Filmed in Mrs. Gaskell’s Drawing Room.
The first double CD of Songs & Ballads of Arthur Sullivan (Chandos CHAN10935) with Mary Bevan, Ben Johnson & Ashley Riches appeared in 2017. Click on the link to hear snippets and read reviews. A further selection, CHAN 20239, with the same singers plus Kitty Whately, appeared in May 2021. Those discs, coupled with the RNCM films (linked below), present all Sullivan’s songs – a remarkable and astonishingly little-known repertoire by one of the greatest masters of vocal composition.
In the recordings filmed in Mrs. Gaskell’s Drawing Room, David Owen Norris accompanies singers from the Royal Northern College of Music. As well as links to the films, reference is made to the admirably useful Gilbert & Sullivan Archive. Scroll down for singers’ biographies. Here are the 36 films arranged by category, plus Sir Arthur Sullivan finds the Lost Chord.
Two Duets
The Sisters (duet). Published 1881. Poem by Tennyson. Sung by Caroline Taylor & Stephanie Maitland. In two versions, first with modern R, second with 19C R; an experiment in better assonance between the words ‘Air’ and ‘Light’, sung simultaneously at the end of the duet. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/part_songs/sisters/sisters.html
Coming Home. Published 1873. Words by R Reece (new words for Cox&Box duet). Sung by Caroline Taylor & Stephanie Maitland.
Courtship & Marriage
There sits a bird on yonder tree. Published 1873. Poem by Barham/Ingoldsby. Sung by Leonie Maxwell. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/there/sits.html
She is not fair to outward view. Published 1866. Poem by Hartley Coleridge (NB born 1796, not 1746). Sung by Ryan Davies. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/she_is/not_fair.html
My dear and only love. Published 1874. Poem by the Marquis of Montrose. Sung by Liam McNally. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/dear/only.html
The roads should blossom. Published 2004. Poem anonymous. Sung by Georgia Mae Ellis. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/roads/blossom.html
Bride from the North. Published 1863. Poem by Henry Chorley. Sung by Kamil Bien. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/bride/north.html
In the summers long ago. Published 1867. Poem by JP Douglas. Sung in studio by Flora Birkbeck. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/summers/long_ago.html
My heart is like a silent lute. Published 1904. Poem by Disraeli. Sung by Philip O’Connor. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/silent/lute.html
If doughty deeds. Published 1866. Poem by Graham of Gartmore. Sung by Peter Lidbetter. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/doughty/deeds.html
When thou art near. Published 1877. Poem by WJ Stewart. Performed by Ann Wilkes & Rachel Fright. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/when_thou/art_near.html
The Troubadour. Published 1869. Poem by Sir Walter Scott. Sung in studio by Julia Smith, accompanied by Rachel Fright. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/troubadour/troubadour.html
A weary lot is thine, fair maid. Published 1866. Poem by Sir Walter Scott. Sung by Philip O’Connor. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/weary_lot/fair_maid.html
Children
The River. Published 1875. Poem anonymous. Sung in studio by Rhiannon Doogan. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/sunlight/river.html
We’ve ploughed our land. Published 1875. Poem anonymous. Sung by Erin Rossington. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/sunlight/our_land.html
The Young Mother – three songs published in 1874, sung by Naomi Rogers.: Cradle Song. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/cradle/song.html/ay de mi. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/aydemi/aydemi.html/The First Departure. Poem by Edward Monro. Click here for more information.
The Chorister (new words by FE Weatherley for ‘The First Departure’). Sung by Naomi Rogers. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/chorister/chorister.html
Sleep, my love, sleep. Published 1874. Poem by Whyte-Melville. Sung by Ingvild Schultze-Florey. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/sleep/my_love.html
Change & Decay
Thou art lost to me. Published 1865. Poem anonymous. Sung by Ann Wilkes. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/lost/to_me.html
The Village Chimes. Published 1870. Poem by CJ Rowe. Sung by Kamil Bien. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/village/chimes.html
Thou’rt passing hence. Published 1875. Poem by Mrs. Hemans. Sung by Liam McNally. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/thourt/passing.html
Longing for Home. Published 1904. Poem by Jean Ingelow. Sung by Stephanie Maitland. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/longing/for_home.html
O sweet and fair. Published 1868. Poem by AFCK. Sung by Peter Lidbetter. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/oh_sweet/fair.html
The Mother’s Dream. Published 1868. Poem by William Barnes. Sung by Rhiannon Doogan. http://The Mother’s Dream. Published 1868. Poem by William Barnes. Sung by Rhiannon Doogan. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/oh_sweet/fair.html
My Child and I (new words by FE Weatherley for ‘The Mother’s Dream’ – see below). Sung by Rhiannon Doogan. Click here for the words.
My dearest heart. Published 1876. Poem anon. Sung by Ryan Davies. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/dearest/heart.html
Consolations
To one in paradise. Published 1904. Poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Sung by Leonie Maxwell. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/paradise/paradise.html
Tender & True.Published 1874. Poem by Dinah Maria Mulock. Sung by Georgia Mae Ellis. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/tender/true.html
Sometimes. Published 1877. Poem by Lady Lindsay. Sung by Ingvild Schultze-Florey. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/sometimes/sometimes.html
Christmas
The Dove Song. Published 1869. Words by William Brough. Sung by Alicia Cadwgan. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/dove/song.html
The Marquis de Mincepie. Published 1874. Words by FC Burnand. Sung by Edward Robinson, Rhiannon Merrifield, Lorna Day and Erin Rossington. https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/marquis/mincepie.html
Christmas Bells at Sea. Published 1875. Poem by CL Kenney. Performed by William Kyle & Rachel Fright. https://gsarchive.net/sullivan/songs/christmas/bells.html
Care is all fiddle-de-dee. Published 1874. Words by FC Burnand. Sung by Edward Robinson, Rhiannon Merrifield, Lorna Day and Erin Rossington. https://youtu.be/WbubDSk42dE
All together, thirty-six performances of previously unrecorded songs about courtship & marriage, children, change & decay, various consolations, Christmas and pantomime: in short, the complete Victorian view of the world. Many thanks to Lynne Dawson, Jonathan Fisher and Elaine Needham at the RNCM, to the curators of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House and to Will Parry and the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society; and to all the performers, whose biographies can be read here: