The Purcell Operatic Society was a short-lived but influential London opera company devoted to the production of stage works by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries. It was founded in 1899 by the composer

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series '' The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles in '' ...

and folded in 1902. Its stage director and production designer was Gordon Craig whose productions for the company marked the beginning of his career as a

theatre practitioner A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs his or her practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these t ...

. Their debut production of Purcell's opera ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...

'' in 1900 was one of the earliest staged performances of the work in modern times.

History

founded the Purcell Operatic Society in 1899 on the suggestion of his Hampstead neighbour, Nannie Dryhurst, who became the Society's secretary. Interest in Purcell's long-neglected stage works had been revived four years earlier on the bicentenary of his death when ''

'' received its first major staging in almost two hundred years. Shaw recruited his close friend, Gordon Craig, to create a new staging of the opera for the Society's debut production. Both men were in their mid-twenties at the time, and it was to be Craig's first major outing as a stage director. Craig and Shaw decided to rent lodgings closer to Nannie Dryhurst while they prepared their first production, and moved into a house at 8 Downshire Hill which was to serve as their living quarters, studio, and the offices of the Purcell Operatic Society. To pay the initial rent on the Downshire Hill house, Shaw sold many of his books and Craig pawned the gold watch which

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

had given him. From the outset, the Society was run on a shoe-string using gifted amateur musicians and singers (75 in all), recruited from Martin Shaw and Nannie Dryhurst's Hampstead friends, supplemented by two professionals for the leads. Shaw arranged the scores, rehearsed and trained the singers and conducted all the productions. Craig not only designed and directed all the productions, he also produced and illustrated the programmes and designed the Society's stationery and posters. Neither of them took any pay. Craig's sister, Edith Craig, also worked on their productions as did the painter Jean Inglis and the scenic artist William Thompson Hemsley. Rehearsals took place in private houses in Hampstead, first in a large room in Guyon House lent to them by William Boulting, and later at Lested Lodge in Well Walk. Guyon House Hampstead London

''Dido and Aeneas'' opened at the Hampstead Conservatoire on 17 May 1900, to critical success but a financial loss of £180 for the three performance run. Friends made up the shortfall, and the company staged the work again the following year at the Coronet Theatre in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

. It ran there from 25 to 30 March 1901, along with the Society's new production of ''The Masque of Love'' from Purcell's

semi-opera The terms "semi-opera", "dramatic opera" and "English opera" were all applied to Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included machines in the manne ...

, ''

Dioclesian ''Dioclesian'' (''The Prophetess: or, The History of Dioclesian'') is an English tragicomic semi-opera in five acts by Henry Purcell to a libretto by Thomas Betterton based on the play '' The Prophetess'', by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, ...

''. To help pull in audiences,

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

, Craig's mother, also performed Charles Reade's one-act play ''Nance Oldfield'' as a

curtain raiser A curtain raiser is a short performance, stage act, show, actor or performer that opens a show for the main attraction. The term is derived from the act of raising the stage curtain. The first person on stage has "raised the curtain". The fashio ...

. However, reviews criticised the addition of the play which had no obvious connection with the other two works and made the evening very long. Much of the audience had left before ''The Masque of Love'' even started. Despite the criticism, Craig approached

Lillie Langtry Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the isla ...

to provide a similar curtain raiser for their next production, but after showing initial interest in the proposal, she declined.Carrick (1968) p.147 The company's third and last production was Handel's '' Acis and Galatea'' (performed with ''The Masque of Love'') which opened at the Great Queen Street Theatre on 10 March 1902. Shaw had convinced the theatre's owner, W. S. Penley, to let them rent it for only £40 a week. Nevertheless, the production's finances were precarious. The 1901 ''Dido and Aeneas'' revival had not made any profit, and ''Acis and Galatea'' had no working capital apart from two or three small donations from friends, including one of £10 from

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

. With insufficient money to pay the stage hands and other creditors, the planned two-week run had to be curtailed to six performances. According to Craig, the creditors' agents called at the theatre on the last night to ensure that no property was removed and even searched the bags of the chorus members as they left. Ellen Terry eventually paid the outstanding bills, but the Purcell Operatic Society was essentially bankrupt, and with no funds forthcoming for future productions, finally had to close down. In July 1902, Shaw and Craig had already started work on the Society's fourth production, a

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

entitled ''Harvest Home'', which was to incorporate both English folk songs and songs by Purcell. However, the project was abandoned when the Society folded. After the Purcell Operatic Society's demise, Shaw and Craig went on to collaborate on three other productions, all with Craig as designer/stage director and Shaw as music director: *

Laurence Housman Laurence Housman (; 18 July 1865 – 20 February 1959) was an English playwright, writer and illustrator whose career stretched from the 1890s to the 1950s. He studied art in London. He was a younger brother of the poet A. E. Housman and his ...

nativity play A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas, the feast of the Nativity. Liturgical The term "Nativity Drama" is used by Wellesz in his discussion of the ...

''Bethlehem'' (Great Hall of the

Imperial Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust is a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pro ...

, December 1902) * Ibsen's ''

The Vikings at Helgeland ''The Vikings at Helgeland'' (''Hærmændene paa Helgeland'') is Henrik Ibsen's seventh play. It was written during 1857 and first performed at Christiania Norske Theater in Oslo on 24 November 1858. The plot takes place during the time of Erik B ...

'' (

Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed ...

, April 1903) *Shakespeare's ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'' (Imperial Theatre, May 1903). ''The Vikings'' and ''Much Ado About Nothing'', both of which starred Ellen Terry and had incidental music composed by Martin Shaw, were commercial disasters and proved to be the last plays Craig ever directed in England.Chamberlain (2008) pp. x–xi

Productions

† The programme began with ''Nance Oldfield'' performed by

's company

Members

The following were the Honorary and General committee members listed in the programme for the 1900 performance of ''Dido and Aeneas'': ;Honorary Members *Miss Janet Achurch *Mrs Allingham *Miss

*Sir Walter Besant *Sir J.F. Bridge, Mus. Doc *Charles Charrington *

*W.H. Cummings * Arnold Dolmetsch *Henry Holiday *Sir A C. Mackenzie, Mus. Doc. *Sir G. Martin, Mus. Doc. *Hamish MacCunn *Sir

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is be ...

, Mus. Doc. *A. Schulz-Curtius *Churchill Sibley *Prof.

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the ...

, Mus. Doc. *Hamo Thornycroft, R.A. * Charles Wood, Mus. Doc. ;General Committee *Mrs Boulting, ''Hon. Sec.'' *Mrs Oswald Cox *Mrs A.R. Dryhurst *Rev. Dr. E.A. Abbot *Canon Barnett *Edward Bell F.S.A. *Rev. S.B. Burnaby *J. Spencer Curwen *Charles Woodward, ''Hon Treas.'' *J. H. Isaacs *Rev. J. Kirkman *Dr. W. Mallam *James Nolan *Frank Podmore *James Shaw *Dr. G. Danford Thomas *Johnston Watson

Notes and references

Sources

Burden, Michael Michael Burden, FAHA, (born 14 March 1960) is an Australian musicologist, working in the United Kingdom. He was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2018. Life Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he wa ...

(2004) "Purcell's operas on Craig's stage: the productions of the Purcell Operatic Society", '' Early Music'', Vol. 32, Issue 3, August 2004, pp. 442–458 *Carrick, Edward (1968). ''Gordon Craig: The Story of his Life''. Knopf *Chamberlain, Franc (2008). "Introduction" to Craig, Edward Gordon
''On the art of the theatre''
Taylor & Francis (first published in 1911), pp. vii–xvi. *Eynat-Confino, Irène (1987)
''Beyond the mask: Gordon Craig, movement, and the actor''
SIU Press. *Fisher, James (2009)
"'An Idealist': The Legacy of Edward Gordon Craig’s Formative Productions, 1900–1903"
''Theatre Arts Journal: Studies in Scenography and Performance'', Vol. 1, No. 1. * Housman, Laurence (1937)
''The Unexpected Years''
Jonathan Cape. *John, Angela V. (2006)
''War, journalism and the shaping of the twentieth century: the life and times of Henry W. Nevinson''
I.B.Tauris. *Nicoll, Allardyce (2009)
''English Drama, 1900–1930: The Beginnings of the Modern Period''
Jones & Bartlett Learning. *Roose-Evans, James (1989)
''Experimental theatre: from Stanislavsky to Peter Brook''
Routledge. *Shaw, Martin (1929). ''

Up to Now ''Up to Now'' is the first compilation album by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album features tracks spanning Snow Patrol's fifteen-year music career, including tracks from The Reindeer Section, a side-project/ supergroup involving musi ...

''. Oxford University Press. *Shaw, Martin and Craig, Edward Gordon (1902). ''Souvenir Acis and Galatea, Masque of Love''. J J Waddington. * Woodfield, James (1984)
''British theatre in transition, 1889–1914''
Rowman & Littlefield (file copy). *

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, William Butler (1994)
''The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats: 1901–1904''
(edited and annotated by John Kelly, Eric Domville, and Ronald Schuchard). Oxford University Press.

External links

extract from ''

Up To Now ''Up to Now'' is the first compilation album by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album features tracks spanning Snow Patrol's fifteen-year music career, including tracks from The Reindeer Section, a side-project/ supergroup involving musi ...

'', the autobiography of

(Note that this extract has been abridged from the original text on pages 26–30) {{authority control British opera companies Musical groups established in 1899 Organizations disestablished in 1902