Gilbert and Sullivan place a piece like this on the stage in so complete a fashion." The opera enjoyed a run longer than any of their other joint works except for "H.M.S. Pinafore", "Patience" and "The Mikado". There was a command performance of "The Gondoliers" for Queen Victoria and the royal family at Windsor Castle in 1891, the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be so honoured. "The Gondoliers" was Gilbert and Sullivan's last great success. Gilbert and Sullivan sometimes had a strained working relationship, partly caused by the fact that each man saw himself as allowing his work to be subjugated to
The Happy Land Gilbert. Not only had he written a short story on the theme in 1871, but he returned to it in his 1909 comic opera, "Fallen Fairies". Indeed, the general theme of mortals disturbing the peaceful state of affairs in fairyland is featured in a number of other Gilbert works, including the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Iolanthe" (1882). Gilbert followed "The Happy Land" with "The Realm of Joy", set in the lobby of a theatre performing a thinly-disguised "The Happy Land", which directly parodies the scandal, even describing the costumes used. In "The Happy Land", "The Realm of Joy" (1873) and