The first item on the programme was “See Me Dance the Polka” by George Grossmith [1817-1912] who wrote this which was said to have earned him a thousand pounds or more in three penny royalties.
The next item on the programme was by
Sir Arthur Sullivan, whose portrait is shown here.
He composed The Lost Chord in 1877 .
Then came Tit Willow from The Mikado by Sir Arthur Sullivan and W S Gilbert, first
performed by George Grossman. There then followed eight other recitals, and
following the interval another thirteen items.
On display in the museum were original costumes from the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company - hats, fans, clocks, posters, theatrical props, toy theatres, figurines, portraits, souvenirs and a rather special Broadwood Grand Piano used by Sir Arthur Sullivan and many more items all connected with the operas and those who helped to make it so special. Photo of the piano with the sheet music for the Lost Chord.
Some years ago I wrote a small article about the history of Danehurst [which is a very short distance from Oak Hall] and its then owners, Harold Messel and his wife Leonora. Melvyn wrote to me following the publication of the article as Leonora was Lady Gilbert’s much loved niece and Harold and Leonora holidayed with them on occasions. Harold and Leonora were very fond of the theatre and the arts and performed plays and Leonora wrote that “they acted with some of the neighbouring children and the plays were not very good but great fun.” Could they have been influenced by Gilbert and Sullivan?
This photo is of Lady Kitty and her husband W S Gilbert [seated- to the left] with Harold Messel top left, holding one of his children, Leonora in the middle with Leonora’s mother on the far right, holding another of the children on her lap.
Great interest was always shown in the costumes, and interestingly the costumes were handed on from one performer to the next but the name tags were never removed - a new one was just sown on over the previous tag.
Melvyn also wrote a book, ‘Cookery a la Carte’
with over 100 unique recipes from members of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company with anecdotes and many rare photographs and he presented a signed copy of his book to Hylda Rawlings -
President of the Danehill Parish Historical Society.
Photo of Melvyn Tarran
My thanks to John Hillary
[author of From Refugees to Royalty];
Tony Hunt; Laurence Leng of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Sussex, and Hylda Rawlings .
Thanks of course to the late Melvyn Tarran [1938-2022]
Jill Rolfe
For over 27 years Melvyn Tarran curated The World of Gilbert and Sullivan Museum, which
was a collection of personal mementos, letters, music manuscripts and historical documents, housed at Oak Hall, Sheffield Park.
Oak Hall was built by the 3rd earl of Sheffield as a riding school in 1891 on the foundations
of an earlier building that stood on the site in 1771. After various uses it housed the Gilbert
and Sullivan Museum which started around the mid 1980’s.
Melvyn was a great lover of music especially of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. He initially owned a number of restaurants, one of which was called Sullivan’s in Hassocks.
I have been given a copy of a programme from October 1993 entitled ‘From the Parlour to the Present’ which was a presentation by Melvyn. Gallery seats for the Concert only in the Minstrels gallery was £7.50 per guest; luncheon and concert [ground floor tables] was £20 per guest.
House red wine £7 a bottle.
