Savoy opera
The musician and author Fritz Spiegl wrote in 1980, "Without Offenbach there would have been no Savoy Opera … no "Die Fledermaus" or "Merry Widow". The two creators of the Savoy operas, the librettist, Gilbert, and the composer, Sullivan, were both indebted to Offenbach and his partners for their satiric and musical styles, even borrowing plot components. For example, Faris argues that the mock-oriental "Ba-ta-clan" influenced "The Mikado", including its character names: Offenbach's Ko-ko-ri-ko and Gilbert's Ko-Ko; Faris also compares "Le pont des soupirs" (1861) and "The Gondoliers" (1889): "in both works there are choruses "à la barcarolle" for gondoliers and "contadini" [in] thirds and sixths; Offenbach has a Venetian admiral telling of his cowardice in battle; Gilbert and Sullivan have their Duke of Plaza-Toro who led his regiment from behind." Offenbach's "Les Géorgiennes" (1864), like Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida" (1884), depicts a female stronghold challenged by males in disguise. The best-known instance in which a Savoy opera draws on Offenbach's work is "The Pirates of Penzance" (1879), where both Gilbert and Sullivan follow the lead of "Les brigands" (1869) in their treatment of the police, plodding along ineffectually in heavy march-time. "Les brigands" was presented in London in 1871, 1873 and 1875; for the first of these, Gilbert made an English translation of Meilhac and Halévy's libretto.