Historic Opera

SIR THOMAS BEECHAM OPERA COMPANY

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961), the wealthy heir to the Beecham Pill manufacturer, established his Beecham Opera Company in 1915 with a short season at the Shaftesbury Theater in London. His company initially presented various English works such as Stanford's The Critic and Ethel Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate. It rapidly grew into a grand opera organization. However, Beecham's conflicting arrangements with his conducting duties at Covent Garden forced the company into liquidation by 1920. Beecham's company eventually evolved into the British National Opera Company. These postcards were published by the Rotary Photographic Company. There were at least 15 sets produced including The Marriage of Figaro (3 sets), Tristan and Isolde, Madame Butterfly, Othello, La Boheme, Ivan the Terrible, Aida, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Louise, Boris Godounov, Faust, and Samson and Delilah. Each set came in a postcard envelope and cost one shilling.

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Sir Thomas Beecham, English musical conductor and opera impresario, sprang a sensation here today by announcing that he intended to shake the dust of England from his shoes forever and go to live in the United States. Sir Thomas, who lost a fortune trying to make grand opera pay in his native land, made bitter comments on England and the English people when he disclosed his intention of making the New World his home. "England is finished, not only musically but every other way," he told newspaper representatives. "The only thing for everybody to do is to give up and go to America. I am off very soon. I am going as a guest and will conduct the Philadelphia orchestra.... He fired this parting shot at England: "There is no hope for this country in any way. We are an imperial race like the Romans and work is distasteful to us. I suggest that we put our entire industrial population on doles, import Chinese and Japanese workmen and pay them the difference between the dole and what we would pay ourselves if we chose to work, and then the country would be run without our having to soil our imperial hands." NY Times: 5 Nov 1926.

The Beecham opera postcards were sold in sets of six cards. They cards were sold in an envelope such as seen above.

The sets I know of are as follows (Note: The operas were performed in English) :

• The Marriage of Figaro (set 1) (featuring Desire Ellinger, Frederick Austin, Miriam Licette, Powell Edwards)
• The Marriage of Figaro (set 2) (featuring Alfred Heather, Miriam Licette, Clytie Hine, Frederick Austin, Frederick Ranalow)
• The Marriage of Figaro (set 3) (featuring Bessie Tyas, Frederick Austin, Miriam Licette, Frederick Ranalow, Miss Owen Trevitt)
• Tristan and Isolde (featuring Rosina Buckmann, Frank Mullings)
• Madame Butterfly (featuring Edith Clegg)
• Othello (featuring Miriam Licette)
• La Bohème (featuring Powell Edwards, Olive Townend, Jeanne Brola, Frederick Austin, Webster Millar)
• Ivan the Terrible
• Aida (featuring Rosina Buckmann, Edna Thornton, Norman Allin, Powell Edwards, Frank Mullings)
• I Pagliacci (featuring Robert Parker, Olive Townend)
• Cavalleria Rusticana (featuring Rosina Buckmann, Maurice D'Oisly)
• Boris Godounov (featuring Robert Radford, Powell Edwards)
• Louise (featuring Edith Clegg, Miriam Licette, Frederick Ranalow, Maurice D'Oisly)
• Faust (featuring Miriam Licette)
• Samson and Delilah (featuring Edna Thornton, Norman Allin)
• Sir Thomas Beecham (at least 3 postcards of the impresario and conductor)

[During World War I] "During a Tristan und Isolde, with Mullings, Rosina Buckman (name parts) and Edna Thornton (Brangaene) on the stage, James Elliott, the assistant manager, suddenly appeared among them in dress clothes. Advancing to the footlights with upraised hand, he said to the audience, 'We have just been informed that enemy aeroplanes have crossed the coast and that an air raid is about to take place. I would like to tell you that the walls of this theatre are seven feet thick, but I don't think it's too good for you in the upper and grand circles. I suggest you all come down into the stalls.'" - Reid, Charles. 1962. Thomas Beecham. An Independent Biography. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.

London: Frederic Austin, operatic singer and composer who for many years was closely connected with the Royal Philharmonic Society, died here today at the age of 80. After singing at festivals and concerts, Mr. Austin took up operatic work and became the principal baritone for the former Beecham Opera Company. Writer of many orchestral works, pianoforte pieces and songs, he conducted in 1940 the Glyndebourne Festival's revival of The Beggar's Opera to his musical version. He also was the former president of the British Incorporated Society of Musicians. Obituary, NY Times : 11 Apr 1952.

[Bombings of World War I] "The first raid on London's theatre district occurred on an October night in 1915. In Faust at the Shaftesbury, Robert Radford was singing Mephistopheles not in red, according to English tradition, but, after Maurel's fashion, in black. During the first act Zeppelin L. 15 hung over the roof of the Waldorf Hotel, coned in searchlights, a pretty spectacle against the stars. She dropped nineteen bombs .... The Shaftesbury went unscathed." Reid, Charles. 1962. Thomas Beecham. An Independent Biography. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.

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