William Saurin Lyster (21 March 1828 – 27 November 1880), often referred to as W. Saurin Lyster, was an

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. His ...

, active in Australia.

Early life

Lyster was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland, the third son of Chaworth Lyster, a captain in the army, and his wife Anne, ''née'' Keightly. His uncle was

William Saurin William Saurin (1757 – 11 February 1839) was an Irish barrister, Crown official and politician. He was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1807 to 1822, and for much of that period, he acted as the effective head of the Irish Government. He was ...

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

. The Saurin family was partly of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

extraction. Another of his uncles was

James Saurin James Saurin (c.1760–1842) was an Ireland, Irish Anglican bishop in the 19th century. He was the last Bishop of Dromore before it was merged with the Diocese of Down and Connor. He was born in Belfast, the third of the four sons of Jam ...

Bishop of Dromore The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the original monastery of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Irel ...

. At the age of 13, Lyster, after an illness, was sent on a voyage around the world and visited Sydney and Melbourne in 1842. After his return to England, he went to India intending to become a planter, but the climate not suiting him, he again returned to England. In 1847, he was in South Africa and fought in the 7th Cape Frontier War, and a year later, was in the United States where he tried his fortunes as an actor with little success.

Impresario career

In 1855, Lyster was a member of General Walker's expedition to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

with the rank of captain. About two years later, he formed an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

company which included Madame Lucy Escott, Henry Squires, and Miss Georgia Hodson whom he married. This company had some success in the western states of America, and in 1861 Lyster brought it to Australia. For about seven years it gave performances of the operas of Italian, German, French and English composers, including '' Don Giovanni'' in 1861, and the ''

Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history ...

'' in 1862. Other companies were brought out in later years, and at times

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

was alternated with

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

. His opera company gave 1,459 performances between 1861 and 1869. Classic operas like ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

'', opened on 18 August 1877, and ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

'' in 1878, were box office failures, although the company had included a distinguished singer, Antoinetta Link. Lyster, however, made the lighter operas bear the cost of others which were artistic successes only. Among other European singers engaged by Lyster were Signor Pietro Paladini and Madame Fanny Simonsen, grandmother of

Frances Alda Frances Davis Alda (31 May 1879 – 18 September 1952) was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic lyric soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique ...

. The Australian tenor,

Armes Beaumont Edward Armes Beaumont (15 December 1842 – 17 July 1913) was a vocalist active in Australia. Beaumont was born in St Faith's, Norfolk, England. He and his family moved to Melbourne in 1848 and later he sang in the choir at the Wesleyan Chap ...

joined his company in 1870. Among concert artists introduced to Australia were pianists

Arabella Goddard Arabella Goddard (12 January 18366 April 1922) was an English pianist. She was born and died in France. Her parents, Thomas Goddard, an heir to a Salisbury cutlery firm, and Arabella née Ingles, were part of an English community of expatriat ...

and Henry Ketten, and Jules Levy, a well-known English cornet player of the period. Lyster's companies toured the principal cities of Australia and New Zealand, but for the last seven years of his life he made the

Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne The Tivoli Theatre was a major performing arts venue in Melbourne's East End Theatre District, located at 249 Bourke Street. The theatre's origins dated from 1866, with various remodelling and rebuilding throughout its history. Its final building ...

, his headquarters. Though best known for his productions of operas, he was interested also in the drama, and seasons were played at the opera house by the distinguished actress Madame Ristori, and by good comedy companies.

Death

Lyster fell into bad health about 1877 and never fully recovered. He died in Melbourne on 27 November 1880 and was survived by his wife, there were no children. Lyster was buried in the Anglican section of the

Melbourne General Cemetery The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North. The cemetery is notably the resting place of four Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other n ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyster, William 1828 births 1880 deaths Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Opera managers Impresarios Opera in Australia Music in Melbourne British military personnel of the 9th Cape Frontier War