Opera Scotland

Maritana 1891Arthur Rousbey's English Opera Company

Read more about the opera Maritana

Arthur Rousbey spent a decade as a singer, with D'Oyly Carte and other companies before setting up his own touring group. It operated successfully for several seasons. The company operated at a lower level than Carl Rosa, marketing 'Popular Opera at Popular Prices'. The disadvantage of that was that he employed only a very small nucleus of musicians and was at the mercy of the local theatres he visited. The pit bands at these establishments were notoriously variable in quality, though his Scottish venues, seem to have been among the better ones.

He was able to employ some good young performers, including the bass Arthur Winckworth, an important figure in British opera for the next thirty years. One conductor around this time was a young Henry Wood, who, in his autobiography written over forty years later, gives a distinctly jaundiced recollection of Rousbey's abilities, both as singer and manager. Eugene Goossens II also gained experience with this company, and Rousbey himself took to conducting, later on.

The repertoire was also popular, and this week in Glasgow began with Maritana (repeated on Thursday), then The Rose of Castille, and Bohemian Girl (on Wednesday and Saturday). The only non-British work was Trovatore on the Friday. However a few weeks earlier, in Dundee, single performances of Maritana and Bo Girl had been given in tandem with Martha, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto and Faust.