The Quinlan opera company in Cape Town, 1912–1913

Abstract

The performance of serious concert music in Cape Town evolved significantly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but during that period much of it was provided by touring European musicians.1 This gradually changed, especially after circa 1900 with the founding of various music societies in the Mother City. In the early years of the Union of South Africa, local critics often found the standards of South African and visiting overseas ensembles disappointing, although they also perceived progress on various fronts. It was at this time of transition and purportedly glacial advance that the renowned Quinlan Opera Company from London toured South Africa in 1912 and 1913—the latter year being the centenary of Richard Wagner’s birth. Playing to full houses in Cape Town and receiving effusively enthusiastic reviews, the Company’s performances of music dramas by Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, and other eminent composers elevated expectations and, by all local accounts, stimulated South African musicians and their audiences to demand higher standards than those which had hitherto been accepted