Collecting G&S records?

[VanEpsFan1914]

How do I go about finding Gilbert & Sullivan operettas on record?

So far I have a compilation from Penzance on 12" disc, electrically recorded, and an excellent Edison cylinder of "Gems from The Mikado" but they are not complete selections (though Ada Jones & Billy Murray did just fine with the cylinder.) Oh, and I have the complete HMS Pinafore (1930) D'Oyly Carte recording but the first disc is broken.

It doesn't look like cylinders will be the best place to look though I am open to that; I'd like to find acoustic or electric box sets. Should I expect to even find these, without paying $200 a box, or are they just expensive? I was thinking they might be a crossover collectible.

(One day I want to start collecting classical box sets from the 1920s and '30s, not just 1940s--though those are fine too. But it seems like all the early classical stuff is hard to get.)

[gramophone-georg]

Let me dig and see what I have to spare.

[drh]

I don't think they are particularly expensive when they turn up, but they don't turn up all that often. Same story for the complete "serious" opera sets of the period, for the most part.

The Mikado is the sole entry in the series of which I know a "complete" acoustic recording, as it was issued on Victor blue batwings and does turn up once in a while. Edison recorded a "gems" style compilation from HMS Pinafore by "The New York Light Opera Company"; a diamond disc copy of parts 1 and 2 is on eBay right now, as is a blue amberol cylinder of part 3. Don't quote me on this, but I think there were 4 parts total. Pathé issued a complete Yeomen of the Guard on vertical cut discs; that I would expect to be pretty dear, if you can find a copy. I've never seen one complete but have a couple of outtakes, each including Amy Evans, at her death the last singer to have taken part in a new W.S. Gilbert production (the unsuccessful Fallen Fairies, music by Sir Edward German). Her voice recorded poorly by the acoustic process--or, at least, my handful of her acoustics are all weak and wan. I have three electric test pressings (one of a Sullivan song, "My Dearest Heart") she did for Columbia, and those are far, far better, but, alas, the masters were destroyed in a truck accident and they never were issued.

Somewhere around here I have the album, but alas not the records, for a collection of excerpts on electric Brunswick, so that label issued at least one G&S set.

Victor, drawing on recordings by HMV, issued a wide range of the G&S operettas in more or less complete d'Oyly Carte. Here are the ones I have (and hence about which I know) with their Victor set numbers. All are derived from HMV recordings.

C 4 Trial by Jury
C 6 The Pirates of Penzance
C 10 Iolanthe
C 12 The Mikado
C 13 HMS Pinafore
C 14 Patience
C 16 The Gondoliers
C 17 The Yeomen of the Guard
C 19 Ruddigore
C 21 The Sorcerer (abridged)
C 26 The Mikado (different performance from C 12)

I've been on the lookout for Princess Ida for years but have never seen a copy.

From the later 78 era, London issued The Pirates of Penzance as set LA-120.

[Lucius1958]

For years, the only G&S recording I had was from the family archives: "Stay, we must not lose our senses", and "I am the very model", from "Pirates". I did later acquire a couple of the BA "Gems" from "Mikado" and "Pinafore".

I do have a couple of G&S albums somewhere, that I got from a fellow member: "Patience" and "Pinafore", IIRC. Both are, sadly, incomplete.

- Bill

[BillH_NJ]

These are the sets that I have gotten over the years (with catalog numbers and recording dates)—

Mikado (Victor 55181-55191) - 1917 (2 copies)
Gondoliers (HMV D36-46) - 1919
HMS Pinafore (Victor 55232-55239) - 1922
HMV 38 Mikado - 1926
C-4 Trial by Jury - 1927 (2 copies)
AC-6 Pirates of Penzance - 1929
C-10 Iolanthe - 1929 (also on HMV 89)
DC-13 HMS Pinafore (3) - 1930 (3 copies, also on HMV 100)
C-14 Patience - 1930
DC-16 Gondoliers - 1927
DC-17 Yeomen of the Guard - 1928
DC-19 Ruddigore - 1931 (also on HMV 143)
DC-20 Princess Ida - 1932
HMV 127 Gondoliers - abridged - 1931
C-21 The Sorcerer - 1933
C-26 Mikado - 1936

Mikado (Brunswick) - 1928
Gondoliers (Columbia 256) - 1931
Iolanthe ((Columbia 258) - 1931

Unless otherwise indicated, these are all US Victor releases of the HMV recordings. The first 3 are acoustic sets, replaced in the catalog by electrical sets starting in 1926. The early Mikado and Gondoliers, although recorded “under the direction of” D’Oyly Carte, do not use any singers from that company. The 1922 Pinafore is the first of these sets to include D’Oyly Carte cast members. The sets do appear occasionally, although I have probably collected these over the better part of 20-30 years. Some of these sets are later pressings issued by Victor as drop automatic sets (the DC catalog numbers). Being a G&S aficionado I have most of the later sets available on LP and CD as well. In general I watch out for complete operas on sets from the pre-1935 era and have another 20-30 opera sets.

Bill

[VanEpsFan1914]

Sorry I am late to this thread.

Thank you for everything, everyone--Now I know what I'll be looking for over the next 20 or so years!

Menophanes' little outdoor concert with his cat and his gramophone is charming (the bit he mentioned in The Parlor.) And I've not been able to get Ruddigore out of my head either for whatever reason.

[BillH_NJ]

And I just got the Columbia abridged Mikado as well. I already had a couple of records from the set, but now I have the full set with album. It is unusual in that some sides were recorded with piano accompaniment rather than orchestra.

[VanEpsFan1914]

The piano accompaniment probably sounded great with those!

[BillH_NJ]

Three sides were recorded with piano a few days after the rest of the sides. Side 3 was recorded on Nov 7 and Side 4 on Nov 10, 1930. Apparently the orchestra was not present on that day for the last three sides.

[gramophoneshane]

Interesting that only side 12 includes both piano and orchestra.
My Australian pressings have a different catalogue number.
Having very few UK Columbia pressings to compare, I wonder if this was a common occurrence?