Читать книгу Harvey Wallbangers and Tam O'Shanters - Martin Hannan - Страница 33

Though Sir Tim Rice might disagree, William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911) is without doubt the greatest librettist in the history of British musical theatre. His comic operas with Sir Arthur Sullivan delighted audiences with their cleverness that relied on Gilbert’s lyrical trickery. Such sparkling wit relying on word play has often been called ‘Gilbertian’ in the past, but now the word is often used to mean whimsical, which Gilbert rarely was – in his heyday he was renowned, perhaps unfairly, for being abrasive as a person and cutting in his lyrics.