1912
The first week of the 1912 season presented in conjunction with the Australian impresario J.C. Williamson, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, put up a record still unbroken and likely to remain so: four Australian premieres in eight days. The company opened on Saturday, 8 June (having only arrived in the country the previous Wednesday), with a gala premiere of The Tales of Hoffmann, followed on the Monday by the first performance in Australia of the Paris version of Tannhäuser, the Australian premiere of The Girl of the Golden West on the Tuesday, another performance of Hoffmann on the Wednesday, Rigoletto on the Thursday, the Australian premiere of Tristan und Isolde on the Friday, and the Australian premiere of The Prodigal Son by Debussy as part of a double bill with Hänsel und Gretel on the Saturday afternoon, with Hoffmann again that night. This quick start and rate of bringing forward new productions was only possible because this was a complete company, with its own chorus and orchestra — the only one to visit Australia — and had already performed all its repertoire in England and South Africa on its way to Australia.
The Australian tour was limited to just ten weeks (five in Melbourne and five in Sydney). The presentation of fifteen operas, four of them new, in just under five weeks, in itself provided plenty of variety. The remaining operas were Die Walküre, Aida, La Bohème, Carmen, Lohengrin, Madama Butterfly, Faust and La traviata.
The artists were mostly British, with two returning Australian singers, Lalla Miranda and Julia Caroli. The company also included the British tenor John Coates and Britain's leading dramatic soprano, Agnes Nicholls. There was a total of 163 people in the party (plus a three-year-old child for Butterfly), including the permanent orchestra of 55 and a chorus of 60, and there were three conductors: Ernst Knoch for the Wagner operas, Hoffmann, Hansel and Gretel and Carmen; Tullio Voghera, who had conducted at the Met and been Caruso's accompanist, from the Royal Opera Stockholm, for the Italian repertoire, and English composer/conductor Hubert Bath, who conducted the opening of Faust and took over other operas later in the run. He was also chorus-master.
Staging and presentation were of a high standard, under the direction of Louis P. Verande (assisted by George King), from Covent Garden where he had been responsible for the staging of Thomas Beecham's controversial 1910 Salome. Verande also had extensive Continental and American experience. All the costumes were designed by Dorothy Carleton Smyth from Glasgow, an authority on historical pageant and theatrical costumes, who travelled with the company. Quinlan pointed out that she concentrated on a harmoniously blended colour scheme, eschewing extraneous spangles and similar gewgaws. The sets for all the operas were designed by Oliver Percy Bernard, from the Boston Opera, and set models for the Puccini operas were first passed by the composer; while Humperdinck, Debussy, Cosima Wagner, Ricordi and other authorities lent their assistance with others. Quinlan claimed the largest scenic studio in England and said that a great deal of research had been done on the historical accuracy of stage accessories. The cost of moving the company and all the baggage — 365 tons of scenery, props and costumes — around the world was £100,000.
Except for Lalla Miranda, who had concert engagements in Brisbane, the company sailed for England on the day after the last performance, visiting Melbourne on the way for a Town Hall concert. Quinlan promised to return the following year, and to bring back not only the complete Ring, but also The Mastersingers and Louise.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Quinlan (impresario)