- '' The Bab Ballads '', a collection of comic verse published roughly between 1865 and 1871.
Selected stage works that were important to Gilbert's career or were otherwise notable, in chronological order, excluding those listed under other headings below:
- '' Dulcamara, Or The Little Duck And The Great Quack '' (1866 musical spoof of Donizetti 's '' L'elisir D'amore ''). Gilbert's first successful work for the theatre.
- '' An Old Score '' (1869) (rewritten as "Quits!" in 1872)
- '' The Gentleman In Black '' (1870)
- '' The Princess '' (1870). Musical farce; the precursor to '' Princess Ida ''.
- '' The Palace Of Truth '' (1870). The first of Gilbert's "Fairy Comedies".
- '' Pygmalion And Galatea '' (1871). Gilbert's most successful work up to this time. A reinterpretation of the Pygmalion myth in which the innocent former statue, Galatea , is unable to bear the cynicism and jealousies of the real world.
- '' Les Brigands '' (1871), an English adaptation of Jacques Offenbach 's operetta.
- '' The Wicked World '' (1873). A fairy comedy about how mortal love upsets the fairy world.
- '' The Happy Land '' (1873). This work was briefly banned for its sharp satire of government ministers. It also travesties ''The Wicked World''.
- '' The Realm Of Joy '' (1873). Set in the box office of a thinly-disguised ''The Happy Land'', it satirises the public who come to scandalous plays and the Lord Chamberlain 's censorship of plays.
- '' The Wedding March (play) '' (1873) a farce adapted from '' Un Chapeau De Paille D'Italie '' by Eugène Labiche {Link without Title}
- '' Rosencrantz & Guildenstern '' (published 1874, performed 1891)
- '' Charity '' (1874). Concerns Victorian attitudes towards sex outside of marriage. Anticipates the 1890s "problem plays" of Shaw , Ibsen , et al.Crowther, Andrew, Synopsis of Charity
- '' Topsyturveydom '' (1874). This one-act operetta concerns a country that is the opposite of England. It contains a lot of political satire.
- '' Sweethearts (play) '' (1874). A drama about love revisited after 30 years.
- '' Tom Cobb '' (1875). This was possibly Gilbert's funniest farce.
- '' Broken Hearts '' (1875). The last of Gilbert's "fairy comedies", this was one of Gilbert's favourite plays.
- '' Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith '' (1876). A three-act drama that introduced antecedents of some of Gilbert's later characters.
- '' Princess Toto '' (1876). A three-act opera. Gilbert's last collaboration with Frederic Clay .
- '' Engaged '' (1877). Probably the most famous of Gilbert's non-Sullivan works for the theatre.
- '' The Ne'er-do-Weel '' (1878) -- rewritten as "The Vagabond" after a few weeks
- '' The Forty Thieves '' (1878). An "amateur pantomime at the Gaiety," written with three other writers, in which WSG played Harlequin.
- '' Gretchen (play) '' (1879) (one of Gilbert's favorites)
- '' Foggerty's Fairy '' (1881)
- '' Brantinghame Hall '' (1888) a drama. Gilbert's biggest flop, it sent producer Rutland Barrington into bankruptcy.
- '' The Fortune Hunter '' (1897) -- not a good play, but its reception provoked WSG to announce retiring from writing for the stage
- '' The Fairy's Dilemma '' (1904) -- WSG finally works out a lifelong obsession with pantomime & harlequinade
- '' The Hooligan '' (1911). Gilbert's last play, written in a new, serious style.
Gilbert wrote six one-act musical entertainments for the German Reeds between 1869 and 1875. They were successful in their own right and also helped form Gilbert's mature style as a dramatist. These include:
All of these Savoy Opera s are full-length two-act works, except for ''Trial by Jury'', which was a one-act piece, and ''Princess Ida'', which is in three acts. All of these works continue to be regularly performed today except for ''Thespis'', most of the music to which is lost (although it is occasionally produced using scores written or arranged by others).
Though not as popular as the works with Sullivan, a few of Gilbert's later works arguably have stronger plots than the last two Gilbert and Sullivan operas.See, e.g., Wolfson, pgs 64-65.
List Of W. S. Gilbert Dramatic Works
- 1
- 2
- 3 (Contains mostly stories from ''Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales''.)
- 4
- 5
- 6
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