t h e r o s a t r o u p e
Giulia Warwick
Giulia Warwick was born Julia Ehrenberg in Warwick Street, Regent’s Park, London, in 1857. Her stage name was derived from the street of her birth. She came from a musical family and initially trained as a concert pianist before vocal studies with Madame Sainton-Dolby and Manuel Garcia revealed a promising young soprano, who came to the notice of Carl Rosa.
She made her Rosa debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Alexandra Palace on 30 September 1876 and repeated the role at the same venue a fortnight later. Three performances as Arline in Bohemian Girl and one Marcellina in Fidelio followed at the Lyceum with a final Arline on Boxing Day in Liverpool. Her first acquaintance with the Rosa was just seven appearances in three months. However another opportunity came her way during the following year when the impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte engaged her for The Sorcerer, Gilbert and Sullivan’s first full length comic opera. She was the original Constance in the November 1877 premiere and graduated to the leading role of Aline early in the following year. Summer closure was followed by concerts until she returned to the Rosa in Dublin in December.
She returned as Ann Chute in Benedict’s Lily of Killarney and remained for four years making 224 appearances in seventeen operas including British premieres of Piccolino (Guiraud) and I Promessi Sposi (Ponchielli). Her operatic repertoire suggest that she was more at home in mezzo roles. Warwick’s final Rosa performance was in Balfe’s Painter of Antwerp at the Prince’s Theatre, Manchester, on 27 May 1882.
Her later career was in light opera until she retired from the
stage in the 1890s and taught at the Guildhall School of Music. She
left there in 1902 to establish her own vocal school. She died aged
only forty-seven on 13 July 1904 at her home in Rathbone Place, London,
and is buried in Willesden Jewish cemetery.
© 2017 John Ward
