Opera Scotland

Mignon 1923Carl Rosa Opera Company

Read more about the opera Mignon

A review in the Scotsman (14 April) noted that the opera "still holds an undiminished hold upon the public affections, and the performance of the opera last night attracted the largest audience which has been seen in the Lyceum this week."  The reviewer was unable to fault the performance, praising the cast -"as good a cast as has been seen in the opera in Edinburgh for a number of years, Mr Charles Webber conducted, and brought out all the charm of a work in which every detail is beautiful and significant."

Cast details have been drawn from a programme in Edinburgh Central library (for 13 April), and from  the preview of the fifth week in the Glasgow Herald of Tuesday, 20 March and a review in the Aberdeen Press and Journal of the 3 April performance.  Two of the parts are also mentioned in a review of the previous week in the Greenock Herald of Saturday, 17 February.  The Scotsman attended the same Glasgow performance (19 March) that the Herald had previewed, and, in a brief notice, lists the six principals and emphasises that the performance was excellent, with a large and enthusiastic audience. Company information is from a programme for w/c 5 March in the collection of the V&A, London.

The Glasgow Herald writer is clearly fond of the work, which had been a mainstay of their programme since the Carl Rosa had begun touring in Britain. ''Last night the Theatre Royal was well filled at the performance of Mignon. The unfailing popularity of Ambrose Thomas's work is not difficult to understand. There is a charm in the music which loses none of its freshness by repeated hearing, so long as the singers have the right quality of voices to meet the demands of the composer.'' Notwithstanding this enthusiasm, the work was now fading from the repertoire and would not be toured again. An interesting feature of the schedule is how many changes of performer there were - three tenors following one another as Wilhelm, while Gladys Parr, having sung the trouser role for several years, at last played the lead.

This charming opera seems by this time to have gradually fallen out of favour, although it did continue to appear on one more Scottish tour.

For the full schedule of the Royal Carl Rosa's 1923 Scottish tour, see under the entries for Aïda, Maritana, Lohengrin, Carmen, Tales of Hoffmann or Bohemian Girl.