The Carl Rosa's Scottish tour at the beginning of 1922 was an unusually long one with 21 different operas on display. If the seven renderings of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci are regarded as fourteen shows, that totals 105 performances (instead of 98) over the fourteen weeks from 16 January to 22 April embracing five venues. It began in the north-east, with one week in Perth, two in Aberdeen and one in Dundee. There followed an eight week stay in Glasgow, almost a northern headquarters for the company, and two final weeks in Edinburgh.
The most frequently performed operas in the season were Samson and Delilah (11), Carmen (9) and Madam Butterfly (9). Four works received only a single outing - The Valkyrie (in Aberdeen) and Lily of Killarney, Bohème and Tosca in Glasgow.
The first week commencing Monday, 16 January, in Perth's delightfully intimate Edwardian auditorium, ran in this order: Mon Carmen; Tue Tales of Hoffmann, Wed Maritana, Thu Samson and Delilah, Fri Cav & Pag, Sat mat Madam Butterfly, Sat eve Il Trovatore.
In Aberdeen there were changes. Cav & Pag were dropped briefly, but the expanded repertoire saw the introduction of Bohemian Girl, Faust and Mignon, as well as some larger-scale works by Verdi (Aïda) and Wagner (Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Valkyrie).
Dundee had not been visited since 1919 when Her Majesty's became a cinema, but the King's was now available, at least until 1928, when it, too, was acquired by a cinema company. The schedule for the week in Dundee was a fairly standard digest of the existing repertoire - Mon Faust, Tue Carmen, Wed Cav & Pag, Thu Samson and Delilah, Fri Tannhäuser, Sat Mat Madam Butterfly, and Sat Eve Trovatore.
With eight weeks to fill, it was inevitable that as well as nearly all of the above, a number of works would appear that were not seen elsewhere. These included Lily of Killarney, Rigoletto, Mastersingers, Bohème and Tosca.
Cast and comment relating to the last of these performances in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 19 April, is from the following day's Scotsman.
'For one reason or another, Lohengrin does not nowadays figure so prominently in the operatic repertory of this country as it did some thirty years ago, and within the last few years the opera has been heard so infrequently in Edinburgh that its performance at the Lyceum last night had something of the interest of a revival. There was an excellent rendering of the work, which met with its reward in a well-filled house.'
'The Lohengrin of Mr Gwynne Davies had many good qualities, and the Elsa of Miss Eva Turner was one of the best interpretations of a character which she has given in Edinburgh. She caught the right note of girlish exaltation, and the singing of the dream music in the first act, in particular, was full of charm.'
'Miss Doris Woodall was a strikingly dramatic Ortrud, and the Telramund of Mr Booth Hitchen, Mr Kingsley Lark as Henry the Fowler, and Mr Frederick Clendon as the Herald, were all impressive. Chorus and orchestra were, as usual, deserving of high praise, and the playing of the Prelude was particularly good. The opera was staged with the artistic finish which has come to be expected of the Carl Rosa Company as a matter of course. Mr Charles Webber conducted.'
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