Page 96 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 96
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
Opera in Dublin in the early twentieth century
In a recent article Maria McHale has analysed the provision of opera in
Dublin between the years 1900 and 1916.5 During this period, opera was
regularly performed in English, a trend that had established itself since the
1880s. Preferred venues were the Gaiety Theatre (opened in 1871 and then
seating 1800) and the “New Theatre Royal and Opera House” (reopened in
1897 after the previous Theatre Royal – a regular venue for mainly Italian
opera – had burned down in 1880; the new building seated 2300). McHale
concludes that “in the seventeen-year period under discussion here, there
were over 1000 performances of opera at the Theatre Royal and the Gaiety
combined: an average of sixty nights of opera each year.”6 In the meantime
McHale has expanded her research; at a recent conference presentation she
revealed that the overall number of operatic performances between 1900
and 1922 at these two theatres was 1686, or c. 73 per year – so between 1916
and 1922 the number of performances must have increased further in order
to increase the average number to that extent.7
This is likely to cover the vast majority of operatic performances in
Dublin yet excludes possible performances at other venues, particularly
with reduced forces and by smaller local companies. However, the main
providers were British opera companies that travelled to Dublin once or
twice a year to stay there for a number of weeks. Among the most regular
visitors were E. Lockwood’s Opera Company, the Moody Manners Opera
Company, the Carl Rosa Opera Company, the O’Mara Opera Company,
the D’Oyly Carte Company and the Quinlan Opera Company. The ear-
ly twentieth century witnessed an increased interest in Wagner among the
Irish opera-going public: 1901 saw the Irish premiere of Tristan und Isolde
while in 1913 Der Ring des Nibelungen was staged for the first time as a cycle
on the island by the Quinlan Company. Between 1900 and 1916 Tannhäuser
was given 37 times, Lohengrin 23 times and Tristan und Isolde seven times.
While these numbers are quite impressive by today’s Irish standards, they
are dwarfed by others: Between 1900 and 1922, Gounod’s Faust was given a
5 Maria McHale, “‘Hopes for Regeneration’: Opera in Revivalist Dublin, 1900-1916”;
in Music Preferred. Essays in Musicology, Cultural History and Analysis in Honour of
Harry White, ed. Lorraine Byrne-Bodley (Vienna: Hollitzer, 2018), 203-216.
6 McHale, ibid., 205.
7 Maria McHale, ‘“The Operatic Problem”: Issues of National Opera in Britain and
Ireland, 1900-1922’, paper presented at the 16th Annual Conference of the Society of
Musicology in Ireland, Cork, 15 June 2018. I am very grateful to Maria McHale for
giving me access to her presentation slides.
94
Opera in Dublin in the early twentieth century
In a recent article Maria McHale has analysed the provision of opera in
Dublin between the years 1900 and 1916.5 During this period, opera was
regularly performed in English, a trend that had established itself since the
1880s. Preferred venues were the Gaiety Theatre (opened in 1871 and then
seating 1800) and the “New Theatre Royal and Opera House” (reopened in
1897 after the previous Theatre Royal – a regular venue for mainly Italian
opera – had burned down in 1880; the new building seated 2300). McHale
concludes that “in the seventeen-year period under discussion here, there
were over 1000 performances of opera at the Theatre Royal and the Gaiety
combined: an average of sixty nights of opera each year.”6 In the meantime
McHale has expanded her research; at a recent conference presentation she
revealed that the overall number of operatic performances between 1900
and 1922 at these two theatres was 1686, or c. 73 per year – so between 1916
and 1922 the number of performances must have increased further in order
to increase the average number to that extent.7
This is likely to cover the vast majority of operatic performances in
Dublin yet excludes possible performances at other venues, particularly
with reduced forces and by smaller local companies. However, the main
providers were British opera companies that travelled to Dublin once or
twice a year to stay there for a number of weeks. Among the most regular
visitors were E. Lockwood’s Opera Company, the Moody Manners Opera
Company, the Carl Rosa Opera Company, the O’Mara Opera Company,
the D’Oyly Carte Company and the Quinlan Opera Company. The ear-
ly twentieth century witnessed an increased interest in Wagner among the
Irish opera-going public: 1901 saw the Irish premiere of Tristan und Isolde
while in 1913 Der Ring des Nibelungen was staged for the first time as a cycle
on the island by the Quinlan Company. Between 1900 and 1916 Tannhäuser
was given 37 times, Lohengrin 23 times and Tristan und Isolde seven times.
While these numbers are quite impressive by today’s Irish standards, they
are dwarfed by others: Between 1900 and 1922, Gounod’s Faust was given a
5 Maria McHale, “‘Hopes for Regeneration’: Opera in Revivalist Dublin, 1900-1916”;
in Music Preferred. Essays in Musicology, Cultural History and Analysis in Honour of
Harry White, ed. Lorraine Byrne-Bodley (Vienna: Hollitzer, 2018), 203-216.
6 McHale, ibid., 205.
7 Maria McHale, ‘“The Operatic Problem”: Issues of National Opera in Britain and
Ireland, 1900-1922’, paper presented at the 16th Annual Conference of the Society of
Musicology in Ireland, Cork, 15 June 2018. I am very grateful to Maria McHale for
giving me access to her presentation slides.
94
