The Glasgow Herald reviewer (Monday 16 March) had to cover both the matinee of Beethoven's Fidelio and the evening performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. He was not to know Fidelio was to be performed only once in Scotland that season.
"Two well filled houses marked the endo of this first week of the Carl Rosa Opera to the Grand Theatre. the fine weather naturally accounted for the fact the larger audience was reserved for the evening performance, but in any case Fidelio does not make the popular appeal of Verdi in his earlier works. Verdi knows all the secrets of the theatre: his genius expresses itself through the music."
The company's 1908 tour included two weeks at the Glasgow Grand, one at the Alexandra, Greenock and finally two at Edinburgh King’s Theatre.
The full schedule was:-
Glasgow w/c 9 Mar: Mon Carmen; Tue Cav & Pag; Wed Trovatore; Thu Lohengrin; Fri Esmeralda; Sat m Fidelio; Sat e Rigoletto.
Glasgow w/c 16 Mar: Mon Don Giovanni; Tue Otello; Wed Bohemian Girl; Thu Faust; Fri Carmen; Sat m Tannhäuser; Sat e Trovatore.
Greenock w/c 23 Mar: Mon Carmen; Tue Tannhäuser; Wed Bohemian Girl; Thu Cav & Pag; Fri Esmeralda; Sat m Faust; Sat e Trovatore.
Edinburgh w/c 30 Mar: Mon Carmen; Tue Faust; Wed Lohengrin; Thu Don Giovanni; Fri Esmeralda; Sat m Tannhauser; Sat e Rigoletto.
Edinburgh w/c 6 Apr: Mon Cav & Pag; Tue Trovatore; Wed Bohemian Girl; Thu Marriage of Figaro; Fri Otello; Sat m Carmen; Sat e Maritana.
In summary: Carmen (5); Trovatore (4); Cav & Pag, Esmeralda, Bohemian Girl, Faust, Tannhäuser (3); Lohengrin, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Otello (2) and Fidelio, Marriage of Figaro, Maritana (1).
Thirty-five performances of thirteen operas plus the double bill of Cav and Pag.
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