ABSTRACT
On the 27 November 1900, Sir Arthur Sullivan was laid to rest in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral with great and solemn pomp. John A. Fuller Maitland cast Sullivan as 'Jumbo', the most celebrated zoo animal of Victorian times, that lumbering, over-hyped and popular elephant so loved by the masses. Henry Lunn was unimpressed with Kenilworth too writing in the Musical Times that he thought the commission premature and that Sullivan was advised 'to imperil his reputation by risking comparison with great men'. In the Musical Times, Lunn echoed these sentiments contemptuously advising the composer to go away and 'calmly analyse the merits and demerits of his oratorio, when removed from the flattery of friends'. In the 1870s as Sullivan's career as a theatre composer blossomed, his relationship with the watchmen withered. Sullivan had taken up the challenge of seeking the grail of founding an English grand opera tradition.
