Most of the overtures to the Gilbert & Sullivan operas are not in fact Sullivan's own work; he was
irritated by the behaviour of audiences, who would often disrupt the playing of the overture by arriving
late or chatting, and so he would hand over the composition to one of his assistants, Hamilton Clarke
and Francois Cellier. For The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) Sullivan put forth the best of his powers
and produced a miniature masterpiece, but the public was as disrespectful as ever, and when The Gondoliers
appeared in the following year the composer reverted to his more usual plan. The result is a mere potpourri
which gives the impression of being unfinished. I have long felt (and I believe I am not entirely alone
in this) that the exceptional richness of Sullivan's invention in this work deserves a stronger introduction.
What follows is a perhaps presumptuous attempt at providing this.
The piece follows the same
general layout as the overture to Iolanthe (which is Sullivan's own): an opening flourish, here based
on the famous Cachucha; a lyrical interlude (from the duet There was a time); and a brilliant allegro
forming a miniature sonata movement, the first subject being taken from the episode For the merriest
fellows are we in the opening chorus, while the second makes use of My papa he keeps three horses with
the refrain of Don Alhambra's I stole the prince as a counterpoint. The orchestration is the same
as that used for most of the Savoy operas (2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 each of horns,
trumpets and trombones, timpani and strings), and I have generally kept within the limits of 19th-century
style; the only indulgence I have allowed myself is to use the horns more freely as melodic instruments
than Sullivan himself (constrained perhaps by the limitations of his players) ever did.
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