ABSTRACT
If Sterndale Bennett was a slack and unenergetic conductor, Sir Arthur Sullivan, his successor, is altogether a drowsy fellow. That large close-cropped head on a firm neck, that dark face with its black eyes, give one an impression of a passionate man whose anger might explode suddenly like a cannon. Sullivan’s merits as a composer of operetta were yet again extolled by Hanslick when Carte’s continental tour reached Vienna. The Vienna performance of The Mikado took place at the Carlstheater on September 1886. A new German agent, B. Bernstein, was to look after Sullivan’s continental interests. Sullivan’s share was to be 10 per cent of the gross takings at the box office, out of which he made his own payment to Gilbert. Letters written by Smythe give a glimpse of the range of Sullivan’s other professional concerns. The Berlin performance of The Golden Legend would have been a major step forward in Sullivan’s reputation, had it been successful.
