Iolanthe, or, The Peer and The Peri by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan was produced at the Savoy Theatre under the management of Richard D’Oyly Carte on Saturday 25th November 1882, until Tuesday 1st January 1884.

Sullivan was reluctant to be more famous for comic opera than for classical composition, but since he enjoyed the lifestyle it financed, began work on a score for Gilbert’s new libretto during the summer of 1882. Originally titled Perola and changed to Iolanthe at the last minute to maintain secrecy, Gilbert’s new libretto indulged his whimsical penchant bringing fairies to Westminster, whilst satirising the British parliamentary system, especially the House of Lords. As ever Gilbert meticulously planned the contrasting stage pictures made by his settings and characters including a fairy chorus and their Queen, a chorus of Peers, the Lord Chancellor, the banished fairy Iolanthe, and her half human son Strephon in love with the beautiful shepherdess Phyllis, the Lord Chancellor’s ward. With Sullivan’s equally contrasting pastoral and stirring music, brilliant lyrics and the added surprise of electric lights on the fairies’ foreheads, Iolanthe was another hit in London and New York, where D’Oyly Carte opened a production at the Standard Theatre the same night.

The prolific costume designer Attilio Giuseppe de Comelli von Stuckenfeld (1858-1925) was born in northern Italy to a wealthy family. He came to London in the late 19th century and working as Atillio Comelli, some of his earliest designs were the costumes for Covent Garden’s production of La Bohème (1899). He became one of the most prolific designers for the London stage in the late 19th and early 20th century and was credited as Artist in Chief at the Alhambra, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the Royal Opera House where he provided costume designs for over seventy-eight opera and ballet productions.

Known for his colourful and inventive designs especially for pantomime, Comelli researched his commissions thoroughly, studying authorities on the period he was working at the British and South Kensington Museum. He married Cecilia Emily Middleton in 1900 and died in west London, survived by his wife.