biography
| name: |
Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1836–1911)
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| biography:
| Parodist, and librettist of the ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ light operas, born in London, UK. He studied at London, became a clerk in the privy-council office (1857–62), and was called to the bar (1864). Failing to attract lucrative briefs, he subsisted on magazine contributions to Fun, for which he wrote much humorous verse under his boyhood nickname ‘Bab’, collected in 1869 as the Bab Ballads. He also wrote fairy comedies and serious plays in blank verse. He is remembered for his partnership with Sir Arthur Sullivan, begun in 1871, with whom he wrote 14 popular operas, from Trial by Jury (1875) to The Gondoliers (1889). The partnership was broken by a quarrel, and on its resolution they wrote little more before Sullivan's death in 1900. He was knighted in 1907. |
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