The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.
Scene from The Yeomen of the Guard D'Oyly Carte Opera Company 1906 Revival
1883 poster similar to the one Gilbert said gave him the inspiration for the opera
Denny (Wilfred) and Bond (Phœbe), 1888
Souvenir illustration from the New York Casino Theatre production, 1888
Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, and later those by other composer–librettist teams. The great bulk of the non-G&S Savoy Operas either failed to achieve a foothold in the standard repertory, or have faded over the years, leaving the term "Savoy Opera" as practically synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Savoy operas were seminal influences on the creation of the modern musical.
1881 Programme for Patience
Savoy Theatre, c. 1881
Gilbert, Workman and German at a rehearsal