Gilbert wrote the librettos and Sullivan wrote the music: though Sullivan was in his day considered the pre-eminent British composer - his "serious" music includes an expertly crafted "Irish" Symphony and a wonderful cello concerto (both from 1866), among many other fine compositions - it is his comic operettas that are best known today.

MIDI FILE - from "The Mikado or the Town of Titipu": Overtoure (7'26'')

Works such as The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, and The Yoeman of the Guard have been performed frequently for more than a century, remaining favorites of the light opera repertoire.