Opera in Manchester 1848-1899 (Manchester Sounds, volume 6: 2006)

A Manchester opera anniversary passed almost unnoticed[1] on 14th August, 2005: 150 years since the first performance of Raymond and Agnes by Edward Loder, at the Theatre Royal, Peter Street.

The fact that the title and the name of the composer probably mean little to most readers is itself an indication of the extent to which the city has lost touch with its operatic history -- and indeed our general ignorance of the Victorian flowering of original English vernacular opera, before Gilbert and Sullivan.

And yet this work is described in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera as its composer’s “masterpiece” in which “the sense of drama and depth of musical characterization is close to Verdi”. Nigel Burton’s article continues by referring to Loder’s “spiritual kinship with Schubert” and concludes: “It is not exaggerated to regard Loder as the foremost composer of serious British opera in the early Victorian period”.[2]

Nicholas Temperley staged a revived version of Raymond and Agnes at Cambridge in 1966. He wrote then that: “Loder’s musical and dramatic gifts were far more impressive than those of his contemporaries, Balfe[3] and Wallace.[4] But he never achieved their degree of popular success because he aimed at a far higher level of sophistication -- a level which was, on the whole, too high for the early Victorian public”. Of the confrontation scene between the hero Raymond and the evil Baron, which ends in a knife fight, he said: “Loder piles one musical climax upon another with a dramatic intensity that I can only compare with Verdi.”[5]

Excerpts from the opera were included in the BBC’s Fairest Isle series in 1994, with Judith Howarth, Justin Lavender and Gidon Saks in the principal roles.

But, other than that, the opera has lain unsung. The full score is in the Library of Congress in the USA (as is that of another Loder opera, The Night Dancers[6] -- a version of the Giselle story). When Temperley re-staged and re-published it in 1966, the original spoken text was thought lost, and a reconstruction, with new dialogue by Max Miradin, was made from contemporary reports and summaries: it involved some plot adjustments and character name-changes, mainly for practical production reasons. Professor Temperley tells me[7] the original full libretto is now available. Perhaps one day it will live again.

Why Raymond and Agnes has never had a higher profile is illustrative of the outrageous fortunes that beset English opera and its composers in the nineteenth century. Loder (1813-1865), whose father was musical director of the Theatre Royal, Bath, and a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, was a pupil in Frankfurt of Ferdinand Ries, the Beethoven acolyte and composer who later settled in London. His 1834 opera Nourjahad (libretto by S J Arnold, the playwright and manager who had first staged Der Freischütz in London, ten years earlier) was described by Sir George Macfarren,[8] no less, as “the inaugural work of the institution of modern English opera”.[9]

Loder became musical director of the Princess’s Theatre in London in 1846 and wrote The Night Dancers there (it was staged in New York and Sydney in 1847 and revived at Covent Garden in 1860). But financial success for an opera composer in England was elusive: keeping the wolf from the door depended far more on a regular output of music shop ballads, on which he laboured constantly -- in fact he was for some years under contract to a publisher to produce one a week. The Old House at Home is his, originally included in his opera Francis the First (Drury Lane, 1838).

The Manchester Theatre Royal, opened in Peter Street in 1845,[10] attracted him to its musical directorship in 1850. Charles Hallé, who had arrived two years before, was not the only musician to see opportunities in the burgeoning industrial city, but Loder’s duties included the production of music for pantomimes, farces and plays, seemingly leaving little time for serious composition. However, the operatic content of the theatre’s schedule increased dramatically in 1851, and Loder was able to engage the star performers Clara Novello[11] and Sims Reeves[12] for a season from 20th October to 13th December, almost nightly, which offered his own The Night Dancers along with 13 other works including Don Giovanni. Almost certainly this lost money, but Loder had an ally in the theatre’s owner-manager John Knowles, and in 1853 they returned to the fray, with Italian, German and English opera from 17th October to 10th December, from a variety of performers, both touring[13] and locally based (Loder came up with his own version of Scribe’s Marco Spada, entitled Marco Tempesta, which used his own music plus Auber’s overture, and ran for 13 performances).[14] Emboldened, the two attempted an even longer autumn season in 1854, from 2nd October to 16th December (preceded by a week’s visit from the Covent Garden company), with the best names in the business -- and in this season Charles Hallé’s services as conductor were called upon.[15] It was announced as the “annual operatic season”, and the company included Hermine Rudersdorff[16] (her Manchester debut), Maria Caradori,[17] Alexander Reichardt[18] and Carl Formes.

Oddly, Hallé’s account in his memoirs, written about 40 years later, does not even mention Loder, only Knowles.[19] But Hallé’s first biographer, E J Broadfield, writing in 1890, acknowledges the joint nature of the project,[20] as well as retailing some of Hallé’s anecdotes about it. It is clear enough (despite the rose-tinted spectacles through which Hallé was determined to view things in later life) that the burden of a large repertory and nightly changes resulted in increasing chaos and confusion as the season progressed,[21] in performances conducted by both Hallé and Loder (they seem to have shared the burden roughly equally) -- quite apart from the meagreness of some attendances.

Hallé, later, blamed it all on the Crimean War, though there is little evidence of that having played a significant part in their failure. More to the point perhaps was the fact that the “Philharmonic Hall” in Fountain Street, Manchester (an opportunist scheme designed to fill the gap between the two Free Trade Halls)[22] opened in late October with a series of concerts featuring London musicians conducted by Alfred Mellon, and singers including Clara Novello and Sims Reeves. Attendances were reported to have exceeded 4,000, and Louis Jullien and his orchestra were announced as a forthcoming attraction.[23] It is noteworthy that only a year later, Hallé was complaining to his private diary about the “hocus-pocus” of another Jullien visit, spoiling attendances at one of his chamber concerts.[24]

Two things are certain, however. The experiment of establishing a long season of Manchester-produced opera was never attempted again. The other is that Loder was inspired, at the time, to write a new “grand opera” of his own. Announcements in the press in autumn, 1854, said that Raymond and Agnes was “in rehearsal” and would be included by the end of the year.[25]

It did not appear. The annual pantomime superseded the opera season in December, 1854,[26] and that was the end of the Loder-Hallé venture. But Loder was not done for yet, and his programmes the following summer (1st July to 17th August and 27th to 31st August) included not only the new comic operas Leonie (by Joseph F Duggan) and Mephistofeles (Meyer Lutz), but also, at last, Raymond and Agnes. Its conception during the glorious debacle of 1854 was undoubtedly the reason for its ambitious nature, a point not lost on the Manchester Guardian reviewer, who observed that it had been designed to be sung by performers of the stature of Reichardt and Formes, engaged for the previous autumn’s season.

As it was, the tenor, George Perren,[27] “did his best”[28] and the cast included the debutante Miss Johnson along with Miss Susan Lowe (Mrs Henry Drayton) and the comic baritone Henry Drayton in the villainous role of the Baron. The opera ran for a week, plus two days more (after a visit from the Royal Italian Opera of Covent Garden). It was produced again in 1859 in London (modified to three acts instead of four) with Susan Pyne[29] and Madame Rudersdorff, where it ran for a week again. But the conductor was now George Loder (probably the composer’s uncle), as Edward was seriously ill. He had resigned his Manchester position in 1855, and soon after the London performances of Raymond and Agnes lapsed into a coma from which he never recovered.

Few were aware of his illness nor his passing -- but one who did not forget him was Hallé: in April, 1862, he wrote to the Manchester Guardian appealing for donations to help Loder, now suffering paralysis and “in a state of such destitution as to call for immediate assistance”.[30]

To modern tastes Loder’s opera is a strange thing, with a plot based on an episode from the “gothic horror” novel, The Monk, by Matthew “Monk” Lewis, of 1796, in which two young lovers seek to escape from the cursed Baron by staging an appearance of the blood-stained ghost of St Agnes, reputed to walk on a certain night -- and then the real ghost appears.[31] But the elements of an orgy, a ghost, a trance, an escape, a robbers’ gambling chorus and a wedding are not unfamiliar in other operatic stories, and the librettist, Edward Fitzball,[32] added a classic villain in the Baron (bringing its references, to our ears, uncomfortably close to Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore).

The exceptional qualities brought by Loder, however, were the minimal use of “ballads” (reflective songs often included in English operas, with the front-parlour sheet music trade in mind), a Germanic influence amid the cantabile-cabaletta arias of the familiar Italian style (the opera includes melodrama and narrative ballad, as used by Weber, and echoes of Fidelio and The Marriage of Figaro have been discerned, to Loder’s credit),[33] and the “Verdian” quality of some of the writing -- the duets and ensembles in particular. And hereby hangs a minor mystery. Could Loder, labouring away in the Manchester of the 1850s, have actually encountered the mature style of the Italian genius? Il Trovatore and La Traviata are contemporary with Raymond and Agnes, but had not been heard in England when Loder was writing (Il Trovatore, however, came to Manchester in the Italian season just after Loder’s premiere: La Traviata and Rigoletto followed in 1857, and Louisa Miller in 1858).[34] Nabucco had been heard in London in 1850, and Rigoletto in 1853, so perhaps Loder picked up some ideas on a visit there. One Verdi opera, however, not only had been heard in London as long before as 1845 but was performed in Manchester, at Edward Loder’s own theatre, in the summer of 1854, brought by the visiting Royal Italian Opera (conducted by Julius Benedict) shortly before the lengthy Loder/Hallé season began, and that was Ernani. Could this have been the spark that fired the English composer to produce his Verdian “masterpiece”?

******

The story of opera in Manchester in the second half of the nineteenth century, except for Raymond and Agnes (which I shall stick my neck out to claim as the only serious opera of any stature to be composed, rehearsed and premiered in the city), is not notable for great historic landmarks. But there have been minor ones -- and the compilation which ends this article, though highly provisional and more a sketch of territory to be surveyed than an accurate chart, demonstrates one thing with particular clarity: there was, certainly after the “Cotton Famine” of the early 1860s, no lack of appetite for musical theatre in the city -- and after the inauguration of the Carl Rosa Opera Company in the city in 1873 it seems to have been almost insatiable.

This approximate summary of performances and the repertoire on offer each year also gives the lie to the supposition that Manchester lacked interest in opera. On the contrary, its later nineteenth-century inhabitants enjoyed a far greater number of opera performances than we are accustomed to now. It is true that from the 1870s the market was dominated by comic opera (particularly French light opera, which was never displaced by the success of Gilbert and Sullivan -- the genre which they did pretty well see off, with the exception of the three pieces rather comically known as “the English Ring”, was that of English “ballad” opera). Such material overlapped in kind with what we would now call “musicals”, and so comparisons with the present should not be unrealistic (and drawing the line as to what should count as opera, even if called “comic opera”, is always a problem). But it is also true that the Manchester population, if offered it in accessible terms -- i.e. in translation rather than a foreign language -- would flock to “grand opera”, too, and that the range of fare they were given puts today’s attempts at operatic enterprise into the shade.

The Theatre Royal was joined in musical presentation by the Prince’s Theatre (near the corner of Oxford Street and Mosley Street) in 1867, the Queen’s Theatre (Bridge Street -- site of the present Masonic Hall) in 1872, the Comedy Theatre (Peter Street, opposite the YMCA) and the St James’s Theatre (Oxford Street) in 1884, and in 1892 by the new Palace Theatre (though its main purpose was variety). Alfred Cellier’s time as musical director of the Prince’s Theatre (1872/3-1877) was exceptionally fruitful.

The companies which visited the city included both the major London troupes: the long-established Italian Opera, based at Her Majesty’s Theatre (usually conducted by Luigi Arditi and his colleague Auguste Vianesi), and for many years managed by “Colonel” James Henry Mapleson; and the Royal Italian Opera, which was established at Covent Garden in 1845 when Sir Michael Costa led a secession from Her Majesty’s. The company formed by Louisa Pyne and William Harrison in 1857 became known as the Royal English Opera and was also, briefly, based at Covent Garden: it visited Manchester in 1865 (the later Royal English Opera Company was a D’Oyly Carte creation: the house he built for it, opened in 1891 and closed in 1892, is now London’s Palace Theatre).

But it was the formation of Carl Rosa’s English Opera Company in 1873 -- inaugurated in Manchester -- which transformed the situation for the city’s opera-lovers and led the plethora of touring opera enterprises which lasted to the end of the century. Its beginnings have already been vividly described in this journal.

One observation on the repertoire performed is that some works which we would consider among the most popular of classic operas today enjoyed only relatively modest success in the 19th century -- mainly, one suspects, on moral grounds, in a city where many of the middle class were devout and some suspected the theatre generally of being evil. La Traviata, which made its first appearance in the city in 1857 (the year of the great Art Treasures Exhibition which brought Hallé’s own orchestra to birth), was at first roundly condemned by the Manchester Guardian as “a compound of vice and sickly sentiment”. Later in the century, Carmen also progressed in people’s affections slowly, and probably for similar reasons.

Gounod’s Faust, however, first seen in 1863, was a constant favourite, particularly in the English version entitled Faust and Marguerite. Other Gounod operas such as Mirella, The Mock Doctor and, in 1880, La Reine de Saba (under the English title, Irene), were presented in the light of Faust’s popularity, but never emulated it. Romeo and Juliet (1890) made more impression: Philémon et Baucis (1893) less.

Manchester’s first taste of Offenbach was in 1868, with The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein -- Burnand and Sullivan’s Cox and Box made its debut the following year (The Contrabandista came in 1874). Both were to be enduring favourites. Orphée aux Enfers came in 1870, followed by a string of French novelties over the years including Offenbach’s The Princess of Trebizonde, La Belle Helene, Barbe-Bleue, Genevieve de Brabant, La Périchole, Hervé’s Chilperic, Lecocq’s La Fille de Madame Angot,  Giroflé-Girofla and Pepita, and Planquette’s Les Cloches de Corneville, Rip van Winkle and Paul Jones.

There was a season of German operetta in 1871 which, oddly, does not seem to have caught on, despite Manchester’s large German community: perhaps at the time they were too respectable and committed to Hallé’s music to indulge in such levity.

The new English operetta phenomenon of Gilbert and Sullivan did, however, decidedly catch on, and after Trial by Jury in 1876, then The Sorceror and H M S Pinafore in 1878 (and The Children’s H M S Pinafore in 1880 -- children’s versions of the most popular hits were a recurrent attraction), new titles came almost every year with great success: The Pirates of Penzance in 1881, Patience in 1882, Iolanthe in 1883, Princess Ida in 1884, The Mikado in 1885, Ruddigore in 1887, The Yeomen of the Guard in 1888, The Gondoliers in 1890. The D’Oyly Carte company had by then already evolved into the touring repertory troupe of recent memory, though new Sullivan pieces came to Manchester as they appeared, too: Haddon Hall in 1893, Utopia Ltd in 1894, Ivanhoe and The Chieftain in 1895, The Grand Duke in 1896.

Serious opera was chiefly served by the Carl Rosa company. In its heyday a remarkable mobile production factory, it served not only to preserve some of the earlier tradition of native English opera but also to bring new work from abroad to British, and particularly northern, ears. Works such as Balfe’s Satanella, The Siege of Rochelle and Il Talismano, Wallace’s Lorelei-story Lurline and Macfarren’s Robin Hood were occasionally revived, and novelties such as Stanford’s The Canterbury Pilgrims, Boito’s Mefistofele, Verdi’s Aida, Halévy’s La Juive, even Frederick Cowen’s Thorgrim, and a range of repertory from Gluck to Wagner were offered to the Manchester public. In the 1890s came the new hit by Mascagni, Rustic Chivalry, Bizet’s Djamileh, Verdi’s Otello, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.

The summer of 1888 was notable for a visit from the Russian National Opera Company, appearing at the Comedy Theatre from 9th to 20th July, and again from 20th August to 1st September. They presented Glinka’s A Life for the Czar, ten performances of Anton Rubinstein’s The Demon, Rigoletto in Russian, and four showings of a new work from the pen of Peter Tchaikovsky -- Mazeppa. The Manchester Courier identified the first night of The Demon as its first performance in England: this was not, however, stated of Mazeppa, although it might nearly have been -- it was announced repeatedly during July as “in preparation”, but did not make it to the Comedy Theatre stage until 27th August, after an interruption in the run when the company was, presumably, performing elsewhere. Among the singers in The Demon was the young Joachim Tartakov (1860-1923), later to be the leading baritone and then director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, and the conductor was Josef Truffi.

There have been a few world premieres of comic opera in the city, notably The Sultan of Mocha, by Cellier, in 1874 (Cellier’s less successful The Tower of London (1875), Nell Gwynne (1876) and Belladonna (1878) also premiered in Manchester), and The Lancashire Witches by Frederick Stanislaus (Cellier’s successor at the Prince’s Theatre: the vocal score of this was published by Forsyth’s) in 1879. Others included John Crook’s The King’s Dragoons (1880), G B Allen’s The Wicklow Rose (1882), Alfred D Taylor’s The Bachelors (1885), Edmond Audran’s Indiana (1886), Joseph Batchelder and Oliver Gregg’s La Serenata (1888), and A H Behrend’s Iduna (1889). Cellier’s later works also came to Manchester after opening in London: Dorothy in 1887 (and repeatedly), Doris in 1889 and The Mountebanks in 1892.

But the century ended in glory with the Carl Rosa Opera Company’s production, at the Theatre Royal, of La Boheme, a UK premiere, for which Puccini travelled to Manchester (22nd April, 1897), and, in 1896 and 1897, the company’s premieres of two components of its English-language Ring cycle: Die Walküre and Siegfried. After his father’s earlier work in building the Carl Rosa company, the second Eugene Goossens was to be found conducting in the city in the late 1890s -- with the ambitious Arthur Rousbey Opera Company.

Two events to note, which were much thought of in their time were, like those Carl Rosa Wagner productions, first performances of English translations: Flotow’s Martha, in English, first heard at the Theatre Royal, on 2nd October, 1858, and Hallé’s first concert presentation of Berlioz’ The Damnation of Faust, in his daughter Marie’s translation, in 1881. Both were billed as “first performances in England” but, since the works in question had been heard in their original languages earlier, do not qualify as UK premieres in the modern sense.

But Hallé’s edition of the Berlioz Faust did lead him -- very near the end of his life, and the only recorded occasion after 1861 -- back into the opera pit. The Carl Rosa Company staged the work in Manchester in 1894. They opened at the Theatre Royal on 19th March with a schedule which featured both the Gounod and Berlioz Fausts, and the first performance of the latter was “conducted on this special occasion by Sir Charles Hallé”.

The Berlioz Faust, though quite familiar now as a concert piece, was, as a staged presentation, a source of some fascination. The day after Hallé’s night, the Manchester Guardian reported:  “It is a long time, indeed, since any musical event was regarded with such interest in Manchester.” The house was crowded in every part, the band “augmented”, and the performance generally received with enthusiasm. The use of mechanical “horses” for the last act ride was, however, “at first received with scarcely concealed laughter, and it was almost a relief to arrive at Pandemonium,” said the critic.

His main theme, though, was the respect accorded to the ageing conductor, who, he said, “was received with ringing cheers as he advanced to the place in the orchestra which he filled with such credit to himself during a memorable season of opera forty years ago.” Rose-tinted spectacles were by now on universal issue.

THE LIST

Opera (names are given in the form used for the first performance in any particular year)

1848 Local (1 day), Balfe & co. [inc. Jenny Lind] (2 days), Theatre Royal.

The Daughter of the Regiment, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Sonnambula

1849 Italian opera (local chorus and orchestra), Theatre Royal (16 days).

Norma (4), Lucia di Lammermoor (2), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2), I Puritani, L’Elisir d’Amore (2), Lucrezia Borgia (3), La Sonnambula (2)

1850 Local: English opera (12 days), Italian opera (8 days), Theatre Royal.

The Bohemian Girl (4), The Bondsman (2), La Sonnambula (3), Maritana (2), The Bride of Lammermoor (2), Lucrezia Borgia, Norma (3), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (3)

1851 Local (Loder) but with Clara Novello & Sims Reeves: Italian opera (7 weeks), English opera (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

La Sonnambula (5),  L’Elisir d’Amore (2), Lucia di Lammermoor (5), I Puritani (2), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2), Lucrezia Borgia (2), The Bohemian Girl (7), Maritana (5), The Night Dancers (6), The Mountain Sylph (5), Masaniello, The Daughter of the Regiment, Norma (4), Don Giovanni (5)

1852 Theatre Royal:  Beggars’ Opera (2 days)

1853 Jarrett’s company, with Formes: Italian opera (19 days), “German and Italian opera”, cond Anschutz (5 days), English opera (Loder) (10 days), Theatre Royal.

Der Freischutz (2), Norma (3), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Marco Tempesta (13), Les Huguenots (3), Fidelio (2), The Bohemian Girl (2), The Somnambulist (2), Fra Diavolo (2), The Bride of Lammermoor, The Crown Diamonds, Maritana (2), The Enchantress.

1854 Royal Italian opera from Covent Garden (7 days), Local (Loder & Hallé) (10 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Norma (6), Ernani, La Sonnambula (3), Otello/Rossini), Fidelio (5), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (3), I Puritani (4), Der Freischutz (5), Lucia di Lammermoor (4), La Favorita (2), Il Seraglio (3), Lucrezia Borgia (6), Les Huguenots (4), Semiramide, Die Zauberflote (4),  Robert le Diable (5), Don Giovanni (2), Masaniello. 

1855 English opera (Loder), (30 days), Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden (12 days), Theatre Royal.

La Sonnambula (5), The Bohemian Girl (6), The Bride of Lammermoor (3), Robert the Devil, Leonie (6), Mephistopheles (5), Raymond and Agnes (5), Don Giovanni (2), I Puritani, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2), Il Trovatore (2), Semiramide, Norma, Don Pasquale, Lucrezia Borgia

1856  -- 0

1857  Her Majesty’s Theatre Co. (6 days), Lyceum Co. [ie former CG co.] (8 days), Theatre Royal.

Il Trovatore (2), The Marriage of Figaro, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, La Traviata (3), Fra Diavolo, Rigoletto, I Puritani, La Sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, Maritana

1858 New National English Opera Co. (6 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Il Trovatore (2), La Sonnambula (3), Norma (2), The Bohemian Girl (3), Guy Mannering (6), Louisa Miller (2), Maritana (2), Martha (15)

1859 Italian opera [combined London co., cond. Arditi] (8 days), Theatre Royal.

Les Huguenots, Il Trovatore (3), Lucrezia Borgia, The Daughter of the Regiment, La Traviata, Don Giovanni

1860 H M Theatre Co. (2 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Il Trovatore, La Favorita, Don Giovanni (2), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Norma (3), Macbeth, Orfeo, Rigoletto, Martha

1861 IH M Theatre Co. (11 days), Theatre Royal.

Italian opera (1 day), English opera (11 days), FTH.

La Sonnambula (2), Don Giovanni (2), Martha, Lucia di Lammermoor (2), La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L”Elisir d’Amore, Il Trovatore (3), Robin Hood (5), Maritana, Norma, The Bohemian Girl, Lucrezia Borgia

1862 H M Theatre Co. (with Carlotta Patti), Theatre Royal (3 days).

Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Pasquale, La Sonnambula

1863 H M Theatre Co., Theatre Royal (3 days).

Il Trovatore, Faust (2)

1864 H M Theatre Co., Theatre Royal (5 days).

Faust (2), Lucrezia Borgia, Mirella, Il Trovatore

1865 H M Theatre Co. (2 weeks), Covent Garden English opera (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Faust (7), Il Trovatore (4), Ernani, Fidelio (3), Lucia di Lammermoor, Dinorah (2), La Sonnambula (3), The Mock Doctor (2), The Bohemian Girl (3), Norma (4), Masaniello (2), Don Giovanni (3), Rigoletto

1866 Local, Theatre Royal (12 days).

Faust and Marguerite (12)

1867 H M Theatre Co. (2 weeks), Local (1 day), Theatre Royal.

H M Theatre Co., Prince’s Theatre (1 week).

Il Trovatore (2), Lucrezia Borgia, Un Ballo in Maschera, Les Huguenots (3), Der Freischutz (2), Don Giovanni (2), Faust (2), Lucia di Lammermoor (2), The Marriage of Figaro, Martha, Faust and Marguerite, Il Barbiere di Siviglia

1868 Local (1 day), operetta (6 weeks), H M Theatre Co., (9 days), Theatre Royal.

H M Theatre Co., (3 days), Prince’s Theatre

Faust and Marguerite, The Grand Duchess (18), The Bohemian Girl (6), The Marriage of Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2), Der Freischutz, Martha, Fidelio, Il Trovatore, Faust, Les Huguenots, Don Giovanni (2)

1869 Sims Reeves and co. (2 weeks), Italian opera (Mapleson co.) (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Operetta (4 days) Prince’s Theatre.

Guy Mannering (12), Don Giovanni (2), Il Trovatore (2), Fidelio (2), Faust, The Magic Flute (3), The Marriage of Figaro, Les Huguenots, Dinorah, Lucia di Lammermoor, Der Freischutz, La Sonnambula, Robert le Diable, Hamlet, Cox & Box (4)

1870 Offenbach (2 weeks), English opera (Loveday’s company: 4 weeks, H M Theatre Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

H M Theatre Co., 1 week, Prince’s Theatre.

La Grande Duchesse (6), OrfÉe aux Enfers (6); The Rose of Castile (4), Lurline (3), The Bohemian Girl (5), Il Trovatore (2), Masaniello (3), Norma (2), The Elixir of Love, Cinderella, Maritana, La Sonnambula, Lucy of Lammermoor & act 1 of La Traviata, Don Giovanni (2), Il Trovatore, If Flauto Magico (2), Fidelio, Lucia di Lammermoor, Oberon, La Sonnambula, Le Nozze di Figaro, Dinorah, Martha.

1871 German operetta (2 weeks), Offenbach & HervÉ (Henry Leslie’s Co.: 3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Offenbach (Gaiety Theatre co.: 2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

The Love Philtre/Grappert (6), The Beautiful Galatea (7), The German Swallows/Offenbach (6), The Ship’s Captain/Blum (6), Der Freischutz act II (6), Ten Daughters and no Husband/SuppÉ (7), The Baker’s Story/Conradie (1); The Princess of Trebizonde (9), Chilperic (9); The Grand Duchess (6), La Belle Helene (6).

1872 Italian opera (based on H M Theatre Co.) (9 days), Queen’s Theatre.

Offenbach etc (8 weeks: Gaiety Theatre co. 4 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Anna Bolena, La Sonnambula (2), Fidelio, Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Flauto Magico, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Barbe-Bleue (3), La Belle Helene (7), The Grand Duchess (3), Cox and Box (6), Robert the Devil (6), The Princess of Trebizonde (6), Off The Line/Clement W Scott (6).

1873 Special co. (7 weeks), Carl Rosa co. (4 weeks), London Opera Co. (2 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Italian opera (based on H M Theatre Co.) (16 days), English opera (1 week) Offenbach (5 days), Queen’s Theatre.

Offenbach (5 weeks inc. Gaiety Theatre co. 3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Faust & Marguerite (42), Maritana (6), The Rose of Castile (2), Lucrezia Borgia (2), Fra Diavolo (2), Il Trovatore (4), The Bohemian Girl (6), Satanella (3), The Marriage of Figaro, Faust/Gounod (2), Don Giovanni (3), La Fille de Madame Angot (23), La Favorita, Martha (2), Rigoletto, Oberon, Il Flauto Magico (2), L’Africaine, La Sonnambula, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbieri di Siviglia, Semiramide, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Grand Duchess (7), La Belle Helene (2), Barbe-Bleue (6), A Mere Blind/Offenbach (6), Cox & Box (10), Martha/Reese (6), The Dancing Quakers (5), Kissi-Kissi/Offenbach arr. Burnand (4), Do Re Mi Fa/Offenbach (6).

1874 Carl Rosa co. (16 days), H M Theatre Co. (2 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Crystal Palace English Opera Co. (4 weeks), Sims Reeves co. (3 days), Queen’s Theatre.

Metropolitan Opera Co. (cond. Cellier: 2 weeks), Emily Soldene co. (2 weeks), London Philharmonic Co. (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

Maritana  (5), The Bohemian Girl (8), The Lily of Killarney (5), Il Trovatore (5), Don Giovanni (2), Fra Diavolo, The Crown Diamonds (4), Faust/Gounod (4), Satanella, La Sonnambula (3), Dinorah, Il Talismano (3), Le Nozze di Figaro, Martha, Les Huguenots, Semiramide, Fidelio, The Rose of Castile (3), Lucia di Lammermoor, Lurline (2), The Beggars Opera, The Waterman, Guy Mannering, Cox & Box (12), The Contrabandista (6), La Fille de Madame Angot (12), Genevieve de Brabant (6).

1875 Carl Rosa Opera (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

H M Theatre Co. (5 days), Queen’s Theatre.

Various incl. Royalty Co. Kate Santley Opera co., Mme Dolaro Op. Co. (10 weeks), Royal Italian Opera (1 week), Prince’s Theatre (aka Prince’s Opera House).

The Marriage of Figaro (2), Fra Diavolo (2), Faust/Gounod, Il Trovatore (3), The Bohemian Girl (4), Maritana (4), The Siege of Rochelle (2), Zampa (2), Semiramide, Rigoletto, Der Freischutz, Les Huguenots, Don Giovanni (2), The Sultan of Mocha (?15), La Fille de Madame Angot (9), The Grand Duchess (12), La Perichole (9), Trial by Jury (9), The Council of Ten (6), The Tower of London (24), La Sonnambula, Lohengrin (2), Dinorah, La Figlia del Reggimento, Un Ballo in Maschera act 2.

1876 Carl Rosa Opera (4 weeks), D’Oyly Carte co. (1 week), Italian opera (based on H M Theatre Co.) (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Special co. (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Various incl. Campobello Opera Co. (9 weeks), D’Oyly Carte co. (6 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Zampa (4), Faust/Gounod (2), The Lily of Killarney (4), The Bohemian Girl (5), The Water Carrier (3),  Fra Diavolo, Il Trovatore (4), Der Freischutz (2), The Porter of Havre, Maritana, The Grand Duchess (6), Les Huguenots (2), Don Giovanni (2), Martha, Norma, Pauline, Fidelio, The Flying Dutchman, Faust & Marguerite (6), The Sultan of Mocha (18), Trial by Jury (28), GiroflÉ-Girofla (12), Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Flauto Magico, Gugliemo Tell, La Traviata, The Duke’s Daughter (2), La Perichole (2), La Fille de Madame Angot (6), Genevieve de Brabant (3), Chilperic (2),  The Big Judicial Separation Suit, Princess Toto (6), Cattarina (6), Nell Gwynne (24).

1877 Grand Duchess Opera Co. (1 week), R W South’s Opera Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Rose Hersee English Opera Co. (2 weeks), Queen’s Theatre.

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (11 days), Prince’s Theatre.

The Grand Duchess (4), La Fille de Madame Angot (4), La Belle Helene (4), Maritana (4), The Rose of Castile, The Lily of Killarney (2), The Bride of Venice, The Bohemian Girl (3), The Marriage of Figaro, The Huguenots, The Merry Wives of Windsor (3), Robin Hood, Satanella, Faust, The Crown Diamonds.

1878 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Italian opera (1 week), Rose Hersee & Walsham English Opera Co. (2 weeks), Queen’s Theatre.

Various (6 weeks incl. The Comedy Opera Co. 1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

The Lily of Killarney (4), Faust/Gounod (3), Maritana (6), The Golden Cross, The Flying Dutchman, The Bohemian Girl (6), The Huguenots (4), Il Trovatore (3), Lurline (3), The Merry Wives of Windsor (2), La Sonnambula (3), Linda di Chamonix, Ruy Blas, Der Freischutz, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Flauto Magico, Norma, Martha, Fra Diavolo, Belladonna (6), The Sultan of Mocha (6), The Sorceror (14), Trial by Jury (10), La Perichole (6), H M S Pinafore (4).

1879 Special co. (5 weeks), Pyatt’s Ballad Opera (3 days), Theatre Royal.

Italian opera (Mapleson co.) (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Various (4 weeks), Pattie Laverne’s Opera Co. (2 weeks), Cave-Ashton Co. (1 week), Emily Soldene Co. (4 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Faust & Marguerite (10), Madame Favart (6), The Beggars Opera, The Lancashire Witches/Stanislaus (18), Carmen (14), Faust/Gounod, Le Nozze di Figaro, Fidelio, The Sultan of Mocha (12), Babiole (18), Il Trovatore, The Lily of Killarney, Maritana, Martha, Fra Diavolo, Les Cloches de Corneville (14), Genevieve de Brabant (5),  La Fille de Madame Angot, Chilperic, H M S Pinafore (12), Maritana, Piccolino (2), The Bohemian Girl (3), The Lily of Killarney (2), Mignon (3), The Taming of the Shrew.

1880 Various (3 weeks), Frederick Archer English Opera Co. (5 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Children’s co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Special co. (2 weeks), Queen’s Theatre.

Various (3 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera co. (3 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), Soldene Opera Co. (3 weeks), special co. (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Maritana (3), Il Trovatore (2), The Crown Diamonds, Fra Diavolo (2), Faust/Gounod (2), La Sonnambula (3), The Lily of Killarney (3), Irene (3), The Sultan of Mocha (18), La Traviata, Faust & Marguerite (6), The Children’s Pinafore (6), The King’s Dragoons/Crook (12), Turn Out Again (12), Les Cloches de Corneville (12), Madame Favart (6), Carmen (2), Mignon, The Taming of the Shrew, Lucia di Lammermoor (2), H M S Pinafore (12), The Sorceror (12), Naval Cadets (6), La Fille de Madame Angot (3), Chilperic, Genevieve de Brabant, Carmen (4), La Fille du Tambour Major (12), Mignon (2), The Bohemian Girl, Zampa, Stradella, The Cadi (2).

1881 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Various (5 weeks), Queen’s Theatre.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), Special co. (2 weeks), various (1 week), children’s  co. (2 weeks), Wyndham & D’Oyly Carte Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

Carmen (2), Mignon (2), The Lily of Killarney, The Bohemian Girl (2), Lohengrin (3), Faust/Gounod (2), The Princess of Trebizonde (6), The Grand Duchess (6), Il Trovatore,  La Traviata, Maritana (2), Lucrezia Borgia, La Sonnambula, The Curse of the Crusoes/Williams (6), Leah the Jewish Maiden (6), The Pirates of Penzance (24), La Fille du Tambour Major (6), Les Cloches de Corneville (12), The Children’s Pinafore (6), The Children’s Cloches de Corneville (6), Olivette/Andran (6).

1882 Various (3 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (5 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Eldred’s Opera Bouffe Co. (2 weeks), Royal English Opera (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Special co. (3 weeks), Kate Santley Opera Co. (3 weeks), Emily Soldene Opera Co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

The Lancashire Witches (12), Patience (18), The Pirates of Penzance (6), Les Manteaux Noirs (6), The Grand Duchess (4), La Fille de Madame Angot (4), The Princess of Trebizonde (6), Faust/Gounod (2), Maritana (3), The Huguenots, The Piper of Hamelyn/Nessler (2), Il Trovatore (2), Les Cloches de Corneville (18), La Mascotte (12), Genevieve de Brabant, The Wicklow Rose/Allen (2), Carmen, The Merry Wives of Windsor (2), The Bohemian Girl (3), Mignon, The Rose of Castile (2), Moro/Balfe, Fidelio, The Flying Dutchman, La Dame Blanche (2), Lucrezia Borgia, Boccaccio (6).

1883 D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (6 weeks), Italian opera (2 weeks), Theatre Royal.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Royal English Opera Co. (1 week), Florence St John Opera Co (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Iolanthe (24), Patience (12), Il Trovatore (2), Rigoletto (2), Lucrezia Borgia, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata (3), Faust/Gounod (4), Ernani, La Sonnambula, Rip van Winkle (12), Estrella/Searelle (6), Mignon (3), Esmeralda (2), The Bohemian Girl (2), Carmen (3), Maritana, The Piper of Hamelyn (2), The Lily of Killarney, Madame Favart (4), Barbe-Bleue (4), Lurette (4).

1884 D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (8 weeks), Frank Emery’s Comedy Opera Co. (1), Theatre Royal.

Royal English Opera Co. (1 week), Tanner’s English Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (5 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (1 week), Shiel Barry & W Hogarth Co. (1 week), Mme Soldene Opera Co. (3 weeks), Alexander Henderson’s Opera Co. [Van Biene & Lingard] (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

Royal English Opera Co. (1 week), Special co. (1 week), St James”s Theatre.

Princess Ida (24), Iolanthe (18), La Vie (6), Patience (8), The Pirates of Penzance (2), HMS Pinafore (2), Il Trovatore (5), Maritana (5), The Crown Diamonds , The Marriage of Figaro (3), The Lily of Killarney (3), Faust/Gounod (3), Fra Diavolo (2), Carmen (7), Esmeralda (3), Colomba, The Bohemian Girl (4), Mignon (2), Lucia di Lammermoor, Les Cloches de Corneville (6), Chilperic (3), La Fille de Madame Angot (3), Olivette (6), Dick (6), The Canterbury Pilgrims, The Beggar Student (3), Esmeralda, La Favorita, Mignon, Flaka (6), Estrella (5).

1885 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Repertory Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Children’s Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), Cornelie D’Anka Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Tanner’s English Opera Co. (3 weeks), Various (5 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (1 week), Various (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Van Biene & Lingard (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Royal English Opera Co. (1 week), St James’s Theatre.

Carmen (2), The Beggar Student, Il Trovatore, The Bohemian Girl (7), Mefistofele (2), Esmeralda, Mignon, The Lily of Killarney (4), Faust/Gounod, HMS Pinafore (4), Patience (6), Children’s Pirates of Penzance (6), The Mikado (14), The Sorceror (13), The Pirates of Penzance, The Grand Duchess (13), Mme Favart (3), The Crown Diamonds (2), La Sonnambula, The Marriage of Figaro (3), Faust/Gounod (2), Peter the Shipwright (5), Don Giovanni, Fra Diavolo, Satanella, Maritana, Olivette (6), Les Cloches de Corneville (6), Children’s La Fille de Madame Angot (6), Trial by Jury (6), The Bachelors/Taylor (6), Mignon, Manon (2), Esmeralda, Falka (12), The Silver Shield (6).

1886 Carl Rosa (2 weeks), D’Oyly Carte’s New York Co. (2 weeks), Violet Cameron Opera Co. (1 week), H M Theatre Co. (2 weeks), Captain Bainbridge’s Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Leslie’s English Opera Co. (1 week), Various (2 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

J W Turner’s English Opera Co. (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Shiel Harry & Hogarth’s Comic Opera Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Van Biene & Lingard (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

Carmen, Mignon (3), Ruy Blas (2), The Bohemian Girl (6), The Lily of Killarney (2), Faust/Gounod (4), Esmeralda, Fadette, Nadeshda (2), Maritana (3), Il Trovatore (2), The Mikado (12), The Commodore (6), La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lohengrin (2), Lucia di Lammermoor (2), La Sonnambula (2), La Favorita, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Martha, The Beggar Student (6), A Masked Ball, Der Freischutz, The Marriage of Figaro (2), La Fille de Madame Angot (6), Indiana/Audran (6), Les Cloches de Corneville (6), Falka (12), Carmen (3), Il Trovatore (2), Don Giovanni (2), Nadeshda, Fadette, Fra Diavolo (2).

1887Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), Edgar Bruce’s Company (1 week), Various (2 weeks), H M Theatre Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

J W Turner Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (6 weeks), Various (5 weeks), Van Biene & Lingard’s Co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Barry & Hogarth’s Co. (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

Carmen (9), Maritana (6), Lohengrin (2), The Bohemian Girl (8), Don Giovanni, Esmeralda, Faust/Gounod (6), Nordisa/Corder (10), The Lily of Killarney, Martha, Il Trovatore (3), Mignon (2), La Bearnaise (6), The Beggar Student (9), The Sultan of Mocha (3), Ernani, Don Giovanni, Il Flauto Magico, Fra Diavolo (2), The Mikado (15), Ruddigore (18), Dorothy (18), Pepita (12), Indiana (6), Patience (3), Lucia di Lammermoor, The Beautiful Galatea (2), Masaniello (2), Les Cloches de Corneville (6).

1888 

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (3 weeks), Royal Italian Opera (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Russian National Opera Co. (3 weeks), Barry & Hogarth’s Co. (2 weeks), J W Turner’s Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), H J Leslie’s Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1 week), Van Biene & Lingard’s Co. (2 weeks), Prince”s Theatre.

The Marriage of Figaro (6), The Bohemian Girl (4), The Beautiful Galatea, Nordisa, Maritana (3), Carmen (3), Masaniello (2), Robert the Devil (6), Don Giovanni (2), Faust/Gounod (3), Aida, Ernani, Lohengrin, Il Trovatore, Les Huguenots, A Life for the Czar (6), The Demon (10), Rigoletto (4), Mazeppa (4), Les Cloches de Corneville (4), The Gypsy Gabriel (2), Robin Hood (2), H M S Pinafore (2), The Mikado (10), Patience (2), The Pirates of Penzance (2), Dorothy (6), The Yeomen of the Guard (11), La Juive (2), Mignon, Falka (6), Les Manteaux Noirs (6), La Serenata/Batchelder & Gregg.

1889 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), Van Biene & Lingard’s Co. (1 week), Special co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

St John Opera Co. (2 weeks), Horace Guy’s Co. (1 week), Various (3 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

Valentine Smith & Co. (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Carl Rosa Light Opera Co. (2 weeks), H J Leslie’s Opera Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (3 weeks), Various (3 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1 week), Van Biene & Lingard’s Co. (3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Robert the Devil (2), The Puritan’s Daughter (2), Mignon (2), The Bohemian Girl (14), Star of the North (14), The Jewess (3), Faust/Gounod (1), The Marriage of Figaro, Maritana (7), Esmeralda, The Old Guard (6), Nanon (6), Delia (6), Carina (6), Fritz (6), Les Manteaux Noirs (6), Paul Jones (12), Dorothy (12), The Yeomen of the Guard (18), Doris (12), Carmen (2), Lucia di Lammermoor, The Brigands (18), Iduna/Behrend.

1890 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (5 weeks), Arthur Roberts’ Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte American Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Light Opera Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Valentine Smith & Co. (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

H J Leslie Opera Co. (2 weeks), Carrie Coste & Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Light Opera Co. (1 week), Special co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Prince”s Theatre.

Romeo and Juliet (8), Star of the North (4), Faust/Gounod (5), Lurline (6), The Bohemian Girl (5), Mignon, Maritana (2), Carmen (6), Lohengrin, The Lily of Killarney (2), The Gondoliers (30), Guy Fawkes (6), The Mikado (3), The Yeomen of the Guard (3), Marjorie (6), The Red Hussar (6), Nadgy (6), Paul Jones (6), Paola (6), Dorothy (6), La Traviata (2), Thorgrim, Martha, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Marriage of Figaro, La Sonnambula.

1891 

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (5 weeks), Horace Lingard’s Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (5 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Various (4 weeks), Arthur Rousbey’s Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

Carl Rosa Carmen Co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Light Opera Co. (1 week), Various (4 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1 week), Lingard’s Co. (1 week), Prince’s Theatre.

The Daughter of the Regiment (11), The Huguenots (5), Carmen (9), The Bohemian Girl (7), Mignon (3), Lohengrin, Faust/Gounod (4), Romeo and Juliet (2), The Talisman (4), La Traviata, Falka (6), The Mikado (8), The Yeomen of the Guard (5), The Gondoliers (6), The Match Girl (6), Iolanthe (6), In Summer Days (12), La Fille de Madame Angot (6), Martha (6), Marjorie (12), L’Enfant Prodigue (12), Fra Diavolo, The Black Domino, La Cigale (12), Fauvette (6), Maritana, Il Trovatore.

1892 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (7 weeks), Special co. (1 week), Georgina Burns’ Co. (1 week), Horace Lingard’s Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Various (3 weeks), W Hogarth’s Co. (1 week), J W Turner’s Grand Opera Co. (3 weeks), Arthur Rousbey’s Opera Co. (2 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

Various (5 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Valentine Smith Grand Opera Co. (1 week), St James’s Theatre.

Special co. (1 week) Palace Theatre.

Rustic Chivalry (11), Fra Diavolo (2), Romeo and Juliet, The Daughter of the Regiment (8), The Prophet, Carmen (3), The Bohemian Girl (6), Don Giovanni (2), Aida (3), The Mikado (9), The Match Girl (2), The Yeomen of the Guard (3), Iolanthe (5), The Waterman (6), The Vicar of Bray (12), Cinderella/Rossini (6), The Gondoliers (4), Patience (4), Falka (3), Pepita (2), The Old Guard, The Sultan of Mocha (18), The Princess of Trebizonde (6), Les Cloches de Corneville (6), Martha (2), The Bride of Lammermoor, Il Trovatore (2), La Sonnambula (2), Maritana (5), Faust/Gounod (4), Un Ballo in Maschera (3), The Mountebanks (18), Brother George (6), Djamileh (2), L’Amico Fritz (4), La Cigale (6), The Blind Beggars (6).

1893 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (6 weeks), Van Biene’s Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (4 weeks), Horace Lingard’s Comic Opera Co. (1 week), Royal Italian Opera (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Arthur Rousbey’s Co. (1 week), Queen’s Theatre.

Various (2 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), Prince”s Theatre.

Djamileh (4), Rustic Chivalry (17), Aida, La Traviata, Carmen (4), L’Amico Fritz (11), Faust/Gounod (5), The Bohemian Girl (8), The Daughter of the Regiment (2), Maritana, Tannhauser (9), Fra Diavolo, The Postillion of Lonjumeau (3), Il Trovatore (2), Otello/Verdi (2), The Lily of Killarney, The Golden Web (9), Blue-Eyed Susan (6), The Gondoliers (2), Patience (2), The Mikado (2), The Pirates of Penzance (3), Iolanthe (2), The Yeomen of the Guard, Falka (4), Pepita (2), Orfeo (5), Pagliacci (6), Lohengrin, Carmen, Philemon et Baucis, I Rantzau (3), Les Huguenots, Haddon Hall (6), The Vicar of Bray (6), The Mountebanks (6), Haddon Hall (6), Nitouche (6).

1894 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (6 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (10 weeks), Horace Lingard’s Co. (1 week), Special co. (1 week), Royal Italian Opera Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Arthur Rousbey Grand Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Special co. (1 week), St James’s Theatre.

Faust/Gounod (5), Carmen (7), Lohengrin (6), Fra Diavolo (3), Romeo and Juliet, The Daughter of the Regiment (7), Rienzi (5), Faust/Berlioz (5), Lucia di Lammermoor (3), Orpheus and Eurydice (5), Rustic Chivalry (4), The Bohemian Girl (7), Il Trovatore, L’Amico Fritz, Tannhauser (5), The Gondoliers (5), H M S Pinafore (7), The Mikado (7), The Pirates of Penzance (2), The Yeomen of the Guard (4), Patience, Iolanthe (2), Utopia Ltd (24), Brother Pelican (6), Trial by Jury (4), The Gaiety Girl (6), Falstaff (2), Les Huguenots, La Navarraise, Die Meistersinger, Cavalleria Rusticana (3), Pagliacci (2), Martha, Maritana (3), Esmeralda (2), At Santa Lucia/Tasca (2), The Merry Wives of Windsor, La Fille de Madame Angot (3).

1895 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (6 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (2 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Repertory Co. (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Arthur Rousbey”s Co. (3 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

Special co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Faust/Gounod (4), Carmen (5), Martha (2), Esmeralda (2), Der Freischutz (3), Hansel and Gretel (16), The Bohemian Girl (5), Tannhauser (3), Bastien et Bastienne (3), Maritana (5), Il Trovatore (3), Ivanhoe (7), The Daughter of the Regiment (4), Orpheus and Eurydice (4), Pagliacci (6), The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Chieftain (8), Cox and Box (12), The Vicar of Bray (6), The Pirates of Penzance, Trial by Jury, The Sorceror (4), Iolanthe (3), Patience, H M S Pinafore, The Mikado (4), The Yeomen of the Guard (3), The Gondoliers (3), Utopia Ltd (4), The Lily of Killarney (2), Cavalleria Rusticana (2), The Beautiful Galatea, The Marriage of Figaro (3), Love and War (6), The Flying Dutchman (4), Son and Stranger (3).

1896 Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Repertory Co. (3 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (3 weeks), special co. (1 night), Theatre Royal.

Arthur Rousbey Opera Co. (3 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Tannhauser (10), Mignon (4), The Flying Dutchman (3), Faust/Gounod (4), The Bohemian Girl (4), La Vivandiere/Godard (4), Ivanhoe (2), Maritana (4), Son & Stranger, Rustic Chivalry (2), Carmen (3), Lohengrin, The Meistersingers (4), The Mikado (5), Iolanthe (3), Princess Ida (2), The Yeomen of the Guard (3), Patience (2), The Gondoliers (3), Trial by Jury, The Pirates of Penzance, H M S Pinafore, The Grand Duke (16), Utopia Ltd (7), Shamus O’Brien/Stanford, The Lily of Killarney (3),  Il Trovatore, The Daughter of the Regiment (2), The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni (2), Pagliacci, Die Walkure [company premiere] (2), Romeo & Juliet.

1897 J W Turner Opera Co. (1 week), Children’s co., Regent Theatre, Salford.

D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (3 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (3 weeks), John Tiller Opera Co. (1 week), Theatre Royal.

Arthur Rousbey Opera Co. (4 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Il Trovatore (5), Maritana (8), The Bohemian Girl (6), The Daughter of the Regiment (3), The Waterman, The Mikado (6), The Yeomen of the Guard (5), His Majesty (2), The Meistersingers (2), Carmen (5), Tannhauser (6), Don Giovanni (2), Romeo & Juliet, Faust/Gounod (7), Mignon (2), The Valkyries, Rustic Chivalry (4), Pagliacci (4), Robert the Devil, The Bohemians [UK premiere] (4), Children’s Les Cloches de Corneville (6), La Poupee/Glover (6), The Gondoliers (3), The Pirates of Penzance (2), The Sorceror (2),

Lucia di Lammermoor, Martha (2), Le Villi (2), The Lily of Killarney (2), Siegfried [company premiere].

1898 J W Turner Opera Co. (2 weeks), Regent Theatre, Salford.

Redmondt Opera Co., (1 night), Tiller Opera Co. (1 week), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (4 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (3 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Special co. (3 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Arthur Rousbey Opera Co. (2 weeks), Queen’s Theatre.

Moody Manners Opera Co. (2 weeks), Comedy Theatre.

The Rose of Castille (2), The Bohemian Girl (9), The Daughter of the Regiment (4), Maritana (8), Faust/Gounod (9), Il Trovatore (8), Hansel & Gretel, The King’s Sweetheart/Glover (5), Cavalleria Rusticana (2), Pagliacci (2), A Poet’s Dream, Carmen (3), The Martyr of Antioch (2), Tannhauser (4), Tristan and Isolde (3), Son and Stranger, Mignon (2), Lohengrin, Diarmid/Hamish McCunn, La Poupee/Glover (18), The Mikado (5), The Gondoliers (6), Iolanthe (2), The Yeomen of the Guard (4), Utopia Ltd (2), The Pirates of Penzance, The Sorceror, Patience (2), The Lily of Killarney (4), The Puritan’s Daughter (3),

1899 J W Turner Opera Co. (3 weeks), National Grand Opera Co. (1 week), Regent Theatre, Salford.

National Grand Opera Co. (1 week), D’Oyly Carte Repertory Co. (3 weeks), D’Oyly Carte Opera Co. (2 weeks), Carl Rosa Opera Co. (2 weeks), Theatre Royal.

Moody Manners Opera Co., Comedy Theatre (3 weeks), William Hogarth’s Opera Co. (1 week), Comedy Theatre.

Special companies (5 weeks), Prince’s Theatre.

Faust/Gounod (11), The Daughter of the Regiment (2), Il Trovatore (8), Maritana (7), The Lily of Killarney (5), The Bohemian Girl (7), The Rose of Castille, Cavalleria Rusticana (3), Tannhauser (4), Pagliacci (2), Hansel & Gretel (2), Don Giovanni, The Puritan’s Daughter (2), The Amber Witch (4), The Yeomen of the Guard (2), The Gondoliers (3), H M S Pinafore (3), Iolanthe (2), Utopia Ltd, Princess Ida, The Mikado (3), The Lucky Star/Caryll (7), Carmen (2), Lohengrin (2), San Lin, Les Cloches de Corneville (6), Falka (6), La Poupee (6), Haddon Hall (7), Trial by Jury, Paul Jones (6), Ma Mie Rosette (14), Masaniello (3).

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[1] My article in the Manchester Evening News of 26th April, 2005, headlined “British opera that time forgot”, is the only exception of which I am aware.

[2] Nigel Burton, New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992, vol. 2, 1302-3.

[3] Michael Balfe (1808-1870) was an Irish violinist, basso cantante, conductor and composer, studying in Rome, Milan and Paris. His career as a composer of English opera spans from 1835 to the end of his life: among his greatest successes were The Siege of Rochelle, Keolanthe, The Bohemian Girl, The Rose of Castille and Satanella and his last work was the through-sung Italian opera, Il Talismano.

[4] Vincent Wallace (1812-1865) was an Irish violinist, pianist and composer, friend of Berlioz, and chiefly known for Maritana, Lurline and The Amber Witch (premiered by Hallé at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, in 1861).

[5] Musical Times, April 1966, vol. 107, 307-10. This scene, “strongly dramatical in expression”, was encored on the first night, despite its strain upon the singers, according to the Manchester Guardian (15th August, 1854). The overture, act III quintet and act IV quartet were also much admired.

[6] Princess’s Theatre, London, 1846. It was revived at Manchester Theatre Royal under Loder in 1851 and at Covent Garden in 1860. Materials including a vocal score are in the Carl Rosa Archive in Liverpool Libraries. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is a hybrid opera-ballet, with the second half mainly terpsichorean.

[7] Personal communication, 2005.

[8] 1813-1887: Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Professor of Music at Cambridge, friend and biographer of Mendelssohn, he edited Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time and his English operas included Robin Hood (premiered by Hallé at Her Majesty’s in 1860), She Stoops to Conquer (probably the only opera to include a staged presentation of a cricket match) and Helvellyn (set in the Lake District at the time of the Industrial Revolution).

[9] Quoted by Henry C Bannister in his George Alexander Macfarren (London, 1891).

[10] The third theatre of that name built in Manchester.

[11] Soprano (1818-1908), the fourth daughter of Vincent Novello, the organist, conductor, composer and publisher. She made her debut at Windsor in 1833, married and temporarily withdrew from public life in 1843, returning in 1850 and becoming the favourite of the Crystal Palace Handel festivals.

[12] John Sims Reeves (1818-1900), the favourite tenor of the Victorian public and known for his singing of Tom Bowling and Come into the Garden, Maud, made his debut in 1839 in Newcastle upon Tyne, and at La Scala, Milan, in 1846. He sang at Drury Lane in 1847 under Berlioz’ baton and subsequently on practically every English stage.

[13] They included the famous bass Carl Formes (1815-1889 -- a particular favourite in London for his Caspar in Der Freischütz) and the conductor “Herr Anschuetz”, presumably Carl Anschütz, the German who by 1860 was enjoying a successful career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Anschütz had conducted in a German opera series at Drury Lane shortly before (Musical World, 10th September, 1853). Formes’ debut was as Sarastro in Cologne in 1842, and in 1849 in London. He was evidently a character. Santley: Student and Singer: The Reminiscences of Charles Santley (London, 1893, 289-291) describes him as a tall man with something of Baron Munchausen about him. He claimed, inter alia, once to have killed a grizzly bear with his hunting knife alone, to have played a key role in a victory in the American Civil War, and to have saved a ship in a storm on the Atlantic by taking the wheel when a wave dislodged its regular occupant. He was also, Santley says (citing the evidence of Madame Rudersdorff -- see note below), a genuine crack shot. The Manchester English season featured Louisa Pyne and William Harrison, later the leaders and managers of the New English National Opera Company (see note below).

[14] With a ballet in the second act and a tarantella in the third, it put over 100 on stage in its crowd scenes. The Manchester Guardian admired an “energetic and wild” brigands’ chorus (22nd and 26th October, 1853). It included a Mr A Harris and Mrs J Wood among the performers.

[15] Described as “the Royal Opera”, the company had a chorus of 30 based on Drury Lane and Covent Garden singers, and a ballet. Smaller groups also performed in Liverpool (Musical World, 9th and 23rd September, 1854).

[16] 1822-1882: Ukrainian-born German soprano, she made her debut at Karlsruhe in 1841 and Drury Lane in 1854, after which she appeared frequently at Covent Garden and other UK theatres and concert halls.

[17] Soprano (1800-1865). She sang in the Philharmonic Society premiere of Beethoven’s ninth symphony in 1825, and in the premiere of Elijah in 1846. It was in competition with her, in Manchester, that Maria Malibran Garcia so over-exerted herself that she died shortly afterwards, in 1836 -- or so the story goes.

[18] Tenor (1825-85). Born in Hungary, he made his English debut in 1851.

[19] Hallé ed. Hallé: Life and Letters, 1895,120-122.

[20] E J Broadfield: Sir Charles Hallé: A sketch of his career as a musician, 1890, 44-7.

[21] The high (or low) point seems to have been on 4th December, when the originally advertised Zauberflöte was changed on the morning to Robert Le Diable, and then at the time of performance to Lucrezia Borgia: it did not start until 8.30pm, and everyone present was given a ticket for another night by way of compensation. Clearly there were plenty of spare tickets to go round (Manchester Guardian, 6th December, 1854).

[22] Possibly using the 1807 building which had previously been the second Theatre Royal and for a time the Queen’s Theatre.

[23] Manchester Guardian, 25th October, 8th and 18th November.

[24] Hallé ed. Hallé, 1896, 354 (Hallé ed. Kennedy, 1972, 151-2).

[25] Musical World, 23rd September; Manchester Courier, 11th November.

[26] Hallé mistakenly says the season was “in the winter of 1855” and this has usually been corrected to read “1854-55”, but in fact it was all over on 16th December, 1854. Compare Hallé ed. Hallé, 1896, 120-122; Hallé ed. Kennedy, 1972, 130; Broadfield and Fuller-Maitland in Grove, 1906; Kennedy, 1960: The Hallé Tradition, 28; Kersting, 1986: Karl Halle: Ein Europaischer Musiker, 30.

[27] Later to be associated with the Crystal Palace opera company and to help save the fledgling Carl Rosa company at its birth in Manchester in 1873 -- see Ward in Manchester Sounds, vol. 5, 17-18.

[28] Manchester Guardian review, 15th August, 1855.

[29] The sister of Louisa Pyne (1832-1904), a celebrated soprano. Louisa and Susan were the elder siblings, by about 20 years, of J Kendrick Pyne, the organist of Manchester Cathedral and Town Hall, who died in 1938.

[30] Manchester Guardian, 12th April, 1862.

[31] The episode also formed the basis for La Nonne Sanglante, the opera written by Scribe, begun by Berlioz and finished by Gounod, which had considerable success in its day.

[32]  1792-1873: Dramatist and reader at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, he also authored Balfe’s The Siege of Rochelle, Keolanthe and The Maid of Honour, Wallace’s Lurline, Macfarren’s She Stoops to Conquer and co-authored Wallace’s Maritana.

[33] George Biddlecombe: English Opera from 1834 to 1864, Garland, 1994, 93-8.

[34] In a season given by the “New National English Opera Company” (led by J H Tully), which also included Bishop’s Guy Mannering.