Percy Reeve

In 1877 he was appointed to a civil service post in the Lord Chancellor's office, composing music in his spare time.

[1] Reeve's operetta A Private Wire (1883) ran for more than nine months at the Savoy Theatre as a Curtain raiser to Iolanthe.

[2] He later composed the music for "Ruddy George, or Robin Redbreast", at Toole's Theatre (1887; a burlesque of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore) to a libretto by H. G. F.

[4] His operetta The Crusader and the Craven (1890), with words by W. Allison, had a long run at the Globe Theatre (opening as an afterpiece to an operatic adaptation of The Black Rover) due to its "bright and taking music",[5] despite a libretto described by a later critic as "almost heroically banal", with lines such as, "I am a fierce crusader, a terror to each foe, to infidel invader, I carry death and woe".

[1][8] Reeve was also a prolific musical journalist, contributing to a wide range of publications including Punch, The Saturday Review and The Daily Telegraph.