14 Facts About Carl Rosa

Carl Rosa started his company in 1869 together with his wife, Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, and popularised opera in Britain and America, performing standard repertory in English, as well as operas by English composers.

In 1863, Carl Rosa was appointed Konzertmeister at Hamburg, where he had occasional opportunities to conduct.

Carl Rosa had considerable success as a conductor both in England and the United States.

Carl Rosa travelled to America in 1866 as a member of a concert troupe promoted by the Baltimore impresario Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman that included the Scottish operatic soprano Euphrosyne Parepa.

Carl Rosa changed the spelling of his name after he moved to England, where people took "Rose" as a monosyllable.

Related searches

Carl Rosa's policy was to present operas in English, and that remained the company's practice.

That year, Rosa invited the dramatist W S Gilbert to write a libretto for Rosa to present as part of a planned 1874 season at the Drury Lane Theatre.

Parepa died in January 1874; Carl Rosa dropped the project and cancelled his planned 1874 season.

Carl Rosa later endowed a Parepa-Carl Rosa scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In 1876, Carl Rosa staged a second London season, which featured the first performance in English of The Flying Dutchman with Santley in the title role.

Carl Rosa hired Alberto Randegger as the musical director of the company from 1879 to 1885.

Carl Rosa introduced many works of important opera repertoire to England for the first time, performing some 150 different operas over the years.

Carl Rosa died suddenly in Paris, on 30 April 1889, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.

Carl Rosa's company survived his death and continued to perform opera in English until 1960.