The “Failure” of Provincial Opera

Abstract

Opera in nineteenth-century Scotland illustrates two aspects of provincial operatic culture: the dominating influence of London and the prevalence of British opera and opera in English in the provinces. Initial reliance on London was necessary to establish opera and musical centers in the provinces. With the exception of the rise of amateur companies in the 1870s, staged performances of operas were restricted to touring companies, which performed in Edinburgh as early as the 1850s. Touring companies provided the main support for native opera, particularly the Carl Rosa Opera Company and its regular commissions of operas by British composers in the 1870s and 1880s. In spite of pleas by the Scottish press for more autonomy, opera in the Scottish capital conformed to the repertoire heard in London and was mostly performed by touring companies based in the southern metropolis. Edinburgh needed time to build a sustainable opera audience, something the touring companies helped achieve. In Edinburgh—for a time known as the second literary city in the British Isles—print culture aided in shaping local operatic taste, illustrated local views of opera culture, and, with the majority of articles written by critics based in Edinburgh, influenced the Scottish capital’s musical reputation throughout the British Isles.