mentioned both the opera's strong and weak points. Audrey Williamson wrote in a 1982 book that the virtues of The Sorcerer, "in spite of its defects ... justify its place in the repertoire." In 1996, Ian Bradley commented in the introduction to his annotated edition of the Gilbert and Sullivan libretti, "It will certainly be a great pity if it gradually fades away. The Sorcerer contains two of W. S. Gilbert's best-drawn characters, the soulful Dr Daly ... and the flashy but ultimately tragic figure of John Wellington Wells. Sir Arthur Sullivan's music is delightful and guaranteed to weave a magic spell over all those who hear it, if not actually to make them fall instantly in love with their next-door neighbours." The New York Times commented in 2012 that the plot "has not aged especially well. Its references to rank are dated beyond empathy’s reach; filled with sly allusions, its assumptions about a general audience's musical knowledge are unrealistic. Without those cues what remains is neither as exotic nor as amusing as Pinafore, Pirates or The Mikado. Still, The Sorcerer packs ample charms, including a felicitous score, a Verdian drinking song turned to teetotal ends, and at least one chorus that has reached the periphery of pop culture. ... the work can entrance a modern audience". However, Isaac Goldberg, one of the first Gilbert scholars, in 1913 called it "the weakest of Gilbert's productions". Analysis Text and music The satire in the opera is focused on old-fashioned customs, pastoral opera conventions, the "popularity of curates, the pose of aristocratic benevolence, and the inebriety of the working man" rather than the broad political satire that would feature in many of the later Savoy opera librettos. For example, "Sir Marmaduke, my dear young friend Alexis", a recitative among Alexis, Sir Marmaduke and Dr Daly, is a skit on the excessive politeness associated with early nineteenth-century aristocracy, and the incantation scene is a parody of the similar scene in Weber's Der Freischütz. Dr Daly accompanies his Act II song on a flageolet. Gilbert satirises the Victorian temperance movement by introducing a non-alcoholic brindisi with jorums of tea; this is also a dig at Italian operas, many of which contained a brindisi scene. Another burlesque of Italian opera is "Prepare for sad surprises", which is similar to Alfredo's denunciation of Violetta in Verdi's La traviata. Gilbert's satire of these subjects, like most of