Carl Rosa Opera Company

[4] For the next fifteen years, the company prospered and earned good notices, with provincial tours and London seasons, frequently in conjunction with Augustus Harris at the Drury Lane Theatre.

[4] In October 1892, Rosa's Grand Opera Company received the royal accolade, with a command performance of Donizetti's La fille du régiment at Balmoral Castle.

The French-American soprano Zélie de Lussan sang the heroine, Marie, and Aynsley Cook "vastly amused Queen Victoria as Sergeant Sulpice".

[4] In 1880, George Grove, editor of the authoritative musical reference work, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, wrote: "The careful way in which the pieces are put on the stage, the number of rehearsals, the eminence of the performers and the excellence of the performers have begun to bear their legitimate fruit, and the Carl Rosa Opera Company bids fair to become a permanent English institution.

[7] Its successes included productions of Cherubini's Les deux journées (1875); The Flying Dutchman (1876), with Santley in the title role; the first English-language production of Carmen (1879), starring Selina Dolaro in the title role and Durward Lely as Don José;[8] Rienzi (1879); Lohengrin (1880); Tannhäuser (1882);[2] and the first British staging of Puccini's La bohème (1897).

Pauline in 1876 (Frederic Hymen Cowen), Esmeralda in 1883 (Arthur Goring Thomas), Colomba in 1883, The Canterbury Pilgrims in 1884 (Charles Villiers Stanford), The Troubadour in 1886 (Alexander Mackenzie), and Nordisa in 1887 (Frederick Corder) were six of the operas commissioned by the company.

The company presented two seasons at Covent Garden in 1907–08 and 1909, including new productions of Tannhäuser and Tristan and Isolde conducted by Eugène Goossens II.

Singers of the 1930s and 1940s included Dora Labbette, Joan Hammond, Heddle Nash, Norman Allin, Marina de Gabaráin and Otakar Kraus.

[19] In 1953 the Carl Rosa Trust was formed in association with the Arts Council, who agreed to subsidise the company, now directed by Phillips's widow, Annette.

[23] This approach caused outrage in some operatic quarters, and Sadler's Wells's musical director (Alexander Gibson) and administrative heads (Norman Tucker and Stephen Arlen) resigned in protest.

[25] In the ensuing furore, Procter-Gregg resigned, as did the chairman of the Carl Rosa Trust, Sir Donald Wolfit, and trustees Astra Desmond and Norman Allin.

[27] The Carl Rosa Trust raised money privately,[28] and promoted a month's season at the Prince's Theatre in 1960, but the company's final curtain descended after Don Giovanni on 17 September 1960.