Clarence M. "Jack" Leumane (died 23 February 1928) was an English-born singer, actor, songwriter and librettist. He played leading tenor roles in opera, especially the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, in the 1880s, first in Britain and then Australia. He was also a librettist and writer of the song "The Lambton Worm" in 1867.
Leumane was born in England, possibly in the Sunderland area, as the words of the song "The Lambton Worm" are from the Mackem dialect.[ citation needed ]
As an actor, in the autumn of 1881, he created the role of Captain Harleigh in Claude Duval , a comic opera by Edward Solomon and Henry Pottinger Stephens, at London's Olympic Theatre. He then joined a tour of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from November 1881 to October 1882, playing the leading Gilbert and Sullivan tenor roles of Alexis in The Sorcerer , Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance . In 1885, he appeared in London as Sir Lancelot in Dr. D, an English comic opera by C. P. Colnaghi and Cotsford Dick at the Royalty Theatre. [1] One reviewer commented: "Mr. Leumane has a very pleasing tenor voice, and as Ralph Rackstraw he not merely sang well, but acted with an intelligence and point". [2]
In 1887, as "C. H. Leumane", he made his first appearance in Australia with the J. C. Williamson Company in the leading Gilbert and Sullivan role of Prince Hilarion in the first Australian production Princess Ida . He continued with the company until 1890 in more Savoy Operas, as the Duke of Dunstable in Patience , Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard , and Marco in The Gondoliers . In between these productions, he also appeared in Australia as Geoffrey Wilder in Alfred Cellier's hit comic opera Dorothy , and was the title character in Gounod's Faust , including on the night in 1888, in Melbourne, when Frederick Federici died at the conclusion of the opera. [1] [3] He repeated his roles in the first New Zealand productions of Dorothy, Yeomen and Princess Ida in 1890. [1] He played the title role in his own opera, Mathias, in 1901.[ citation needed ]
He remained in Australia and died in South Australia in 1928.[ citation needed ]
The Lambton Worm is an old folk tale, similar to the tale of Saint George and the Dragon, going back centuries which was turned into a children's pantomime. As "C. M. Leumane", he wrote the song, and the pantomime was first performed at Tyne Theatre and Opera House, [4] Newcastle upon Tyne in 1867. The song became a local anthem.[ citation needed ]
He is credited as librettist (with the music by Ernest Truman) [5] for the opera Mathias, which is based on the story "Le Juif Polonais" (or The Polish Jew) by M.M. Erckmann-Chatrian. This Opera was given its world premiere at the Criterion Theatre, Sydney, on 26 July 1901 with Leumane also credited as the director, and with playing/singing the part of Mathias.[ citation needed ] Leumane is also credited as the lyricist of the 1909 one-act musical play Coward or hero? [6]
Leumane’s name also appears as the writer of the words and music of a work entitled "Advance Australia", [7] [8] which is described as a chorale for voice and piano. [9]
An old photograph is signed (vertically in the top right hand corner) "Yours truly C. M. Leumane 27/11/90". [10]
Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, and later those by other composer–librettist teams. The great bulk of the non-G&S Savoy Operas either failed to achieve a foothold in the standard repertory, or have faded over the years, leaving the term "Savoy Opera" as practically synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Savoy operas were seminal influences on the creation of the modern musical.
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.
Dennis Hans Olsen AM is an Australian singer, actor, director and pianist. His performances include opera, musical theatre, cabaret, radio, television and film. He is best known as an exponent of "patter" roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas and his performances of Noël Coward songs.
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company which, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The company was revived for short seasons and tours from 1988 to 2003, and since 2013 it has co-produced four of the operas with Scottish Opera.
Thomas Round was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the leading tenor roles of the Savoy Operas and grand opera.
Charles Courtice Pounds, better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.
George Tyrell Thorne was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, especially on tour and in the original New York City productions. He married D'Oyly Carte chorister Geraldine Thompson.
John Dean was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Emily Owen was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Beginning as a child actress, she performed for two decades before falling ill on tour and dying at age 33.
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan is a 1953 British musical drama film dramatisation of the collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. Librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, portrayed by Robert Morley and Maurice Evans, co-wrote fourteen extraordinarily successful comic operas, later referred to as the Savoy Operas, which continue to be popular today.
Charles Kenningham was an English opera singer and actor best remembered for his roles in the 1890s with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Hugh Enes Blackmore was a British opera and concert singer and actor. Known as the "Iron-Throated Tenor", he is best remembered for his performances of tenor roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. His career with D'Oyly Carte spanned almost 30 years, ending with a season as the company's stage manager. He was later a teacher of operatic singing and acting.
Wallace Brownlow was an opera singer and actor of the Victorian era best known for baritone roles in the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, first with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the UK and on tour, and later with J. C. Williamson in Australia. He also appeared in other stage roles in London, New York, and elsewhere, and made some silent films in America.
Barry Clark is an English opera singer and actor. Beginning in the 1970s, Clark played tenor roles in the Savoy Operas for over a decade with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He then sang in various opera companies, including New Sadler's Wells and Scottish Opera, and played in musicals on the West End. Later, Clark concentrated on oratorio and, in recent years, appeared with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, among others.
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its popular companion piece, Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole. The story concerns a "breach of promise of marriage" lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of lighthearted satire. Gilbert based the libretto of Trial by Jury on an operetta parody that he had written in 1868.
Henry Bracy was a Welsh opera tenor, stage director and opera producer who is best remembered as the creator of the role of Prince Hilarion in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Princess Ida. Bracy often played the leading tenor role in the works in which he appeared, becoming one of the most popular comic tenors of the Victorian era. His wife, Clara, was an actress.
John James Fryatt was an English actor and opera singer best known for his performance in comic character roles.
Llewellyn "Lyn" Cadwaladr was a Welsh operatic tenor who originated roles in, or starred in early tours of, comic operas and operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, Solomon and Stephens, Robert Planquette and others in the Victorian era, often in America for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He was touring as Ralph in H.M.S. Pinafore when he was asked to create the role of Frederic in the ad hoc 1879 British copyright performance of The Pirates of Penzance.
Evelyn Gardiner, born Enid Mary Griffin, was an English opera singer and actress known for her work as principal contralto in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and J. C. Williamson, as well as for other stage acting. In 1933, Gardiner earned a pilot's licence and claimed to be only the second British actress ever to do so.
Frederick Strafford Moss was a British tenor and actor. He appeared in the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1897 to 1913, mainly in touring companies of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, following which he had a career in musical theatre on the West End stage until 1931.