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Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.
In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and on tour in Britain, America and Australia. He composed over a dozen operas and other works for the theatre, as well as for orchestra, but his 1886 comic opera, Dorothy, was by far his most successful work. It became the longest-running piece of musical theatre in the nineteenth century.
During this period he composed many and , the first of which was Charity Begins at Home (1872 at the Gallery of Illustration), with the librettist B. C. Stephenson.Adams, p. 273 The piece was a success and played more than 200 times. The Morning Post, 16 November 1872, p. 1; and "Dramatic and Musical Chronology for 1872", The Era, 5 January 1873, supplement. A reviewer in the London and Provincial Entr'Acte wrote that the music "is unexpectedly apropos and pretty ... and we have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Alfred Cellier's melodies will live even after the long life of shall have come to an end." London and Provincial Entr'Acte, 9 March 1872, reproduced in the liner notes to the 2018 recording of The Mountebanks: Smith, Donald J. "W.S. Gilbert & Alfred Cellier: The Mountebanks & Alfred Cellier: Suite Symphonique, Dutton Vocalion, March 2018 He achieved a favourable outcome with The Sultan of Mocha, produced at Prince's Theatre, Manchester, in 1874 and revived in London in 1876 and 1887 (with a new libretto) and in New York in 1880, among others. " The Sultan of Mocha", The Guide to Musical theatre, accessed 11 June 2018 " The Sultan of Mocha", The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 11 June 2018 Most of his early works for the theatre, including Dora's Dream (1873), Topsyturveydom (1874, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert), The Tower of London (1875, Manchester), Nell Gwynne (1876), Two Foster Brothers (1877, St. George's Hall, with a libretto by Gilbert Arthur à Beckett), and Bella Donna (1878), had only modest success. Cellier also wrote numerous separate songs and composed for orchestra (including his Suite Symphonique (1978)) and the piano; his Danse pompadour achieved particular popularity.
In 1879, he travelled with Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte to America, where he acted as conductor for Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, with Carte's first American touring company. Cellier prepared the overture to Pirates using Sullivan's music from the rest of the score.Ainger, p. 177 Back in London in July 1880, he directed the music at the Opera Comique for Pirates and another of his own pieces with Desprez, In the Sulks. In April 1881, he left the D'Oyly Carte company, ceding the baton to his brother. Cellier composed a three-act grand opera, Pandora, a version of Longfellow's The Masque of Pandora (with a libretto by B. C. Stephenson) that was presented in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1881."The Drama in America", The Era, 1 August 1880, p. 5Stone, David. "Alfred Cellier’s Grand Opera: The Masque of Pandora", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 115, Summer 2024, pp. 13–16 Reviews of the premiere were mixed, praising the "gracefulness" of the music, but finding the opera lacking in dramatic intensity; it closed after two weeks. Cellier remained in America to conduct the Comly-Barton Opera Company on tour in the American West. Later that year he was music director of D'Oyly Carte's New York and touring productions of Billee Taylor (1882), Les Manteaux Noirs and Rip Van Winkle (both in the fall of 1882), and Iolanthe (1882–83), for the latter of which he prepared the New York overture.
In 1883, Cellier's setting of Gray's Elegy, in the form of a cantata, was produced at the Leeds music festival.Scowcroft, Philip L. , MusicWeb.UK In 1883, Cellier left the D'Oyly Carte company, but he was back for brief periods as music director with D'Oyly Carte's touring companies for Princess Ida (1884) and The Mikado (1885). In 1885, also, Cellier composed incidental music for a production of As You Like It. He composed two more companion pieces that had Savoy Theatre premieres, both with libretti by Desprez: The Carp (performed with The Mikado and Ruddigore in 1886–87), and Mrs. Jarramie's Genie (composed together with his brother François, which played together with several different operas at the Savoy between 1887 and 1889.
While in London, Cellier conducted at several London theatres, including the Criterion, the St James's, and the Savoy Theatre. Later, as a result of ill health, he resided mostly in America, where he was at times a representative for the D'Oyly Carte company, and Australia, where he conducted for the J. C. Williamson organization.
Cellier returned to Australia in 1888 to conduct Dorothy and a revival of his earlier work, Charity Begins at Home, and made a final brief visit there for health reasons in early 1891, together with Stephenson.Lamb, Andrew. "Alfred Cellier in Australia", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, No. 97, Summer 2018, p. 22 His last comic operas, Doris (1889, with Stephenson) and The Mountebanks (with Gilbert, produced in January 1892, a few days after the composer's death), were both modestly successful. Also after Cellier's death, Rutland Barrington used some of his music in his 1902 adaptation of Water Babies. Often in ill health throughout his life,Stedman, p. 279 Cellier was unable to finish The Mountebanks, and Ivan Caryll completed the score.Gänzl, Kurt, "Caryll, Ivan (1861–1921)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 12 January 2011 A reviewer of the 2018 recording of The Mountebanks commented: "There is a free-flowing style to Cellier’s compositions, with fine lyrical detail and sumptuous orchestration with which he provides a wide variety of musical effects."Walker, Raymond J. "Alfred Cellier (1844–1891): The Mountebanks, comic opera (1892); and Suite Symphonique (1878)", Music Web International, 2018
Cellier owed much to the influence of Sullivan. He was a fertile melodist, and his writing exhibited elegance and refinement, although he was not able to infuse his music with humour in the way that Sullivan did.
Cellier died at his home in Bloomsbury, London, at the age of 47. He was buried in West Norwood Cemetery.
| Charity Begins at Home (a musical proverb) | 1 act | Gallery of Illustration, London | 7 February 1872 | Bolton Rowe (a pen name of B.C. Stephenson) | ||
| Dora's Dream (operetta) | 1 act | Gallery of Illustration | 3 July 1873 | Arthur Cecil | ||
| Topsyturveydom (musical extravanza) | 2 scenes | Criterion Theatre, London | 21 March 1874 | W. S. Gilbert | ||
| The Sultan of Mocha (comic opera) | 3 acts | Prince's Theatre, Manchester | 16 November 1874 | Albert Jarret | ||
| The Tower of London (comic opera) | 3 acts | Prince's | 4 October 1875 | Anonymous | ||
| Nell Gwynne (comic opera) | 3 acts | Prince's | 17 October 1876 | H. B. Farnie after W. T. Moncrieff's Rochester (1818) | Revised as Dorothy, 1886 | |
| Two Foster Brothers (operetta) | 1 act | St George's Hall, London | 12 March 1877 | Gilbert à Beckett | ||
| The Spectre Knight (fanciful operetta) | 1 act | Opera Comique, London | 9 February 1878 | James Albery | ||
| Belladonna, or The Little Beauty and the Great Beast (comic opera) | 3 acts | Prince's | 27 April 1878 | Alfred Thompson | ||
| After All (vaudeville) | 1 act | Opera Comique | 23 December 1878 | Frank Desprez | ||
| In the Sulks | 1 act | Opera Comique | 21 February 1880 | Frank Desprez | ||
| The Masque of Pandora (grand opera) | 3 acts | Boston Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts | 10 January 1881 | Bolton Rowe (Stephenson), after Longfellow | ||
| The Carp (a whimsicality) | 1 act | Savoy Theatre | 13 February 1886 | Frank Desprez | ||
| Dorothy (comedy opera) | 3 acts | Gaiety Theatre, London | 25 September 1886 | B. C. Stephenson | Revised version of Nell Gwynne | |
| The Sultan of Mocha (revised version) | 3 acts | Strand Theatre, London | 21 September 1887 | William Lestocq | ||
| Mrs Jarramie's Genie (operetta) | 1 act | Savoy | 14 February 1888 | Frank Desprez | Collaboration with François Cellier | |
| Doris (comedy opera) | 3 acts | Lyric Theatre, London | 20 April 1889 | B. C. Stephenson | Revised version of The Tower of London | |
| The Mountebanks (comic opera) | 2 acts | Lyric | 4 January 1892 | W. S. Gilbert | Music completed by Ivan Caryll |
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