Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck) 1836-1911
English parodist and librettist

Born in London, he studied at King's College London and became a clerk in the Privy Council Office (1857-62). Called to the Bar in 1864, he failed to attract lucrative briefs and made his living from magazine contributions to Punch and Fun, for which he wrote much humorous verse under his boyhood nickname 'Bab'. This verse was collected in 1869 as the Bab Ballads. He also wrote a Christmas burlesque, Dulcemara, or The Little Duck and The Great Quack (1866) and The Palace of Truth (1870), which both made a hit on the stage, followed by Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). But it is as the librettist of Sir Arthur Sullivan's light operas that he is best remembered. Their famous partnership, which began in 1871, scored its first success with Trial by Jury under Richard D'Oyly Carte's able management at the Royalty Theatre, London, in 1875. Jibing, topsy-turvy wit, accentuated by Sullivan's scores, was characteristic of the light operas that followed, from The Sorcerer (1877), HMS Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879) to The Gondoliers (1889) and The Grand Duke (1896). Their works were performed initially at the Op�ra Comique and from 1881 in the new Savoy Theatre which had been specifically built for them by D'Oyly Carte. It was a carpet in the Savoy, considered too costly by the ever-argumentative Gilbert, that touched off a quarrel between him and Sullivan. They created only three more pieces before Sullivan's death and Edward German's efforts to fill the gap in Fallen Fairies (1909) proved unsuccessful.

Bibliography: H Pearson, Gilbert: his life and strife (1957)