TRIAL BY JURYGilbert and Sullivan had collaborated for the first time on Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old in 1871. Thespis had been commissioned by John Hollingshead, the owner and manager of the Gaiety Theatre. After that, Gilbert had gone back to writing plays, and Sullivan to composing serious music, songs and ballads.
In January 1875, Gilbert showed Richard D’Oyly Carte a libretto of Trial by Jury which he had written, using one of the Bab Ballads as a basis. Gilbert had intended to ask Carl Rosa to set it to music, but Carte told him that he wanted Trial by Jury, provided that Sullivan set it to music. Carte wanted Sullivan to hear the libretto as soon as possible, so Gilbert walked through a snowstorm to Sullivan’s new flat in Battersea, and with the two of them by a blazing fire, read it to him. Gilbert did not expect Sullivan to be at all interested in Trial by Jury, because Sullivan had been writing only serious music since Thespis. However, Sullivan was screaming with laughter the whole time, and immediately agreed to set it to music. Sullivan was so enchanted with it that Trial by Jury was written and rehearsed in three weeks.
Trial by Jury is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera written in one Act. It is unique in having no spoken dialogue between the songs and choruses. It is the shortest of the fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan operas, lasting about forty minutes.
Trial by Jury opened at the Royalty Theatre on 25 March 1875, and ran there until
18 December 1875 In January 1876 Trial by Jury was transferred to the Ope�ra Comique and later to the Royal Strand Theatre in the Spring of 1877. Altogether, there were over 300 performances.
Trial by Jury is very popular with audiences and is a favourite with schools and amateur societies.
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