Concert at St Michael’s Church Chalton

Event notes:

Plenty of free parking at the EHDC car park near the church

Event details:

• Location: St Michael’s Church, Chalton, PO8 0BG
• Fee: Free of charge
• Date: 13th October 2016
• Time: 19:30
• Organiser: St Michael’s Church, Chalton

Gilbert and Sullivan

 

Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created.  The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known.

 

Gilbert, who wrote the words, created fanciful "topsy-turvy" worlds where each absurdity is taken to its logical conclusion—fairies rub elbows with British lords, flirting is a capital offence, gondoliers ascend to the monarchy, and pirates emerge as noblemen who have gone astray.  Sullivan composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos.

 

Sullivan was also a prolific composer whose music endures in many favourite hymns such as It came upon the midnight clear  and  Onward Christian Pilgrims.

 

The ‘Savoy Operas’ enjoy broad and enduring international popularity and are still performed frequently throughout the English-speaking world.

 

The partnership was an unlikely one.  Gilbert, of sharp tongue and and topsy-turvy imagination, was temperamentally the opposite of Sullivan, the amiable though ambitious establishment composer.  The two respected but did not particularly like each other, yet their work together succeeded brilliantly.

 

To many, the operas mean joy and wit and critical intelligence, gorgeous melodies combined with startling humour, all serving to make ridiculous the follies of the Victorian age and indeed our own.  Enthusiasts keep these Savoy Operas alive, not least to remind us of the valuable lesson they offer: that life is, in essence, fundamentally daft!

 

 

 

 

Concert and ‘Sing-Along’

with Havant Light Opera

 

Thursday 13th October   7.30pm

Saint Michael’s Church, Chalton PO8 0BG

 

Free Admission.   Interval refreshments.   Retiring collection for church funds.

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