The 1891 London Opera Season: A Musical Journey
Join us on a musical journey through the 1891 London Opera Season! We’ll explore the biggest hits of the season and what made them so popular.
The Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house located in Covent Garden, London. The large building is the third theatre on the site, following two earlier structures. The theatre seats approximately 2,256 people. It was built by architect Charles J. Phipps and opened on 20 October 1847.
The Royal Opera House: A Brief History
The Royal Opera House is an opera house located in Covent Garden, London. The large building is often referred to simply as “Covent Garden”, after a previous use of the site of the opera house’s original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, Covent Garden was granted a royal patent to play legitimate theatre and five years later, plays performed there for the first time.[1]
In 1742, under the management of John Rich, actor-manager and founder of the Actors’ Fund, The Beggar’s Opera achieved great popularity and has been credited with saving the theatre from bankruptcy.[2] In 1783, a fire destroyed part of rich’s theatre.[3] The theatre was rebuilt by Robert Adam and reopened in 1734 under rich’s management. Many famous performers appeared at the theatre including Sarah Siddons,[4][5] Edmund Kean,[6][7] lauren cuthbertson,[8] daniel day-lewis,[9][10][11] frederic leighton,[12][13][14] george bellows,[15][16] and Laurence Olivier.[17][18]
The opera house was extensively renovated in 1808–1809[19] and again in 1892–1893 when it achieved its present day grandeur under architect Frank Matcham.[20] Along with restoring the auditorium, Matcham also added three tiers of private boxes to boost capacity. In 1902 electricity was installed at Covent Garden making it one of the first theatres in London to be electrically illuminated.[21]
The Royal Opera House: The Building
The Royal Opera House is a world-famous building in London’s Covent Garden, which has been the main venue for operatic performances in the city since 1858. The present building was designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry and opened on 15 May 1858. It is the third theatre on the site, following two earlier theatres which were demolished to make way for the current building.
The Royal Opera House is a Grade I listed building, and has been described as “one of the supreme achievements of Victorian architecture”. The theatre is home to two of the world’s major opera companies: The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. Each company performs around 50 operas and ballets per year from a repertoire of around 1000 works.
The 1891 London Opera Season
The 1891 London opera season was a year of great change and development for the art form. New operas by Wagner and Verdi were performed for the first time in England, and audiences flocked to see them. This season was also notable for being the first time that English-language operas were performed at the Royal Opera House.
The 1891 London Opera Season: The Operas
The 1891 London opera season featured a total of 27 different operas, including many by popular composers such as Giuseppe Verdi, Georges Bizet, and Giacomo Puccini. The season began on May 8 with a premiere of Verdi’s Otello at London’s Royal Opera House, and ended on October 3 with a performance of Bizet’s Carmen at the same venue. Other popular operas performed during the season included Verdi’s La traviata, Puccini’s La Bohème, and Bizet’s Pearl Fishers.
The 1891 London Opera Season: The Singers
In 1891, when the opera season was in full swing in London, the city was home to some of the most celebrated singers in the world. The operas being performed at the time were being sung by the likes of Nellie Melba, Enrico Caruso, and Giuseppe De Luca, among others. These singers were the stars of their day, and their performances were highly anticipated by music lovers from all over the world.
The 1891 London Opera Season: The Repertoire
The 1891 London opera season ran from May through July and featured a total of 27 different operas. Of these, 12 were by Italian composers, 9 were by German composers, and the remaining 6 were by French composers. The season began with a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos at Her Majesty’s Theatre and ended with a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at Covent Garden. Other notable works performed during the season included Verdi’s Aida, Bizet’s Carmen, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and Puccini’s La Bohème.
The Royal Opera House Today
The Royal Opera House is a world-famous performing arts venue in London, England. The present building is the third theatre on the site, following two earlier Victorian theatres that were destroyed by fire. The current theatre dates from 1907 and seats 2,256 people. It is the home of The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies.
The Royal Opera House Today: The Operas
The Royal Opera House is a world-famous opera house located in Covent Garden, London. The Opera House is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Each year, The Royal Opera House presents a season of operas from a variety of composers. The operas are presented in a variety of languages, including English, French, German, Italian, and Russian.
The 2018/19 season features ten operas:
-Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
-La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
-Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
-Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini
-Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi
-Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck
-La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
-Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
-Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
– Turandot by Giacomo Puccini
The Royal Opera House Today: The Singers
The 3,000 seat Royal Opera House is home to The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and non-performing associated activities. It is one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world and presents around 600 performances each year.
The building was designed by Edward Middleton Barry and opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of Alexander Dumas’ The Lady of the Camellias. In 1892 it was remodelled by Henri de Curzon at a cost of £250,000 – almost double the original outlay. The theatre reopened on 5 December of that year with a production of Gounod’s Faust.
There have been many great opera singers associated with the Royal Opera House over the years including Maria Callas, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland and Kirsten Flagstad.
The Royal Opera House Today: The Repertoire
The Royal Opera House repertoire for the 2015/16 season comprises a total of 27 operas and ballets, including 7 new productions.
The Operas:
– Verdi’s Don Carlo
– Wagner’s Parsifal
– Berg’s Wozzeck
– Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
– Massenet’s Werther
– Puccini’s La Bohème
– Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella)
The Ballets:
– Giselle
– Swan Lake
– The Sleeping Beauty
– Romeo and Juliet
The Nutcracker
