Beginnings At His Majesty's Theatre
Lumley trained as a solicitor. In this capacity he gave legal advice to the financially troubled manager of His Majesty’s Theatre, Laporte, who came to rely on him extensively. Soon Lumley was taking all the managerial decisions for the theatre, and when Laporte died in 1841, the committee of noblemen responsible for the opera company asked his protégé to take his place.
It says much about Lumley’s nature that he accepted this offer. He had already written a standard handbook on Parliamentary Private Bills and was studying for the Bar. But as Lumley’s unreliable memoirs clearly indicate, he had an irrepressible urge to mix in high society and make a name for himself. A great admirer of the stars of opera and ballet, a profligate giver of fêtes and parties, management of Her Majesty's was the vehicle of his dreams, which he duly repaid by bringing the best of Italian Opera to Victorian London.
The conductor at His Majesty’s was Michael Costa. By their different natures – one a devotee of high musical standards, the other a connoisseur of the star system, Lumley and Costa should have made a perfect team. And indeed they were so for the first five years, one of the longer surviving partnerships of the age. Artistic progress – induced by Lumley, much to Costas' alarm and trepidation included the introduction of operas by Giuseppe Verdi to London, and new singing and dancing stars to replace the fading ‘old guard’, negotiations with Felix Mendelssohn for an opera on William Shakespeare’s Tempest – and of course Jenny Lind. This was linked to financial success, inducing Lumley, with a typical excess of sanguinity, to purchase the underlying lease of the theatre, From that point, inevitably, things began to go wrong.
One of the sensations of Lumley's management was the balletic 'Pas de Quatre', choreographed by Perrot, and with music by Pugni, in 1845. This divertissement, which featured as dancers Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Cerrito and Grahn, may have been inspired by Lumley seeing four girls dancing outside the theatre. The 'Pas de Quatre' became an institution and is frequently revived.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin Lumley
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