Terence Rees
Encyclopedia
Terence Albert Ladd Rees (born 24 February 1928) is a retired microbiologist
but is best known as a collector of material relating to the theatre and music in Wales
and Britain. He is also a published theatre historian and researcher, and, in particular, is an authority on the works of W. S. Gilbert
and Arthur Sullivan
who, as Gilbert and Sullivan
, authored 14 comic operas
in the late Victorian era
.
, Wales
, educated at the local county school, the University of Cardiff (1948-1952), and the University of London
(1954-1957). As a microbiologist he spent 1965 to 1967 as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Diseases of the Chest at Brompton
in London
, and between 1967 and 1981 he lectured in Microbiology at The Institute of Laryngology in London. Rees has resided in Powys
and in Swansea
, Wales
.
, an 1875 one-act operetta by Arthur Sullivan and B. C. Stephenson
, who wrote the libretto
under the pseudonym Bolton Rowe. The score had been inherited by Herbert Sullivan
. It was believed lost until Rees located it in the vault at Coutts
Bank, where several Sullivan manuscripts were stored. After Herbert Sullivan's widow, Elena, died in 1957, the scores were sold at auction in 1966, and Rees purchased the manuscript of The Zoo. He then arranged for a piano reduction to be published. The operetta received its first modern production in 1971. He also discovered the libretto to W. S. Gilbert
's play, Uncle Baby, which he published in 1868, and he found the original 1887 portraits from the original production of Ruddigore
.
After considerable research about Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis
, Rees developed a version of the libretto for that work that attempts to correct the many errors noted in the surviving libretto. Rees also prepared a performance version, based on the libretto, which included a few interpolated lyrics from Gilbert's non-Sullivan operas in an attempt to replace the missing songs. A score was supplied by Garth Morton, based on music from lesser-known Sullivan operas, and this version was recorded in 1972.
Rees held in his collection, until 2006, a number of original Sullivan manuscripts, including the operas The Zoo, The Contrabandista
, Haddon Hall
, The Chieftain
, and The Emerald Isle
, and a number of major Sullivan orchestral pieces. He had purchased several of these at auction in 1966, following the death of the widow of Sullivan's nephew Herbert Sullivan
. Herbert had inherited the scores on his uncle's death, and on his own death in 1928 they passed to his wife, who later remarried, becoming Mrs Elena M. Bashford.
In 2006, Rees donated to the British Library
his collection of original manuscript scores, including The Zoo, The Contrabandista, The Chieftain, Haddon Hall, The Emerald Isle, Gilbert and Frederic Clay
's Princess Toto
, and Edward German
's Merrie England
and A Princess of Kensington
, as well as prompt books for Princess Toto and Haddon Hall, among 19 volumes of materials.
Other theatre
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
but is best known as a collector of material relating to the theatre and music in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Britain. He is also a published theatre historian and researcher, and, in particular, is an authority on the works of W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
and Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
who, as Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, authored 14 comic operas
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
in the late Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
.
Biography
Rees was born at Barry in GlamorganGlamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, educated at the local county school, the University of Cardiff (1948-1952), and the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
(1954-1957). As a microbiologist he spent 1965 to 1967 as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Diseases of the Chest at Brompton
Brompton, Kensington
Brompton is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is roughly defined by a triangle formed by the Brompton Cemetery, Old Brompton Road/Brompton Road and Walton Street/Fulham Road.-Development:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and between 1967 and 1981 he lectured in Microbiology at The Institute of Laryngology in London. Rees has resided in Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
and in Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Rees owned the autograph score of The ZooThe Zoo
The Zoo is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London , concluding its run five weeks later, on 9 July 1875, at the Haymarket Theatre...
, an 1875 one-act operetta by Arthur Sullivan and B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson
Benjamin Charles Stephenson or B. C. Stephenson was an English dramatist, lyricist and librettist. After beginning a career in the civil service, he started to write for the theatre, using the pen name "Bolton Rowe". He was author or co-author of several long-running shows of the Victorian theatre...
, who wrote the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
under the pseudonym Bolton Rowe. The score had been inherited by Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Thomas Sullivan was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. After his uncle's death, Sullivan became active in charitable work...
. It was believed lost until Rees located it in the vault at Coutts
Coutts
Coutts & Co. is one of the UK's private banking houses, now wholly owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland . RBS acquired Coutts and all of its overseas subsidiaries when it bought NatWest. On 1 January 2008, Coutts' international businesses were renamed RBS Coutts, aligning them more closely with...
Bank, where several Sullivan manuscripts were stored. After Herbert Sullivan's widow, Elena, died in 1957, the scores were sold at auction in 1966, and Rees purchased the manuscript of The Zoo. He then arranged for a piano reduction to be published. The operetta received its first modern production in 1971. He also discovered the libretto to W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
's play, Uncle Baby, which he published in 1868, and he found the original 1887 portraits from the original production of Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
.
After considerable research about Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis
Thespis (opera)
Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost...
, Rees developed a version of the libretto for that work that attempts to correct the many errors noted in the surviving libretto. Rees also prepared a performance version, based on the libretto, which included a few interpolated lyrics from Gilbert's non-Sullivan operas in an attempt to replace the missing songs. A score was supplied by Garth Morton, based on music from lesser-known Sullivan operas, and this version was recorded in 1972.
Rees held in his collection, until 2006, a number of original Sullivan manuscripts, including the operas The Zoo, The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874...
, Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall (opera)
Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on September 24, 1892 for a modestly successful run of 204 performances...
, The Chieftain
The Chieftain
The Chieftain is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand based on their 1867 opera, The Contrabandista. It consists of substantially the same first act as the 1867 work with a completely new second act...
, and The Emerald Isle
The Emerald Isle
The Emerald Isle; or, The Caves of Carrig-Cleena, is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and Edward German, and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 27 April 1901, closing on 9 November 1901 after a run of 205 performances...
, and a number of major Sullivan orchestral pieces. He had purchased several of these at auction in 1966, following the death of the widow of Sullivan's nephew Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Thomas Sullivan was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. After his uncle's death, Sullivan became active in charitable work...
. Herbert had inherited the scores on his uncle's death, and on his own death in 1928 they passed to his wife, who later remarried, becoming Mrs Elena M. Bashford.
In 2006, Rees donated to the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
his collection of original manuscript scores, including The Zoo, The Contrabandista, The Chieftain, Haddon Hall, The Emerald Isle, Gilbert and Frederic Clay
Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay was an English composer known principally for his music written for the stage. Clay, a great friend of Arthur Sullivan's, wrote four comic operas with W. S...
's Princess Toto
Princess Toto
Princess Toto is a three-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and his long-time collaborator Frederic Clay. It opened on 24 June 1876 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, starring Kate Santley, W. S. Penley and J. H. Ryley. It transferred to the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 2 October 1876 for a run...
, and Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
's Merrie England
Merrie England (opera)
Merrie England is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood. The patriotic story concerns love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who is portrayed as jealous of the affection of Sir Walter Raleigh for Bessie Throckmorton. Its sunny depiction of...
and A Princess of Kensington
A Princess of Kensington
A Princess of Kensington is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood, produced by William Greet. The first performance was at the Savoy Theatre, London, on 22 January 1903 and ran for 115 performances....
, as well as prompt books for Princess Toto and Haddon Hall, among 19 volumes of materials.
Publications
Gilbert and Sullivan- Thespis – A Gilbert & Sullivan Enigma (1964) London: Dillon's University Bookshop. ISBN 0900333049
- W. S. Gilbert, Uncle Baby: A Comedietta, edited by Terence Rees (1968) Privately printed. ISBN 0950010804
- The Zoo, "A Note on the Libretto" (1969) London: Cramer.
- W. S. Gilbert and Henri MeilhacHenri MeilhacHenri Meilhac , was a French dramatist and opera librettist.-Biography:Meilhac was born in Paris in 1831. As a young man, he began writing fanciful articles for Parisian newspapers and vaudevilles, in a vivacious boulevardier spirit which brought him to the forefront...
, The Realm of JoyThe Realm of JoyThe Realm of Joy is a one-act farce by W. S. Gilbert, writing under the pseudonym "F. Latour Tomline". It opened at the Royalty Theatre on 18 October 1873, running for about 113 performances, until 27 February 1874....
: Being a Free and Easy Version of Le Roi Candaule: Being a Free and Easy Version of Le Roi Candaule, edited by Terence Rees (1969) Privately printed. ISBN 0950010812 - "W. S. Gilbert and the London Pantomime Season of 1866" in Gilbert and Sullivan: Papers Presented at the International Conference Held at the University of Kansas in May 1970 (1971) Helyar, James (ed.) University of Kansas Libraries.
- A Sullivan discography Sir Arthur Sullivan Society ISBN 0950734853
- Rees and Roderick Spencer, Sing With Sullivan (1977 songbook) (Reviewed in W. S. Gilbert Society Journal, edited by Brian Jones. Vol. 1, No. 3: Spring 1986, p. 94)
- "The Happy LandThe Happy LandThe Happy Land is a play with music written in 1873 by W. S. Gilbert and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett. The musical play burlesques Gilbert's earlier play, The Wicked World...
: Its True and Remarkable History" in W. S. Gilbert Society Journal, edited by Brian Jones. (1994) Vol. 1 No. 8, pp. 228-37 - "W. S. Gilbert's Sleepwalking" (a new Gilbert discovery) in W. S. Gilbert Society Journal, edited by Brian Jones (Winter 2003) Vol. 2 No. 14, pp. 420-25
Other theatre
- Theatre Lighting in the Age of Gas (1978) Publisher: Society for Theatre Research ISBN 0854300252
- Rees and David Wilmore, British Theatrical Patents, 1801-1900 (1996) Society for Theatre Research ISBN 0854300589