Carl August Nicholas Rosa
, born Karl August Nikolaus Rose
(22 March 1842, Hamburg – 30 April 1889, Paris), was a German-born musical impresario best remembered for founding an English opera company known as the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
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CARL ROSA OPERA COMPANY TICKETS
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Early life and career
Rosa was the son of Ludwig Rose, a Hamburg businessman, and Sophie Becker. A child violin prodigy, Rosa studied at the Conservatorium at
Leipzig (where he met and became lifelong friends with
Arthur Sullivan) and, in 1862, in
Paris. In 1863 he was appointed Konzertmeister at Hamburg. Three years later he visited England, appearing as a soloist at the Crystal Palace. He had considerable success as a conductor both in
England and
America. He travelled to America in 1866 as a member of a concert troupe promoted by the Baltimore impresario
Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman that also included the Scottish operatic soprano
Euphrosyne Parepa. During this tour, on
February 26 1867 in
New York, he married
Euphrosyne Parepa, who became known as
Madame Parepa-Rosa
.
In 1869, in collaboration with the Chicago impresario C. D. Hess, the couple formed the Parepa Rosa English Opera Company in New York and toured in America for three seasons, with Parepa as the star and Carl as the conductor. It brought grand opera to places in America that had never seen any, performing Italian operas in English, which made them more accessible to American audiences. In 1872, the Rosas returned to England and also visited Europe and Egypt.
Carl Rosa Opera Company
In 1873 they started the
Carl Rosa Opera Company
(the change in name reflecting her pregnancy) with a performance of
William Vincent Wallace's
Maritana
and then toured England and Ireland, producing operas in English versions. Later in 1873, dramatist
W. S. Gilbert approached Rosa about writing the music for a comic opera based on one of Gilbert's
Bab Ballads,
Trial by Jury: An Operetta
. Parepa was to play the soprano lead, as part of Rosa's planned season of English opera at the
Drury Lane Theatre. Parepa died in childbirth in 1874, and the project was temporarily dropped (until a competing manager,
Richard D'Oyly Carte, produced
Trial by Jury
in 1875, with music by
Arthur Sullivan). Rosa later endowed a Parepa-Rosa scholarship at the
Royal Academy of Music in
London. Carl Rosa married a second time in 1881.
In 1874, Rosa staged a second London season at the
Lyceum Theatre, which became an annual event. For the next fifteen years, with Rosa at the helm, the company prospered and earned good notices, with provincial tours and London seasons, frequently in conjunction with
Augustus Harris at the
Drury Lane Theatre. From 1879 to 1885,
Alberto Randegger served as musical director. In 1880, Sir
George Grove wrote: "The careful way in which the pieces are put on the stage, the number of rehearsals, the eminence of the performers and the excellence of the performers have begun to bear their legitimate fruit, and the Carl Rosa Opera Company bids fair to become a permanent English institution."
Rosa introduced many works of important opera repertoire to England for the first time, performing some 150 different operas over the years. Rosa Hersee, Minnie Hauk, Georgina Burns,
Charles Santley,
Joseph Maas,
Barton McGuckin,
Giulia Warwick, Zélie de Lussan and William Ludwig were some of the famous singers associated with the company during its early years. Later famous members of the company included
Eva Turner,
Joan Hammond,
Heddle Nash, Gwen Catley, Krystyna Granowska and Charles Craig. In addition to Randegger, well-known conductors included Sir
Edward Downes,
Eugène Goossens (all three), Sir
Henry Wood, Sir
Hamilton Harty, Sir
Thomas Beecham,
Vilem Tausky CBE,
John Matheson, and
John Bell.
Rosa also encouraged and supported new works by English composers.
Pauline
in 1876 (
Frederic Hymen Cowen),
Esmeralda
in 1883 (
Arthur Goring Thomas),
Colomba
in 1883 (
Alexander Mackenzie), and
The Canterbury Pilgrims
in 1884 (
Charles Villiers Stanford) were but four of the operas commissioned by the company. Earlier English operas by
Michael William Balfe,
William Vincent Wallace and
Julius Benedict were also included in the company's repertoire; not just standard works like
The Bohemian Girl
and
Maritana
, but less-familiar operas such as Balfe's
Satanella
(1858) and Wallace's
Lurline
(1860).
Rosa's legacy, and the revived opera company
By the time Rosa died suddenly in 1889, he had demonstrated that English opera could be an artistic and financial success. Both during his life and after his death, his company had much to do with popularizing good music in England, encouraging native composers and training a number of excellent singers.
Hamilton Clarke was hired as musical director in 1893 and helped the company thrive into the new century. It was later permitted to use the royal title, becoming the "Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company".
Unlike many other opera companies, the Carl Rosa survived the
First World War, but financial difficulties forced liquidation in 1920. Four years later, control had passed to H. B. Phillips, whose own opera company had merged with the Carl Rosa a few years earlier. Another financial crisis in 1951 prompted the
Arts Council subsidy to support further tours in an uneasy alliance with the Carl Rosa Trust. In 1958, the Arts Council controversially withdrew its subsidy, and Carl Rosa merged with Sadlers' Wells Opera.
The new Carl Rosa Opera Limited was revived in 1997 under the artistic direction of Peter Mulloy. Since then, it and has performed
West End seasons and toured in the UK and internationally, offering a new repertoire of
Gilbert and Sullivan, continental
operettas and even
grand opera, such as
La Bohème
. Recent conductors have included
David Russell Hulme and Martin Handley.
References