Ruddigore

Born in London in 1842, Arthur Sullivan trained at the Chapel Royal, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Leipzig Conservatoire. His incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest made him an overnight celebrity when it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862. He went on to compose in practically every musical genre: oratorio, cantata, symphony, concerto, ceremonial works, incidental music for the stage, piano and chamber works, songs, hymns and anthems. His celebrated collaboration with W. S. Gilbert produced fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896. There are also ten operas with other librettists. Immeasurably the greatest British musician of the Victorian era, he held honorary doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge, was knighted in 1883 and died in London in 1900.© Sir Arthur Sullivan SocietyDavid Russell Hulme (b.1951) is a Welsh conductor and musicologist known particularly for his research and publications on the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Hulme became University College of Wales's first Director of Music in 1992 and conducts the Philomusica, Choral Union and University Sinfonia there. He also took charge of the Aberystwyth Choral Society in 2002.

Also from Oxford comes a scholarly and authoritative edition of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore. The beauty of this edition (and the vocal score is beautifully engraved) is that it returns to the music and libretto of the original Savoy Theatre run and, for good measure, includes a certain amount of previously unpublished material as appendices, conveniently cued for inclusion, as well as the complete libretto. Perhaps this will be another OUP trail blazer? It deserves to be.