D’Oyly Carte The Decline and Fall of an Opera Company

This book considers and discusses aspects of the management of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in the twentieth century since the death of its founder Richard D’Oyly Carte, and concentrates on key eventsthat contributed to its demise in 1982. In this book, Paul Seeley follows the analytical model that proposes no single factor triggered the collapse, but ratherseveral, both external and internal. In the case of an opera company the external factors may include public taste and market forces, but more significant are the internal factors such as the management decisions taken in response to external factors and how these compare with the original artistic aims, aspirations and business models of the founder. This is a study by someone with close observation of the administration; at the 1982 demise, Seeleywas assistant to the company manager, having earlier served on the music staff. The book is a must-read for music historians, theatre historians and arts-management professionals; as an uncompromisingly critical history of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company it is designed to serve a wider public, not just theGilbert and Sullivan opera specialist, but anyone keen to debate the desirability of private or public sponsorship of the performing arts.

1 The Making of D’Oyly Carte 2 Helen D’Oyly Carte 3 The Birth of a Tradition 4On Radio and on Record 5On Film and Television6 The D’Oyly Carte Opera Trust7 The last Savoyards8 D’Oyly Carte and the Arts Council 9 A ‘New’ D’Oyly Carte?

Paul Seeley read German and Linguistics at University College of North Wales, Bangor, and Music at Edinburgh before joining the music staff of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1976. Before the company closed in 1982, he was assistant to the Company Manager. In 2004, Liverpool University awarded him a PhD for his research on Franz Lehár. He is author of Richard D’Oyly Carte (Routledge 2019). He is a private teacher in semi-retirement.