Gilbert and Sullivan a composer of comic opera—that a musical knight should not stoop below oratorio or grand opera. Sullivan, despite the financial security of writing for the Savoy, increasingly viewed his work with Gilbert as unimportant, beneath his skills, and repetitious. Furthermore, he was unhappy that he had to simplify his music to ensure that Gilbert's words could be heard. But paradoxically, in February 1883, just after "Iolanthe" opened, Sullivan had signed a five-year agreement with Gilbert and Carte requiring him to produce a new comic opera on six months' notice. "Princess Ida" (1884) spoofed women's education and male chauvinism and continued
Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company, based in Derby, England, produces the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The company have won the amateur competition at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival an unprecedented six times and have been called "one of the most highly acclaimed nonprofessional theatre companies in the UK". Members of the company have earned many individual awards from that festival, and the company have won awards from the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera. Derby G&S Company have also performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Seattle, Washington in the US, in Lanzarote,