Purcell Operatic Society
Encyclopedia
The Purcell Operatic Society was a short-lived but influential London opera company devoted to the production of stage works by Henry Purcell
and his contemporaries. It was founded in 1899 by the composer Martin Shaw
and folded in 1902. Its stage director and production designer was Gordon Craig
whose productions for the company marked the beginning of his career as a theatre practitioner
. Their debut production of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas
in 1900 was one of the earliest staged performances of the work in modern times.
founded the Purcell Operatic Society in 1899 on the suggestion of his Hampstead
neighbour, Nannie Dryhurst, who became the Society's secretary. Interest in Purcell's long-neglected stage works had been revived four years earlier on the bicentenary of his death when Dido and Aeneas
received its first major staging in almost two hundred years. Shaw recruited his close friend, Gordon Craig
, to create a new staging of the opera for the Society's debut production. Both men were in their mid-twenties at the time, and it was to be Craig's first major outing as a stage director. Craig and Shaw decided to rent lodgings closer to Nannie Dryhurst while they prepared their first production, and moved into a house at 8 Downshire Hill which was to serve as their living quarters, studio, and the offices of the Purcell Operatic Society.
To pay the initial rent on the Downshire Hill house, Shaw sold many of his books and Craig pawned the gold watch which Henry Irving
had given him. From the outset, the Society was run on a shoe-string using gifted amateur musicians and singers (75 in all), recruited from Martin Shaw and Nannie Dryhurst's Hampstead friends, supplemented by two professionals for the leads. Shaw arranged the scores, rehearsed and trained the singers and conducted all the productions. Craig not only designed and directed all the productions, he also produced and illustrated the programmes and designed the Society's stationery and posters. Neither of them took any pay. Craig's sister, Edith Craig
, also worked on their productions as did the painter Jean Inglis and the scenic artist William Thompson Hemsley. Rehearsals took place in private houses in Hampstead, first in a large room in Guyon House lent to them by William Boulting, and later at Lested Lodge in Well Walk.
Dido and Aeneas opened at the Hampstead Conservatoire
on May 17, 1900 to critical success but a financial loss of £
180 for the three performance run. Friends made up the shortfall, and the company staged the work again the following year at the Coronet Theatre
in Notting Hill
. It ran there from March 25 to March 30, 1901 along with the Society's new production of The Masque of Love from Purcell's semi-opera
, Dioclesian
. To help pull in audiences, Ellen Terry
, Craig's mother, also performed Charles Reade
's one-act play Nance Oldfield as a curtain raiser
. However, reviews criticised the addition of the play which had no obvious connection with the other two works and made the evening very long. Much of the audience had left before The Masque of Love even started. Despite the criticism, Craig approached Lillie Langtry
to provide a similar curtain raiser for their next production, but after showing initial interest in the proposal, she declined.
The company's third and last production was Handel
's Acis and Galatea (performed with The Masque of Love) which opened at the Great Queen Street Theatre
on March 10, 1902. Shaw had convinced the theatre's owner, W. S. Penley
, to let them rent it for only £40 a week. Nevertheless, the production's finances were precarious. The 1901 Dido and Aeneas revival had not made any profit, and Acis and Galatea had no working capital apart from two or three small donations from friends, including one of £10 from Walter Crane
. With insufficient money to pay the stage hands and other creditors, the planned two-week run had to be curtailed to six performances. According to Craig, the creditors' agents called at the theatre on the last night to ensure that no property was removed and even searched the bags of the chorus members as they left. Ellen Terry eventually paid the outstanding bills, but the Purcell Operatic Society was essentially bankrupt, and with no funds forthcoming for future productions, finally had to close down.
In July 1902, Shaw and Craig had already started work on the Society's fourth production, a masque
entitled Harvest Home, which was to incorporate both English folk songs and songs by Purcell. However, the project was abandoned when the Society folded. After the Purcell Operatic Society's demise, Shaw and Craig went on to collaborate on three other productions, all with Craig as designer/stage director and Shaw as music director:
The Vikings and Much Ado About Nothing, both of which starred Ellen Terry and had incidental music composed by Martin Shaw, were commercial disasters and proved to be the last plays Craig ever directed in England.
† The programme began with Nance Oldfield performed by Ellen Terry
's company
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
and his contemporaries. It was founded in 1899 by the composer Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw (composer)
Martin Edward Fallas Shaw OBE, FRCM, DMus was an English composer, conductor and theatre producer...
and folded in 1902. Its stage director and production designer was Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...
whose productions for the company marked the beginning of his career as a theatre practitioner
Theatre practitioner
Theatre practitioner is a modern term to describe someone who both creates theatrical performances and who produces a theoretical discourse that informs his or her practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, a dramatist, an actor, or—characteristically—often a combination of these...
. Their debut production of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid...
in 1900 was one of the earliest staged performances of the work in modern times.
History
Martin ShawMartin Shaw (composer)
Martin Edward Fallas Shaw OBE, FRCM, DMus was an English composer, conductor and theatre producer...
founded the Purcell Operatic Society in 1899 on the suggestion of his Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
neighbour, Nannie Dryhurst, who became the Society's secretary. Interest in Purcell's long-neglected stage works had been revived four years earlier on the bicentenary of his death when Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid...
received its first major staging in almost two hundred years. Shaw recruited his close friend, Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Henry Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings...
, to create a new staging of the opera for the Society's debut production. Both men were in their mid-twenties at the time, and it was to be Craig's first major outing as a stage director. Craig and Shaw decided to rent lodgings closer to Nannie Dryhurst while they prepared their first production, and moved into a house at 8 Downshire Hill which was to serve as their living quarters, studio, and the offices of the Purcell Operatic Society.
To pay the initial rent on the Downshire Hill house, Shaw sold many of his books and Craig pawned the gold watch which Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
had given him. From the outset, the Society was run on a shoe-string using gifted amateur musicians and singers (75 in all), recruited from Martin Shaw and Nannie Dryhurst's Hampstead friends, supplemented by two professionals for the leads. Shaw arranged the scores, rehearsed and trained the singers and conducted all the productions. Craig not only designed and directed all the productions, he also produced and illustrated the programmes and designed the Society's stationery and posters. Neither of them took any pay. Craig's sister, Edith Craig
Edith Craig
Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England...
, also worked on their productions as did the painter Jean Inglis and the scenic artist William Thompson Hemsley. Rehearsals took place in private houses in Hampstead, first in a large room in Guyon House lent to them by William Boulting, and later at Lested Lodge in Well Walk.
Dido and Aeneas opened at the Hampstead Conservatoire
Hampstead Conservatoire
The Hampstead Conservatoire was a private college for music and the arts at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.The building, previously the Eton Avenue Hall, was reconstructed in 1890...
on May 17, 1900 to critical success but a financial loss of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
180 for the three performance run. Friends made up the shortfall, and the company staged the work again the following year at the Coronet Theatre
Notting Hill Coronet
The Notting Hill Coronet is a cinema, originally built as a theatre, in Notting Hill Gate in London, England.The Coronet was designed as a theatre by leading architect W. G. R. Sprague at a cost of £25,000 and opened in 1898. It was described in The Era as a "theatre of which the whole country may...
in Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
. It ran there from March 25 to March 30, 1901 along with the Society's new production of The Masque of Love from Purcell's semi-opera
Semi-opera
The terms Semi-opera, dramatic[k] opera and English opera were all applied to Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included machines in the manner of the restoration spectacular...
, Dioclesian
Dioclesian
Dioclesian is a tragicomic semi-opera in five acts by Henry Purcell to a libretto by Thomas Betterton based on the play The Prophetess, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, which in turn was based very loosely on the life of the Emperor Diocletian. It was premiered in late May 1690 at the...
. To help pull in audiences, Ellen Terry
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, Craig's mother, also performed Charles Reade
Charles Reade
Charles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
's one-act play Nance Oldfield as a curtain raiser
Curtain raiser (drama)
A curtain raiser is a performance, stage act, show, actor or performer that opens a show for the main attraction. The term is derived from the act of raising the stage curtain...
. However, reviews criticised the addition of the play which had no obvious connection with the other two works and made the evening very long. Much of the audience had left before The Masque of Love even started. Despite the criticism, Craig approached Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry , usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey...
to provide a similar curtain raiser for their next production, but after showing initial interest in the proposal, she declined.
The company's third and last production was Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Acis and Galatea (performed with The Masque of Love) which opened at the Great Queen Street Theatre
Novelty Theatre
The Novelty Theatre was a London theatre. It was located on Great Queen Street, accessed off Little Queen Street until 1905, and from the new Kingsway road from 1905 onwards...
on March 10, 1902. Shaw had convinced the theatre's owner, W. S. Penley
W. S. Penley
William Sydney Penley was an English actor, singer and comedian best remembered as producer and star of the phenomenally successful 1892 Brandon Thomas farce, Charley's Aunt and as the Reverend Robert Spalding in many productions of The Private Secretary.-Life and career:Penley was born at...
, to let them rent it for only £40 a week. Nevertheless, the production's finances were precarious. The 1901 Dido and Aeneas revival had not made any profit, and Acis and Galatea had no working capital apart from two or three small donations from friends, including one of £10 from Walter Crane
Walter Crane
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of...
. With insufficient money to pay the stage hands and other creditors, the planned two-week run had to be curtailed to six performances. According to Craig, the creditors' agents called at the theatre on the last night to ensure that no property was removed and even searched the bags of the chorus members as they left. Ellen Terry eventually paid the outstanding bills, but the Purcell Operatic Society was essentially bankrupt, and with no funds forthcoming for future productions, finally had to close down.
In July 1902, Shaw and Craig had already started work on the Society's fourth production, a masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
entitled Harvest Home, which was to incorporate both English folk songs and songs by Purcell. However, the project was abandoned when the Society folded. After the Purcell Operatic Society's demise, Shaw and Craig went on to collaborate on three other productions, all with Craig as designer/stage director and Shaw as music director:
- Laurence HousmanLaurence HousmanLaurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator.-Early life:Laurence Housman was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, one of seven children who included the poet A. E. Housman and writer Clemence Housman. In 1871 his mother died, and his father remarried, to a cousin...
's nativity playNativity playA Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas, the feast of the Nativity.-Liturgical:...
Bethlehem (Great Hall of the Imperial Institute, December 1902) - Ibsen's The Vikings at HelgelandThe Vikings at HelgelandThe Vikings at Helgeland is Henrik Ibsen's seventh play.The Vikings at Helgeland was written during 1857 and first performed at Christiania Norske Theater in Oslo on 24 November 1858. The scenes take place during the time of Erik Blood-axe in the north of Norway in historic Helgeland...
(Imperial TheatreRoyal AquariumThe Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a Westminster, London place of amusement opened in 1876. The building was demolished in 1903. It was located immediately to the west of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was designed by Alfred Bedborough in a highly ornamental style faced...
, April 1903) - Shakespeare's Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
(Imperial Theatre, May 1903).
The Vikings and Much Ado About Nothing, both of which starred Ellen Terry and had incidental music composed by Martin Shaw, were commercial disasters and proved to be the last plays Craig ever directed in England.
Productions
| Work(s) performed | Theatre | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Dido and Aeneas Dido and Aeneas Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid... |
Hampstead Conservatoire, London | 1900 (May 17, 18, 19) |
| Dido and Aeneas † The Masque of Love Dioclesian Dioclesian is a tragicomic semi-opera in five acts by Henry Purcell to a libretto by Thomas Betterton based on the play The Prophetess, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, which in turn was based very loosely on the life of the Emperor Diocletian. It was premiered in late May 1690 at the... |
Coronet Theatre Notting Hill Coronet The Notting Hill Coronet is a cinema, originally built as a theatre, in Notting Hill Gate in London, England.The Coronet was designed as a theatre by leading architect W. G. R. Sprague at a cost of £25,000 and opened in 1898. It was described in The Era as a "theatre of which the whole country may... , London |
1901 (March 26, 27, 28, 30 + one matinee) |
| The Masque of Love Acis and Galatea |
Great Queen Street Theatre Novelty Theatre The Novelty Theatre was a London theatre. It was located on Great Queen Street, accessed off Little Queen Street until 1905, and from the new Kingsway road from 1905 onwards... , London |
1902 (March 10, with five more evening performances + one matinee) |
| Harvest Home, a masque | unperformed | (preparation work begun in July 1902) |
† The programme began with Nance Oldfield performed by Ellen Terry
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
's company
Members
Honorary and General Committee Members listed in the Programme for Dido and Aeneas 1900Honorary Members
- Miss Janet Achurch
- Mrs Allingham
- Miss Ellen TerryEllen TerryDame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
- Sir Walter Besant
- Sir J.F. Bridge, Mus. Doc
- Charles Charrington
- Walter CraneWalter CraneWalter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of...
- W.H. Cummings
- Arnold DolmetschArnold DolmetschArnold Dolmetsch , was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey...
- Henry Holiday
- Sir A C. Mackenzie, Mus. Doc.
- Sir G. Martin, Mus. Doc.
- Hamish MacCunn
- Sir Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
, Mus. Doc. - A. Schulz-Curtius
- Churchill Sibley
- Prof. Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
, Mus. Doc. - Hamo Thornycroft, R.A.
- Charles WoodCharles WoodCharles Wood may refer to:*Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax , British politician and peer*Charles Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax , British peer*Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax , English politician...
, Mus. Doc.
General Committee
- Mrs Boulting, Hon. Sec.
- Mrs Oswald Cox
- Mrs A.R. Dryhurst
- Rev. Dr. E.A. Abbot
- Canon Barnett
- Edward Bell F.S.A.
- Rev. S.B. Burnaby
- J. Spencer Curwen
- Charles Woodward, Hon Treas.
- J. H. Isaacs
- Rev. J. Kirkman
- Dr. W. Mallam
- James Nolan
- Frank Podmore
- James Shaw
- Dr. G. Danford Thomas
- Johnston Watson
Sources
- Burden, MichaelMichael BurdenMichael Burden , BA , MA , PhD is Fellow in Music, Dean and Chattels Fellow at New College, Oxford; he is also Director of New Chamber Opera, and Reader in Opera Studies in the University of Oxford....
(2004) "Purcell's operas on Craig's stage: the productions of the Purcell Operatic Society", Early MusicEarly Music (journal)Early Music is a peer-reviewed academic journal specialising in the study of early music. It was established in 1973 and is published quarterly by Oxford University Press. The editor in chief is Francis Knights....
, Vol. 32, Issue 3, August 2004, pp. 442-458 - Carrick, Edward (1968). Gordon Craig: The Story of his Life. Knopf
- Chamberlain, Franc (2008). "Introduction" to Craig, Edward Gordon. On the art of the theatre. Taylor & Francis (first published in 1911), pp. vii-xvi. ISBN 0415450330
- Eynat-Confino, Irène (1987). Beyond the mask: Gordon Craig, movement, and the actor. SIU Press. ISBN 0809313723
- Fisher, James (2009). "'An Idealist': The Legacy of Edward Gordon Craig’s Formative Productions, 1900-1903", Theatre Arts Journal: Studies in Scenography and Performance, Vol. 1, No. 1. ISSN 2076667X
- Housman, LaurenceLaurence HousmanLaurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator.-Early life:Laurence Housman was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, one of seven children who included the poet A. E. Housman and writer Clemence Housman. In 1871 his mother died, and his father remarried, to a cousin...
(1937). The Unexpected Years. Jonathan Cape. - John, Angela V. (2006). War, journalism and the shaping of the twentieth century: the life and times of Henry W. Nevinson. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1845110811
- Nicoll, Allardyce (2009). English Drama, 1900-1930: The Beginnings of the Modern Period. Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 0521129478
- Roose-Evans, James (1989). Experimental theatre: from Stanislavsky to Peter Brook. Routledge. ISBN 0415009634
- Shaw, Martin (1929). Up to NowUp to Now (Shaw autobiography)Up to Now is the autobiography of the British composer, conductor and theatre producer Martin Shaw . It was published by Oxford University Press in 1929, when Shaw was 53...
. Oxford University Press. - Shaw, Martin and Craig, Edward Gordon (1902). Souvenir Acis and Galatea, Masque of Love. J J Waddington.
- Woodfield, James (1984). British theatre in transition, 1889-1914. Rowman & Littlefield (file copy). ISBN 0389204838
- Yeats, William ButlerYeatsW. B. Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
(1994). The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats: 1901-1904 (edited and annotated by John Kelly, Eric Domville, and Ronald Schuchard). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198126832
External links
- "The Purcell Operatic Society ", extract from Up To NowUp to Now (Shaw autobiography)Up to Now is the autobiography of the British composer, conductor and theatre producer Martin Shaw . It was published by Oxford University Press in 1929, when Shaw was 53...
, the autobiography of Martin ShawMartin Shaw (composer)Martin Edward Fallas Shaw OBE, FRCM, DMus was an English composer, conductor and theatre producer...
(Note that this extract has been abridged from the original text on pages 26–30)