The Scotsman review (19 March) started "After many years the Carl Rosa Opera reappeared in Edinburgh last night, and opened a week of grand opera with a most successful performance of Wagner's Tannhauser. Edinburgh always had a special interest in the late Carl Rosa, and in his early efforts to prove that the best opera may be presented in the English language instead of the unintelligible jargon that commonly passed as Italian, Edinburgh was one of the provincial musical centres to which he used to look for support and encouragement. That was in the early eighties; but the crowded appearance of the King;'s Theatre last night proved that his is still a name to conjure with."
"...last night's performance. It was in all respects a very fine production. Here and there there were points at which the regular patron of Tannhauser might have instituted comparison to the prejudice of the current company. But all the essentials of a sound production were present on the stage. Mr Julius Walther has obviously based his personation of the Thuringian Knight upon that of Mr Hedmondt. Tht he should have come so near to the realisation of a great model is to his credit. From the outset he seemed to be nursing his voice, as if to prepare for the great scene in which Tannhauser tells of his lamentable experience in Rome. In vocal and dramatic impressiveness it was a great effort and a great success. Madame Lucille Hill was Elisabeth, and those who know her remarkable vocal gifts would not be surprised to find her rendering of the part impressive. The scena at the shrine in the third act was carried through with great perfection of tone and articulation. Mr Dillon Shallard played Wolfram, and if he was a trifle stagey in his manner, he gave the immortal 'Star of Eve' with great finish. Mr Arthur Winckworth is one of the few whose name is familiar to those who remember the company in the days of Mr Carl Rosa himself. His fine sonorous bass voice and his enunciation of the words rendered the part of the Landgrave scarcely less interesting than those of Tannhauser and Elisabeth. Among the other voices well worthy of attention was that of Mr Charles Le Sueur, whose part as Walther, if it affords only one solo, is important in the concerted pieces, and was given due prominence in the first and second acts. At each fall of the curtain the company were recalled again and again; and among others Mr Eugene Goossens, a sone of the late Mr Goossens, who had a long and close association with Mr Carl Rosa himself, was called on to bow his acknowledgments for his conducting of a performance that was in all respects on a plane that compares with the best that can be produced outside London."
In 1907, Carl Rosa Opera in Scotland spent two weeks at the Glasgow Grand, one at the Alexandra, Greenock and finally one at Edinburgh King’s Theatre (7.30;2pm)
w/c 25 February Mon Marriage of Figaro; Tue Trovatore; Wed Merry Wives of Windsor; Thu Fidelio Fri Cavand Pag; Sat m Tannhauser; Sat e Rigoletto.
w/c 4 Mar Mon Don Giovanni; Tue Lohengrin; Wed Faust; Thu Carmen; Fri Fidelio; Sat m Merry Wives of Windsor; Sat m Trovatore.
w/c 11 Mar Mon Lohengrin; Tue Marriage of Figaro; Wed; Thu Fidelio; Fri Merry Wives of Windsor; Sat m Tannhauser; Sat e Faust.
w/c 18 Mar Mon Tannhauser; Tue Don Giovanni; Wed Carmen; Thu Faust; Fri Merry Wives of Windsor; Sat m Fidelio; Sat e Trovatore.
4 Merry Wives of Windsor; Fidelio.
3 Trovatore; Tannhauser; Faust; Carmen
2 Marriage of Figaro; Don Giovanni; Lohengrin.
1 Rigoletto; Cav and Pag.
12 operas, 28 performances QED.
© Copyright Opera Scotland 2024
Site by SiteBuddha