Gilbert and Sullivan There continue to be hundreds of amateur companies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan works worldwide. The first commercial recordings of individual numbers from the Savoy operas began in 1898. In 1917 the Gramophone Company (HMV) produced the first album of a complete Gilbert and Sullivan opera, "The Mikado", followed by recordings of eight more. Electrical recordings of most of the operas were then issued by HMV and Victor, beginning in the late 1920s, supervised by Rupert D'Oyly Carte. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued to produce well-regarded recordings until 1979, helping to keep the operas popular through the decades. Many
Gilbert and Sullivan especially, Sullivan: "Sir Arthur Sullivan has eminently succeeded alike in the expression of refined sentiment and comic humour. In the former respect, the charm of graceful melody prevails; while, in the latter, the music of the most grotesque situations is redolent of fun." Further changes were made, including a new overture, when Rupert D'Oyly Carte revived "Ruddigore" after the First World War, and the piece was regularly performed by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company thereafter. Some of the plot elements of "Ruddigore" were introduced by Gilbert in his earlier one-act opera, "Ages Ago" (1869), including the tale of the wicked