The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's

Beecham Opera Company The Beecham Opera Company was an opera company founded by Thomas Beecham which presented opera in English in London and on tour between 1916 and 1920.Jefferson, Alan (2004) "Beecham, Sir Thomas, second baronet (1879–1961)" ''Oxford Dictionary of ...

(1915–1920), which was disbanded when financial problems over buying

The Bedford Estate The Bedford Estate is an estate in central London owned by the Russell family, which holds the peerage title of Duke of Bedford. The estate was originally based in Covent Garden, then stretched to include Bloomsbury in 1669.Queen's Hall were

Sir Alexander Mackenzie Sir Alexander Mackenzie (or MacKenzie, gd, Alasdair MacCoinnich; – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer known for accomplishing the first crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793. The Mackenzie River is named after him. Early life ...

, Sir Charles Stanford, Harry Plunket Greene,

Walter Hyde Walter Hyde (6 February 1875 – 11 November 1951) was a British tenor, actor and teacher of voice whose career spanned genres from musical theatre to grand opera. In 1901 he sang Borrachio in the premiere of Stanford's ''Much Ado About Noth ...

Aylmer Buesst Aylmer Buesst (28 January 18833 January 1970) was an Australian conductor, teacher and scholar, who spent his career in the United Kingdom. He was mainly associated with opera and vocal music. He also wrote a work on the leitmotifs in Richard Wa ...

and Sir Henry Hadow. The new company bought the entire assets of the Beecham company, comprising the scenery, costumes, scores, instruments and performing rights for 48 operas. The company's first performance was '' Aida'' at

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

in February 1922, and received excellent notices. For much of its existence the company toured in the provinces, but also had short seasons at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

(1922–1924) and then at

His Majesty's Theatre His Majesty's Theatre may refer to: *Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, Australia, known as His Majesty's Theatre 1901–1952, demolished 1983 * His Majesty's Theatre, London, England, known as Her Majesty's Theatre 1952–2023 *His Majesty's Theatre, ...

.BNOC on encyclopedia.com
/ref> For the 1923 Covent Garden season Dame Nellie Melba emerged from retirement to sing with the company. She gave her services free of charge, to support the company. She did not, however, feel equal to relearning her old roles in English translation, and she sang in Italian while the rest of the company sang in the vernacular. The British National Opera Company was a pioneer of broadcast opera, with excerpts from ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

'' broadcast live from the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

by the

British Broadcasting Company The British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British Genera ...

in January 1923, less than a year after the foundation of both the BBC and the opera company. The company's first artistic director was

Percy Pitt Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) was an English organist, conductor, composer, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930. Biography A native of London, Pitt studied music in Europe at the Leipzig conservatory, th ...

, who had been music director with the Grand Opera Syndicate and who later worked as Director of Music for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. His successor in 1924 was

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

Frederic Austin Frederic William Austin (30 March 187210 April 1952) was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of ''The Beggar's Opera'' by John Gay and Joha ...

, who in 1920 arranged the music for a revival of '' The Beggar's Opera'' at the Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith). The Company had a wide repertory, which included works by

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

and several English works, including Vaughan Williams's ''

Hugh the Drover ''Hugh the Drover'' (or ''Love in the Stocks'') is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. The work has set numbers with recitatives. It has been described as a modern example of a ballad ...

'' and Gustav Holst's '' The Perfect Fool'' and ''

At the Boar's Head ''At the Boar's Head'' is an opera in one act by the English composer Gustav Holst, his op. 42. Holst himself described the work as "A Musical Interlude in One Act". The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's '' Henry IV, ...

''. The ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' singled out the company's staging of the ''

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

'', '' Tristan und Isolde'', '' Parsifal'' and "a notable production in English of '' Pelléas and Mélisande'' with

Maggie Teyte Dame Maggie Teyte (born Margaret Tate; 17 April 188826 May 1976) was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song. Early years Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a succ ...

." British National Opera Company employed most of the leading British and British-based singers and conductors of that time, including conductors John Barbirolli,

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

, Aylmer Buesst,

Hamilton Harty Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty (4 December 1879 – 19 February 1941) was an Irish composer, conductor, pianist and organist. After an early career as a church organist in his native Ireland, Harty moved to London at about age 20, soon becoming a w ...

Leslie Heward Leslie Hays Heward (8 December 1897 – 3 May 1943) was an English conductor and composer. Between 1930 and 1942 he was the Music Director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra. Heward was born in Liversedge, Yorkshire, the son of a railway po ...

, Gervase Hughes and Malcolm Sargent, and singers

Agnes Nicholls Agnes Helen Nicholls (14 July 1876 – 21 September 1959)Announcement in ''Cheltenham Mercury'' Saturday 26 August 1876 'July 14, at 3 Claremont Square, Mrs A.C. Nicholls of a daughter - Agnes Helen.' was one of the greatest English sopranos of ...

Florence Austral Florence Austral (26 April 1892 – 15 May 1968) was an Australian operatic soprano renowned for her interpretation of the most demanding Wagnerian female roles, although she never gained the opportunity to appear at the Bayreuth Festival or New ...

Joseph Hislop Joseph Hislop (5 April 18846 May 1977) was a Scottish lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio and gave concerts around the world. He sang at La Scala, Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, and the Opéra-Comique, Paris, a ...

, Edward Johnson, Dinh Gilly,

, Harold Williams,

Norman Allin Norman Allin (19 November 1884 – 27 October 1973) was a British bass singer of the early and mid twentieth century, and later a teacher of voice. Early studies Allin was born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1884. He studied at the Royal Manchest ...

Robert Radford Robert Radford (13 May 1874, Nottingham3 March 1933, London) was a British bass singer who made his career entirely in the United Kingdom, participating in concerts and becoming one of the foremost performers of oratorios and other sacred mus ...

, Dora Labbette,

Walter Widdop Walter Widdop (19 April 1892 – 6 September 1949) was a British operatic tenor who is best remembered for his Wagnerian performances. His repertoire also encompassed works by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Handel and Bach. Career Widdop was born at N ...

Frank Mullings Frank Mullings (10 May 1881 – 19 May 1953) was a leading English tenor with Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company and its successor, the British National Opera Company, during the 1910s and 1920s. Blessed with a strong stage presence a ...

Herbert Heyner Herbert Heyner (26 June 188218 January 1954) was a noted English baritone. Heyner appeared in a handful of operas, and a number of broadcast operas, but his stage appearances were predominantly in oratorio and songs. He sang in some notable pe ...

and

Heddle Nash William Heddle Nash (14 June 189414 August 1961) was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio. He made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues. Nash's voice was of the light tenor class known as "tenore di g ...

, among others. Casts and dates for 327 BNOC performances in Scotland are available. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

''. The company was short of money throughout its existence, and the resumption of international opera seasons at Covent Garden deprived the BNOC of its lucrative London seasons which had in the first years subsidised its provincial tours.''The Manchester Guardian'', 2 July 1929, p. 10 The company ceased to exist in 1929 following a tax demand for £17,000 which forced it to go into voluntary liquidation. Its last performances were '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who m ...

'' at the Golders Green Hippodrome in London, on 16 April 1929, in a season in which the conductors included Beecham, Barbirolli and Eugène Goossens. The company effectively re-formed as the Covent Garden English Opera Company in September 1929, with Barbirolli as its musical director, and continued under that name until 1938.Rosenthal, Harold
"British National Opera Company"
''New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Retrieved 10 October 2009 (subscription required)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:British National Opera Company British opera companies Musical groups established in 1921 Musical groups disestablished in 1929 1921 establishments in England Arts organizations established in 1921