Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert was questioning his good faith, and in any event, Sullivan had other reasons to stay in Carte's good graces: Carte was building a new theatre, the Royal English Opera House, to produce Sullivan's only grand opera, "Ivanhoe". Gilbert brought suit, and after "The Gondoliers" closed in 1891, he withdrew the performance rights to his libretti, vowing to write no more operas for the Savoy. Gilbert next wrote "The Mountebanks" with Alfred Cellier and the flop "Haste to the Wedding" with George Grossmith, and Sullivan wrote "Haddon Hall" with Sydney Grundy. Gilbert eventually won the lawsuit, but his actions and
Gilbert and Sullivan began to play parlour music at home and more theatres and concert halls opened. In 1874, Gilbert wrote a short libretto on commission from producer-conductor Carl Rosa, whose wife would have played the leading role, but her death in childbirth cancelled the project. Not long afterwards, Richard D'Oyly Carte was managing the Royalty Theatre and needed a short opera to be played as an afterpiece to Offenbach's "La Périchole". Carte knew about Gilbert's libretto for Rosa and suggested that Sullivan write a score for it. Gilbert read the piece to Sullivan in February 1875, and the composer was delighted with