t h e r o s a t r o u p e
Augustus Harris
Augustus Harris, born in Paris on 18 March 1852, was a child of the theatre with a father who was stage manager at Covent Garden and a mother who was a theatrical costumier. The family tree was rich in operatic history and Augustus could recollect a childhood of opera from the wings and being petted by famous prima donnas. He moved from actor, dramatist, and producer to become lessee and manager of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1879. He made it profitable with spectacular melodramas and pantomimes which became very popular and earned him the nickname ‘Druriolanus’.
Rosa’s London seasons were not usually profitable but they brought prestige and they had been appearing at various West End theatres since 1875. Their Drury Lane seasons from 1883 to 1887 are sometimes described as a partnership; Harris had considerable input into productions and he may have had a private financial stake in the Rosa company although it did not acquire limited liability status until 1887. This was also the year when their collaboration stalled with Harris giving a star-studded Italian season at Drury Lane to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee and following with seasons at Covent Garden. The Rosa were then banished from London theatres for three frustrating years. This must have involved Harris and the stalemate was only resolved by an April 1889 agreement which brought the companies closer together for both English and Italian opera under the joint management of Harris and Rosa. Harris’s strategy seems to have been to use the prospect of London seasons to overcome Rosa’s reluctance for closer ties. The new relationship was immediately undermined by Rosa’s sudden death. It was not totally abandoned but Harris’s enthusiasm for English opera waned and latterly the Rosa seemed subsidiary to his Italian opera plans. He reigned at Covent Garden until 1896 restoring both the prestige of Italian opera and the theatre.
Harris entered politics in
1890 and received a knighthood the following year not for his services
to the theatre but because he served as an Under Sheriff of London
during the visit of the Kaiser. He died at Folkestone on 22 June 1896
at only forty-four and is buried in London at Brompton Cemetery under
an impressive funeral monument. Another memorial outside Drury Lane
theatre (Illustrated) and just around the corner from Covent Garden is
in the form of a drinking fountain surmounted by a bust of Harris. It
is not impressively monumental but it is in the midst of his theatrical
homeland and serves his memory well.
© 2017 John Ward
If you use the information on this page, please acknowledge the Carl Rosa Trust: www.carlrosatrust.org.uk
