The Martyr of Antioch is a choral work described as a "Sacred Musical Drama"[1] by the English composer Arthur Sullivan. It was first performed on 15 October 1880 at the triennial Leeds Music Festival, having been composed specifically for that event. Sullivan was musical director of the Leeds festival in 1880 and conducted the performance.
The Martyr of Antioch is based on the 1822 epic poem by the Rev. Henry Hart Milman concerning the martyrdom of St. Margaret of Antioch at the end of the 3rd century. Sullivan's friend and collaborator, the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, assisted him in adapting the libretto from Milman's poem. Gilbert and Sullivan's fifth opera, The Pirates of Penzance, had opened in December 1879. At the Leeds festival of 1886, Sullivan would premiere an even more successful choral work, The Golden Legend.
The Martyr is rarely performed today, though two recordings are available.
- ^ Parry, William. Sullivan between Secularism and Christianity in SullivanPerspektiven, Essen: Oldib-Verlag, 2012, p. 140; and Gordon-Powell and Wright, vol. 1, preface, p. ix