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THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY
Ruth Vincent (1894-99) [Born Grand Yarmouth, Norfolk 22 Mar 1877, died London 4 Jul 1955]
Soprano Ruth Vincent first appeared with the D'Oyly Carte
Opera Company in the chorus of The Chieftain at the Savoy from December
1894 to March 1895. From March to May
1895 she was on tour with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "D." At some point thereafter she returned to the
Savoy, where on March 7, 1896, she created the small part of Gretchen in The
Grand Duke. She also understudied
Florence Perry as Lisa, going on for her on occasion in April and May 1896
while Miss Perry filled in for Ilka von Pálmay as Julia Jellicoe. Miss Vincent returned to the chorus for the July
1896-February 1897 revival of The Mikado, but then created the role of
Dorothea in His Majesty (February-April 1897). She was Kate in the first revival of The Yeomen of the Guard
(May 5, 1897), filled in briefly for Miss von Pálmay as Elsie Maynard in July,
then assumed the part of Elsie in August when Miss von Pálmay left the
Savoy. Miss Vincent next appeared as
Iza in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (December 1897-March 1898),
Casilda in The Gondoliers (March-May and July-September 1898), Laine in The
Beauty Stone (May-July 1898), Aline in The Sorcerer
(September-December 1898), Princess Laoula in The Lucky Star (January-May
1899), and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore (June-November 1899). Dismayed when she was not selected for the leading soprano
role (Sultana Zubedyah) in The Rose of Persia, Miss Vincent rejected the
part she was assigned ("Scent-of-Lilies") and left the D'Oyly Carte for good in
November 1899. (Ellen Beach Yaw, the
American soprano selected for the Sultana, was dismissed after two weeks in the
role. The opportunity to replace her
went to Isabel Jay who went on to star in the next several productions at the
Savoy.) Oddly, Ruth Vincent did get a chance to play the Sultana,
not in London with the D'Oyly Carte, but in New York in a Charles Frohman
production at Daly's Theatre. The
Rose of Persia was not a success in New York, closing after just 25
performances on September 29, 1900. Miss Vincent reappeared in London as Merva Sunningdale in The
Medal and the Maid (Lyric, April-September 1903). She went on to take leading roles in Veronique (Apollo,
1904-05), A Girl on the Stage (Prince of Wales's, 1906), Trial by
Jury (as the Plaintiff in the Ellen Terry Jubilee celebration, June 12,
1906), Amäsis (New and Criterion, 1906-07), Tom Jones (Apollo,
1907), The Belle of Brittany (Queen's, 1908-09), and A Persian
Princess (Queen's, 1909). She made
her first of several appearances in grand opera at Covent Garden in February
1910, made a concert tour of the provinces in 1911, and made her debut in
oratorio in 1912, appearing at the 1912 Hereford and 1913 Gloucester
Festivals. In her later years she
appeared mostly at the Palladium, Coliseum, and other variety houses. She was also an Associate of the
Philharmonic Society. Ruth Vincent recorded a number of songs for HMV and Columbia
between 1904 and 1920. None were from
her D'Oyly Carte repertoire, but one, "The Waltz Song" from Edward German's Tom
Jones, has been preserved on the CD "The Art of the Savoyard" (Pearl GEMM
CD 9991). Her younger sister Madge Vincent was a D'Oyly Carte chorister from
1898 to 1900. |
| Page modified October 9, 2001 | © 2001 David Stone |