At the same time Desprez wrote the texts for ten short works for D'Oyly Carte, most of which accompanied the Gilbert and Sullivan operas on the bills at the Opera Comique and later the Savoy Theatre. These pieces had long runs in tandem with, and sometimes beyond, the runs of the principal pieces, and they were usually played on tour throughout Britain as companion pieces, benefit pieces and short-programme items. Working with composers such as Alfred Cellier and Edward Solomon, Desprez became perhaps the most popular librettist of one-act operas in Britain.