Opera Scotland

Burns-Crotty Opera

This company was set up in 1891-2 by the soprano Georgina Burns and her husband, baritone Leslie Crotty, both long-term principals with Carl Rosa. They traded initially under the name 'The Georgina Burns Light Opera Company', before giving the husband equal prominence in the title a few months later.

Musical control was in the hands of a very young Henry Wood, whose parents were friends of the Crottys of long standing.

In his memoirs Wood describes how repertoire was intended to avoid any conflict with Carl Rosa tours, and so they revived Rossini's Cinderella, at that time a long-neglected work. The version accepted in Britain used a mid-century vintage translation by Rophino Lacy as adapted by T W Robertson. This had taken Rossini and Ferretti's scenario far claser to the British pantomime tradition, bringing in several new characters. Wood made some further changes to the structure. He conducted the early weeks of the tour with some success. Wood was eventually invited to take up a new role in London, conducting the first British performances of Eugene Onegin. The Crottys released him on the understanding that he find and supervise a successor, who turned out to be Eugene Goossens.

The tour continued for many months, with a single Saturday night performance of The Bohemian Girl added to the Rossini.