Gilbert and Sullivan well, and on 13 May 1883, at a party to celebrate the composer's 41st birthday, the guests, including the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), heard a direct relay of parts of "Iolanthe" from the Savoy. This was probably the first live "broadcast" of an opera. During the run of "Iolanthe", in 1883, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria. Although it was the operas with Gilbert that had earned him the broadest fame, the honour was conferred for his services to serious music. The musical establishment, and many critics, believed that this should put an end to his career as
Arthur Sullivan Sullivan. "The Martyr of Antioch" was first performed in October 1880. A grateful Sullivan presented his collaborator with an engraved silver cup inscribed "W.S. Gilbert from his friend Arthur Sullivan." Sullivan was not a showy conductor, and some thought him dull and old-fashioned on the podium, but his composition had an enthusiastic reception and was frequently revived. Besides his festival and other conducting appointments, Sullivan invariably conducted the opening nights of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Carte opened the next Gilbert and Sullivan piece, "Patience", in April 1881 at London's Opera Comique, where their past three operas had played. In