Opera Scotland

Gioconda 1903Moody-Manners Opera Company

Read more about the opera Gioconda

This visit by the Moody-Manners company provided the belated Scottish premiere of Ponchielli's gloriously tuneful melodrama. It also provided a meaty leading role for a rare Scottish appearance by Blanche Marchesi.

Cast details (containing all the major roles) are from a review in The Scotsman.

 

 

The 1903 Moody-Manners tours of Scotland included two weeks in March, one in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow, with the same in October, plus a few days in Dunfermline.

In the spring the company gave the Scottish premiere of La gioconda (one performance only), plus a rare revival of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.  In the autumn they gave a new piece, McAlpin's The Cross and the Crescent.

The schedule was as follows:-

Edinburgh w/c 9 March: Mon Tannhäuser;  Tue 10 Romeo and Juliet;  Wed 11 Faust;  Thu 12 Cav & Pag;  Fri 13 Gioconda;  Sat 14 mat Cav & Pag;  Sat 14 eve Bohemian Girl.

Glasgow w/c 16 March: Mon Pag & Cav;  Tue 17 Tannhäuser;  Wed 18 Trovatore;  Thu 19 Faust;  Fri 20 Romeo and Juliet;  Sat 21 mat Cav & Pag;  Sat 21 eve Bohemian Girl.

Glasgow w/c 5 October: Mon Faust;  Tue 6 Tannhäuser;  Wed 7 Carmen;  Thu 8 Cross and Crescent;  Fri 9 Lohengrin;  Sat 10 mat Carmen;  Sat 10 eve Bohemian Girl.

Edinburgh w/c 12 October: Mon Faust;  Tue 13 Tannhäuser;  Wed 14 Carmen;  Thu 15 Cross and Crescent;  Fri 16 Lohengrin;  Sat 17 mat Carmen;  Sat 17 eve Bohemian Girl.

Dunfermline (Queen Margaret Hall) w/c 26 October: Mon Maritana;  Tue 27 Faust;  Wed 28 Bohemian Girl.