the score, was pre-
vented by his wifes illness. The suc-
cess of the operetta was immediate, and
the historic alliance of author and COM
poser was thoroughly established. They
followed up their success with The
Sorcerer." produced at the Opera Com
ique, and as that drew to the end of its
run 1t gave way to the enormously
popular H. NJ. S. Pinafore." That ran
for 200 nights and was replaced by
The Pirates of Penzance" which in its
turn retired in favor of Patience"
BY this time IL was realized that
Gilbert and Sullivan were writing
something new in English stage his
tory. and R. D'Oyly Carte came for
. ward to build them a special theater
for their plays. The Savoy Theater
was created. and around it was collect.
ed a corps of principals and chorus az
remarkable in it's way as the operas
they produced. George Grossmith
Rutland Darlington. Jessie Bond and
Rosfna Brandram were some of the
most famous of the Savoyards and
they formed a company equally fitted
to play. as well as to sing. their parts.
Breaks With Sir Arthur Sullivan.
'.Iolanthe.' The Mikado." "Ruddi-
gore.' 1.-The Yeomen OF the Guard. .
''The Gondoliers." followed closely upon
one another and then ensued the nm.