Opera Scotland

Princess Ida 1918D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Read more about the opera Princess Ida

Princess Ida received a single performance in each venue on this visit to Aberdeen and Dundee, being played on Friday of the first week.

Cast changes were necessitated by the virulence of the flu epidemic ravaging the country. Edward McKeown and Ella Quartly had both dropped out of The Gondoliers two nights earlier. The lead tenor was substituted at the following night's double bill of Trial and Pinafore, and continued unwell for the rest of the visit. It is therefore unlikely that Quartly had recovered, but her role is not of sufficient significance to merit mention in the press.

It is interesting that the replacement of the lead tenor was not done as a direct substitution, with James Turnbull taking over as Hilarion, but rather by means of a rotation, so that Hugh Blackmore, cast as Cyril for the tour, moved over to Hilarion, leaving Turnbull to come in to the comic part.

Performances in Edinburgh and Glasgow to be confirmed.

The complete cast is taken from a programme for Aberdeen held in the Dundee City Library (in a collection of documents left by James Buchan, the long-serving critic of the Dundee Courier). Amendments for the performance a fortnight later in Dundee are gathered from the Dundee Advertiser and Dundee Courier & Argus.