1910
In 1910 London heard – or had the opportunity of hearing – more opera than ever before in its history. Between mid-February and New Year's Eve, Sir Thomas Beecham either conducted or was responsible as impresario for 190 performances at Covent Garden Opera House and His Majesty's Theatre.
Beecham extended his dream into the provinces with The Beecham Opera Comique Company. As his manager, he chose Thomas Quinlan. The company would present two "tuneful lightweights" as he called them, The Tales of Hoffman and Die Fledermaus. The latter was known at first as "The Bat", but soon it became "A Viennese Masquerade" and then it was dropped, Hoffman being given exclusively. Some cities experienced one or both operas for the first time. Six evening and one or two matinee performances were given weekly in thirteen cities during the autumn segment (Blackpool, Belfast, Dublin, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham and Brighton) with fourteen more after Christmas (Swansea, Fulham, Bournemouth, Dublin, Southampton, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Hull, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Cardiff, Plymouth, and Portsmouth).
Read more about this topic: Thomas Quinlan (impresario)