1913 1898, United Kingdom

1913 1898, United Kingdom

Identifier
S.1665-2014
Acquisition
Acquired with the support of the Friends of the V&A
Collection
Depiction
Dimension
40 cm (height)
29.7 cm (width)
Production time
Production place

Description

This satin programme was produced for a performance of Raymond Rôze's three act opera Joan of Arc, an evening in the Raymond Rôze English Opera Season 1913 in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary at London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 13 December 1913. The opera was produced in a concert version earlier that month and reviewed in The Musical Times, 1 December 1913. The composer Raymond Rôze (1875-1920) was Musical Director of the Royal Opera House and his three-act opera Joan of Arc was premiered there on 1 November 1913. The son of the French soprano Marie Rôze, he attempted to establish English as a significant language for opera, at a time when few were written in English. He had studied in Brussels with Arthur de Greef before working in England at the Lyceum Theatre where he was Musical Director. He also established a singing school in London in 1899 and was Musical Director for various theatre companies. His output consisted mainly of incidental music for plays including a number at His Majesty's Theatre under Sir Herbert Tree, including Trilby in 1895. His music was twice performed in London's Promenade concerts in 1901 and 1911, and he was the founding conductor of the British Symphony Orchestra, formed in 1919 from demobilised soldiers returning to London after World War I. A review in The Times was very critical of the opera’s disjointed nature and warned that ‘a drama with the characters singing and an orchestra to accompany them is not necessarily an opera.’ Joan of Arc received a further performance in Paris at a fundraising event for the Red Cross in 1917 but was ultimately unsuccessful. Peach silk programme edged with a cream silk fringe and printed in turquoise blue ink with the name of the theatres, the programme including the names of all the performers and their roles, and the names of the production staff. The programme is headed with an image printed in gold of the royal coat of arms and a thin gold line framing the text. Silk theatre programme produced for a performance of Raymond Rôze's Joan of Arc, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 13 December 1913, in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary.