A fresh approach to their musical legacy and enduring popularity, written by a team of specialists, and featuring a personal account by film director Mike Leigh.

Preface David Eden and Meinhard Saremba; Part I. Background: 1. Savoy Opera and its discontents: the theatrical background to a quarrel David Eden; 2. Identity crisis and the search for English opera: the Savoy Theatre in the 1890s William Parry; 3. Resituating Gilbert and Sullivan: the musical and aesthetic context Benedict Taylor; 4. 'We sing as one individual'?: popular misconceptions of 'Gilbert and Sullivan' Meinhard Saremba; Part II. Focus: 5. The operas in context: stylistic elements - the Savoy and beyond Richard Silverman; 6. The librettos in context: Gilbert's 'Fables in Song' Horst Dölvers; 7. 'This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter': patter songs and the word-music relationship Laura Kasson Fiss; 8. Standing still and moving forward: The Mikado, Haddon Hall, and concepts of time in the Savoy Operas Michael Beckerman; 9. Musical contexts I: motives and methods in Sullivan's allusions James Brooks Kuykendall; 10. Musical contexts II: characterisation and emotion in the Savoy Operas Martin T. Yates; Part III. Reception: 11. Topsy-Turvy: a personal journey Mike Leigh; 12. Amateur tenors and choruses in public: the amateur scene Ian Bradley; 13. Champions and aficionados: amateur and listener experiences of the Savoy Operas in performance Stephanie Pitts; 14. 'How great thy charm, thy sway how excellent!': tracing Gilbert and Sullivan's legacy in the American musical Raymond Knapp; 15. 'See how the Fates their gifts allot': the reception of productions and translations in Continental Europe Jana Polianovskaia; Part IV. Into the Twenty-First Century: 16. Adventures in musical detection: scholarship, editions, productions and the future of the Savoy Operas David Russell Hulme; Appendix 1: Alphabetical list of stage and choral works by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert; Appendix 2: Modern editions of works by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert.