The composer Arthur Sullivan and the dramatist W. S. Gilbert joined forces in 1871, and over the next 25 years produced a series of 14 comic operas. Sullivan's tuneful and memorable melodies and Gilbert's amusing words and dialogue - which frequently made fun of British national characteristics and institutions such as the Royal Navy - are as fresh and amusing today as they were over a hundred years ago. Songs vary immensely in style, and apart from the clearly comical include others, such as 'The flowers that bloom in the spring', that though at first suggesting seriousness, on close examination reveal deliberately ludicrous words and ridiculous sentiments - all to the delight of the audience!

Three Little Maids from School (from ‘The Mikado’) - The Sun, Whose Rays (from ‘The Mikado’) - The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring (from ‘The Mikado’) - Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes (from ‘The Gondoliers’) - Dance a Cachucha (from ‘The Gondoliers’) - When Maiden Loves (from ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’) - Little Buttercup (from ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’) - Poor Wand’ring One (from ‘The Pirates of Penzance’) - The Policeman’s Song (from ‘The Pirates of Penzance’) - Happy Young Heart (from ‘The Sorcerer’) - For Love Alone (from ‘The Sorcerer’) - To a Garden Full of Posies (from ‘Ruddigore’) - Silvered is the Raven Hair (from ‘Patience’) - Broken Every Promise Plighted (from ‘The Grand Duke’) - The Sentry’s Song (from ‘Iolanthe’) - Oh, Foolish Fay (from ‘Iolanthe’) - When But a Maid of Fifteen Year (from ‘Utopia Limited’) - Such a Disagreeable Man (from ‘Princess Ida’) - We Sail the Ocean Blue (from ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’) - If Somebody There Chanced to Be (from ‘Ruddigore’)