Gilbert and Sullivan; often referred to by their initials, G&S, William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan have left an indelible mark on the world of theater. This remarkable pairing created some of the greatest hits in operetta that are still regularly performed around the world; The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, to name a few.

William Schwenck Gilbert was born on November 18, 1836 in London, England to a retired naval surgeon and his wife. He went spent much of his youth touring Europe with his family, returning to London in 1849. William began his education at the Great Ealing School and went on to King's College. He entered into the legal profession although he had little success there. He did gain a thorough understanding of legal quirks that he later used in his biting satire.

William eventually left his legal career to pursue writing. In the early 1860s, he started illustrating comic verses, signing them "Bab". They became known as the Bab Ballads. He began writing for theater including burlesque versions of popular bel canto operas and some original works. Even some of his Bab Ballads were used as plots for his larger theatrical works. His first professional play was Uncle Baby, performed in London in October 1863. Three years later, two of his burlesque pieces had moderate success and Gilbert became fairly well known.

In August 1867, Gilbert married Lucy Turner. Gilbert continued to work in burlesque but also branched out into a more "civilized" theater. In 1869, his first piece for the Gallery of Illustration was produced and met with some success. He wrote a total of six musical plays for the Gallery. Gilbert was also gaining some practical experience in stage direction. He started to direct his own plays that opened doors to him creatively. His first contact with Sullivan came as a collaborative Christmas play, Thespis, in 1871. 1871 was a tremendous year for Gilbert. Seven of his plays had their premieres, and he was writing constantly in many different genres including farces, fairy comedies, novel adaptations, etc. Eventually, Gilbert and Sullivan were drawn together again by the influential impresario, Richard D'Oyly Carte. D'Oyly Carte suggested Gilbert take his libretto for Trial by Jury to Arthur Sullivan. It was an immediate hit.

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born on May 13, 1842 also in London, to the royal bandmaster and his wife. By the age of 8, Arthur could play most of the instruments in the band. After he finished his studies at a private school, Arthur received an appointment at the Chapel Royal. He then received the Mendelssohn scholarship and attended the Royal Academy of Music until 1858. Arthur left England to study at the Leipzig conservatory. Leipzig had a profound impact on the young composer. When he returned to England in 1862, he composed an orchestral suite to William Shakespeare's The Tempest. After that premiere, Arthur found himself being hailed as the new hope of serious English music.

In 1866, the premiere of Arthur's Symphony in E flat was a tremendous success. The next several years produced orchestral overtures, concertos, oratorios and several Christian hymns, including Onward, Christian Soldiers. He also held several positions in London including organist, conductor and the principal of the National Training School. In 1867, Arthur composed a one-act musical Cox and Box and a full-length musical work, The Contrabandista.

In 1871, Sullivan was introduced to Gilbert through singer Fred Clay. Thespis was the outcome of that initial meeting but it wasn't until 1875 and the meeting with D'Oyly Carte that launched this successful pairing. Trial by Jury was an immediate success and led to further collaborations as well as the formation of the D'Oyly Carte comic opera company in 1876. In 1877, the G&S team created The Sorcerer, followed by H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), the latter running for almost two years to full houses. In 1879, a copyright dispute brought G&S to America along with their Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance that were huge hits in New York.

The 1880s were hugely successful with the pair. Their works of the period include Patience (1881), Iolanthe (1882), Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore (1887), The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) and The Gondoliers (1889). During the run of Patience, Arthur was knighted by Queen Victoria. In 1884, a most famous feud took place with Sullivan refusing to write anything more for D'Oyly Carte's theater The Savoy. He left for a five week tour of Europe. Upon his return, both D'Oyly Carte and Gilbert tried to persuade him to continue his collaborations. Gilbert, initially insisting on a plot with a magic pill, finally came up with plot involving Japan. A Japanese sword hanging on the wall of his study crashed to the floor and that caught Gilbert's attention. Gilbert had also been aware of the Japanese craze running in Knightsbridge. He came up with the plot that would become The Mikado and Sullivan agreed to compose the music.

After The Gondoliers, Gilbert and Sullivan had another parting of the ways over some of the expenses the Savoy Theater was incurring. At the time, the expenses of the theater were split equally amongst Gilbert, Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte. Apparently D'Oyly Carte purchased an extremely expensive carpet for the theater that Gilbert felt was unnecessary. Gilbert and D'Oyly Carte had words and ultimately Sullivan ended up siding with D'Oyly Carte.

After this split, both Gilbert and Sullivan explored other areas but neither was as successful as when they worked together. They had two attempts at reuniting and collaborating, but both failed to capture the audience that previous G&S works had. Sullivan went on to write an opera, Ivanhoe, and several operettas. Gilbert completed several plays including The Fortune Hunter (1897) and The Hooligan (1911).

Sullivan's health went into decline at the turn of the century and became addicted to morphine to relieve his pain. Sir Arthur Sullivan died on November 22, 1900 in London. Neither of his closest friends, Gilbert and D'Oyly Carte, were with him when he died. Gilbert was out of town and read about Sullivan's death in a newspaper, and D'Oyly Carte was too sick. A few months later, D'Oyly Carte passed away. Gilbert lived until 1911 when a swimming accident took his life.