Steven Schwartz writes:

>I can't imagine Glyndebourne reviving the operettas, as the festival
>did (and EMI published in what remain for me the best recordings) in
>the Fifties.

I'm open to happy correction, but I can't recall that Glyndebourne ever
staged any of the Savoy operas.  The recordings (under Sargent) were made
with the Glyndebourne Chorus of the day, but I think that was about the sum
of it.

Glyndebourne's record in fostering the native product in the Festival
proper has improved in recent years, but was never amongst its priorities
in the 40's and 50's - with the notable exception of Britten's "Rape of
Lucretia" and "Albert Herring", both commissioned after his international
success with "Peter Grimes".

At the very start, I believe Christie was keen to open his opera house
with Vaughan Williams's "Sir John in Love", but the swift and predictably
blinkered reaction from his largely teutonic-trained artistic team led
him - regrettably - to drop the idea without a fight.  The international
reputation of English opera might have grown quicker had things been
otherwise.

The Sargent/EMI 'Glyndbourne' sets of Gilbert and Sullivan (like the more
recent Mackerras/WNO sets) have always provoked a mixed reaction.  It's
perhaps fair to say that in both cases musical values were high, whilst
theatrical ones were left to fend for themselves.

The EMI Sargent sets are beautifully sung, but somewhat prone to lethargy
and overstatement.  They lack the champagne sparkle and sense of life
associated with the less glamorously cast D'Oyly Carte sets from about the
same period - let alone the classic accounts (some conducted by Sargent
himself) from the 1920's and 30's.

Lucky for us to have the choice!

As for books, the David Eden book mentioned by Steve Schwartz is the
only serious study of Gilbert and Sullivan worth reading, though Thomas
Dunhill's 1920's book on "Sullivan's Comic Operas" has period charm, and
Leslie Baily's "Gilbert and Sullivan Book" (2nd edition best, Spring Books
1966) is a mine of useful graphic and verbal archive material.

Jane W.  Stedman's recent biography of Gilbert (OUP) is a serious
disappointment.  It has little feeling for or analysis of its subject,
his era or (crucially) his works, as well as being written in a spirit
of positively Dunciadial dullness.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"