Opera Scotland

Faust 1905Carl Rosa Opera Company

Read more about the opera Faust

The performance was reviewed in the Glasgow Herald (30 March).

"The production of Faust at the Grand Theatre, Glasgow, last night by the Carl Rosa Company did not attract so large an audience as might havee been expected, but this may be accounted for by the fact that Gounod's opera was also staged elsewhere in the city.   For once the outstanding feature of the performance lay in the dramatic and vocal excellence of the Valentin, a character to which justice is seldom done.  Mr Lewys James, who sustained the part last night, however, is an operatic artist of rare atteinments.  "Even bravest hearts" was splendidly sung, and he invested the death scene with real dramatic power.."

"Miss Lizzie Burgess played Marguerite in a sweet and simple fashion, which is all very well at the beginning, but the emotional element was lacking in the later and more exacting scenes.  Her voice, however, is of fine mellow quality, and she sang the Jewel song withsuccess.  Me Edward Davies was thoroughly satisfactory in the title role.  'Hail: thou dwelling' duet with Marguerite  in the garden scene brought out the best features of his voice, which is somewhat unequal in quality. Mr Winckworth's Mephistopheles was disappointing; it was too quiet in conception, and even his singing, usually excellent, was not as good as one expected, probably owing to his heavy work on previous nights. The minor roles were adequately filled, and the chorus and orchestra under Mr Van noorden got tolerably well through their duties."

On this return to Scotland for only two weeks, after an absence of a few years, Carl Rosa Opera's  performances were as follows:-

Week 1, comm 27 Mar: Mon Tannhäuser; Tue Don Giovanni; Wed Faust; Thu Lohengrin; Fri Rigoletto; Sat m Cav & Pag; Sat e Maritana.

Week 2, comm 3 Apr: Mon Faust; Tue Tristan and Isolde; Wed Rigoletto; Thu Tannhäuser; Fri Marriage of Figaro; Sat m Don Giovanni; Sat e Carmen.