"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 review in the Scotsman (6 April) opened "There are few things for which the directos of the Carl Rosa company deserve greater praise than for their enterprise in presenting unfamiliar operas, and for the care with which these works are put upon the stage. Verdi's Rigoletto, which was given on Saturday night, has not been heard in Edinburgh for many years."
It continued "Saturday might's performance of the opera was throughout eminently praiseworthy. Mr Charles Victor had one of the most strongly drawn characters to be found in opera, and his rendering of the part, if the dramatic aspect occasionally overshadowed the lyrical, was a fine piece of acting. The music of the Duke and Gilda is mostly well known away from the opera, and its rendering by Mr Edward Davies and Miss Elizabeth Burgess, its comparatively familiar beauties, as in Questa o quella, E il sol dell'anima, Care nome, and the rest left room for little but praise. Mr Frederick Clendon declaimed the music of Count Monterone with sufficent dignity and effect; while the Maddalena of Miss Doris Woodall and the Sparafucile of Mr Alec Richard completed the outstanding personages of a cast which was throughout satisfactory. Particular praise is due to the quartet in the last act, sung by Rigoletto, Gilda, the Duke and Maddalena. There is a good deal for the orchestra to do in Rigoletto, and under Mr Van Noorden it was , despite some slips, well done."
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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