Who was Cunningham Bridgeman? Part 1.5 Sing!
I love living in The Future I’m calling this “Part 1.5” of this story, because it is a short diversion from the main plot. But an exciting one. In Part 1 of this story I began to explore the mystery of Cunningham Bridgeman. The mystery is, who is he, and how did he come to […]
Who was Cunningham Bridgeman? Part 1
The short answer is, he was the coauthor of the early and influential book, Gilbert, Sullivan And D’Oyly Carte: Reminiscences Of The Savoy And The Savoyards (among other titles), written in 1913-1914 with François Cellier. That book, published with the imprimatur of Cellier—one of Sullivan’s closest friends and longest collaborators—is still today quoted by authors […]
10 November, 1899: The Absent Minded Distraction, Part 2
10 November, 1899 Called1. Bosworth. about foreign production & publication of new opera. He to be my representative in Germany & Austria, with Bloch-Erben (Ferenzcy [sic]) as his agents, at 20 p.c. 2. Byng & Coates – latter to sing “Ab: M. Beg” – Today Sullivan notes visits from three gentlemen. Meeting number 1 is […]
7 November, 1899: The Absent-Minded Distraction, Part 1
7 November, 1899 Bendall took printer’s copy of “Ab: Mind: Beg:” to Balch –Daily Mail – also my M.S. to Alhambra for Byng to score.Rehearsal at Savoy. It’s a busy time for Sir Arthur Sullivan. It’s been more than three years since the production of The Grand Duke, his final collaboration with W.S. Gilbert. Since […]
What is a Sullivan Diary? or, Bertie’s Electrical Career, Part 4.
Part 4 of 3. It’s entirely possible that you, Dear Reader, have now heard more than enough about young Herbert Sullivan’s failure to launch a career. (That story begins here.) This post is inspired by my accidental discovery of new information for that story—I do owe Bertie a partial apology—and a realization that most people […]
Did Arthur Sullivan visit brothels? Part 4.
In this series, I have argued that, notwithstanding a scene in the movie Topsy-Turvy, the only assertions that Sir Arthur Sullivan ever engaged the services of a sex worker in a brothel were made by his 20th century biographer Arthur Jacobs, and that I find those hypotheses unsupported by today’s available evidence. But I have […]
Did Arthur Sullivan visit brothels? Part 3.
A prolonged longing? As I wrote in Parts 1 and 2 of this story, I believe that Sullivan’s biographer Arthur Jacobs erred when he suggested that Sullivan frequented a Parisian brothel at the address “No. 4 Rue M.T.” Instead, I suggested that Sullivan and his mistress Fanny Ronalds used that location for their own pleasures […]
Did Arthur Sullivan visit brothels? Part 2.
The Mystery in the Rue Mont-Thabor As we saw in Part 1 of this story, on 10 April 1882, Arthur Sullivan arrived in Paris in the early morning hours and checked into the Grand Hotel. At noon he “went to keep appointment at No. 4 Rue M.T.”, where he “stayed till 5.30 (2)”. The Rue […]
Did Arthur Sullivan visit brothels? Part 1.
In the first moments of the movie Topsy-Turvy—a film I recommend—an obviously ill Sir Arthur Sullivan is stimulated with enough coffee and morphine to revive him sufficiently to conduct the opening night of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera Princess Ida. That history is well evidenced in Sullivan’s diary of 1884. Afterwards, Richard Carte and Helen […]
Ivanhoe: One view from the boxes.
‘Being hot is only becoming to some girls.’ Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 1833 – 25 March 1913) was the sort of Victorian war hero who spent a lot of time away from his home and his wife, Louisa, Lady Wolseley. Hence, they exchanged many letters. After his death, Lady Wolseley asked a […]