Charles Manners (bass)#Moody-Manners Opera Company

Manners was born Southcote Randal Bernard Campbell Mansergh{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-recent-wills/138456099/ |title=Recent Wills |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |page=9 |date=21 October 1935 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} in Hoddesdon,{{Efn|According to most references, but The Musical Times obituary, July 1935, p. 656, records his place of birth as London}} England, son of Colonel J. C. Mansergh, an Irishman.{{Cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS420687015/TTDA |title=Mr. Charles Manners |newspaper=The Times |publication-place=London |issue=47057 |page=25 |date=7 May 1935 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=The Times Digital Archive}} He was educated at Hoddesdon Grammar School and considered a career in the army. He tried engineering and stockbrokerage before deciding on music as a profession. He studied at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in Florence.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-the-training-of-operatic-si/138456253/ |title=The Training of Operatic Singers |last=Manners |first=Charles |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |page=3 |date=1899-09-20 |publication-date=27 September 1899 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In either 1881 or 1882 he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorus member.{{Efn|According to Manners, in his letter to The Manchester Guardian, 27 September 1899, he served for eighteen months in the chorus before becoming a principal, which would mean that he joined in the spring of 1881. The Times obituary (7 May 1935) also gives 1881 as the year in which he joined the company. Rollins and Witts, on the other hand, date his membership to 1882.}} In early 1882, he appeared on tour in the chorus of Claude Duval and, later in the same year, in the chorus of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance.Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/M/MannersCharles.htm Charles Manners] at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 17 August 2001, accessed 26 December 2009 He was promoted to the roles of Dick Deadeye in Pinafore and Samuel in Pirates in August 1882.Rollins and Witts, p. 40 He also appeared as Mr. Wallaby in the companion piece Quite an Adventure. In November 1882, he created the role of Private Willis in Iolanthe at the Savoy Theatre.Rollins and Witts, p. 8

Manners left the D'Oyly Carte company in late 1883. In 1884, he sang Boleslas in Falka on tour.Hubbard, L. W. (ed.). [https://archive.org/details/operaswithintrod011072mbp The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, Vol. II Operas] (1908) pp. 159-162. London: Irving SquireHibbert, Henry George. A playgoer's memories (1920), pp. 31–32 and 208, London: G. Richards Ltd In 1885 he sang in light opera at the new Empire Theatre,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-the-empire/138457030/ |title=The Empire |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=14 |date=1 August 1885 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} and played Wickermark in a romantic opera, The Fay o' Fire at the Opera Comique with the young Marie Tempest.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-the-london-theatres/138457266/ |title=The London Theatres |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=14 |date=21 November 1885 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1886, he joined a touring opera troupe called "The Royal English Opera Company", later renamed "Sydney Leslie's Opera Company", playing Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-daily-post-theatre-royal-bir/138458813/ |title=Theatre Royal, Birmingham |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |page=1 |date=3 May 1886 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} For another touring company he played in the comic opera, Falka: "as Boleslas there is opportunity for display of a powerful physique and a good voice that Mr. Charles Manners is not slow to make use of."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-mercury-etc-court-theatre/138458950/ |title=Court Theatre |newspaper=Liverpool Mercury |page=6 |date=7 September 1886 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} With the same company he played General Bombardos in the English première of Charles Lecocq's Pepita.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-pepita/138459124/ |title='Pepita' |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=14 |date=1 January 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In June 1887, Manners signed a two-year contract with the Carl Rosa Opera Company as a principal bass,The Era, 4 June 1887, p. 8 making his début as King Henry in Lohengrin.Freeman's Journal, 30 August 1887, p. 7 His early roles for the company included Peter the Great in Meyerbeer's L'étoile du nord,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-the-manchester-dramatic-sea/138459351/ |title=The Manchester Dramatic Season |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |page=5 |date=27 February 1889 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} the King of Spain in Maritana, Pietro in Auber's Masaniello, and Bertram in Robert the Devil.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/western-mail-carl-rosa-opera-company-at/138459467/ |title=Carl Rosa Opera Company at Cardiff |newspaper=Western Mail |publication-place=Cardiff |date=30 September 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/glasgow-herald-carl-rosa-opera-company/138466856/ |title=Carl Rosa Opera Company |newspaper=Glasgow Herald |page=7 |date=9 November 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/glasgow-herald-carl-rosa-opera-company/138467061/ |title=Carl Rosa Opera Company |newspaper=Glasgow Herald |page=8 |date=11 November 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-glasgow/138467140/ |title=Glasgow |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=17 |date=12 November 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} His later roles included Mephistopheles in Faust,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bristol-mercury-and-daily-post-west/138467261/ |title=Opera at the Prince's |newspaper=Bristol Mercury |page=8 |date=15 October 1888 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} and Cardina Brogni in La Juive.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-daily-post-theatre-royal/138467480/ |title=Theatre Royal |newspaper=Birmingham Daily Post |page=4 |date=29 October 1888 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} A fellow member of the company was the Cornish soprano Fanny Moody, whom Manners married at St George's, Hanover Square on 5 July 1890.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-dublin/138467622/ |title=Dublin |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=17 |date=10 September 1887 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}Rosenthal, Harold and George Biddlecombe. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/17657 Manners, Charles (Mansergh, Southcote)], Oxford Music Online (requires subscription), accessed 26 December 2009Marriage of Frances Moody (1890) in Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1935, via Ancestry.co.uk When not touring in opera, Manners took part in concerts in London and the provinces, gaining favourable reviews.See, for example, The Observer, 29 September 1889, p. 2; 20 October 1889, p. 6; and 27 October 1889, p. 7; and The Manchester Guardian, 18 November 1889, p. 8; and 13 January 1890, p. 5. He was one of three singers invited to tour with Sims Reeves in Reeves's farewell series of concerts.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-gloucester/138467798/ |title=Gloucester |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=20 |date=1889-11-30 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In October 1890 Manners joined the Covent Garden company, making his debut in Roberto il Diavolo. "The English basso-profondo, Mr. Charles Manners, sang with grand effect the music allotted to Bertram, and his acting was powerfully impressive."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-music/138468067/ |title=Music |newspaper=The Observer |publication-place=London |page=6 |date=26 October 1890 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} For the same management, this time at the Olympic Theatre, he appeared as King Henry in Wagner's Lohengrin (given in Italian: his role was billed as "Enrico l'Ucellatore") with Emma Albani as Elsa; and as Gremin in the British première of Eugene Onegin conducted by Henry Wood, with Fanny Moody as Tatiana.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-music/138467930/ |title=Music |newspaper=The Observer |publication-place=London |page=6 |date=23 October 1892 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1893 he made his New York début, and on his return he and Moody signed to appear with Augustus Harris's opera company. Among other roles, Manners played Devilshoof in The Bohemian Girl at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with Moody as Arline.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-english-opera-at-drury-lane/138468265/ |title=English Opera at Drury-Lane |newspaper=The Era |publication-place=London |page=15 |date=20 April 1895 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1896–97 he made a successful and remunerative tour of South Africa with Moody. When they returned to England in 1898, they formed the Moody-Manners Company.

Manners's ambition was to found a company to give opera in English that would, in time, become a permanent national ensemble based in London.Rosenthal, Harold.

[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O009189 "Moody-Manners Company"], Oxford Music Online (requires subscription), accessed 26 December 2009 With limited capital at their disposal (Manners later stated that they founded the company on £1,700 borrowed from friends, and repaid it all within a year),Music & Letters, April 1926, p. 95 they began with a provincial tour, starting in Manchester in September 1898. The Manchester Guardian commented, "There can be no greater proof of the energy of Mr Manners as a director than the fact of his having produced during the second week of his career as a manager no fewer than seven different operas, two of which were absolute novelties in the provinces." Of Manners himself, the paper wrote, "a highly gifted artist … whose voice seems to have lost none of the beauty which was so much admired in the far-away days when he was the Lifeguardsman in Iolanthe."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-comedy-theatre/138468624/ |title=Comedy Theatre |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |page=5 |date=19 September 1898 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} Moody was the company's leading soprano.Warrack, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WbDbuLJPKBgC&pg=PA345 "Moody, Fanny"], p. 345

File:Charles Manners (1857–1935).jpg

By 1902 there were two Moody-Manners touring companies. The larger of the two had 175 members and gave London seasons in 1902 and 1903 at Covent Garden, in 1904 at Drury Lane, and in 1907 and 1908 at the Lyric Theatre when the repertoire included The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Marriage of Figaro, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, Faust, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, Madame Butterfly, Aïda and Il trovatore.{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5YPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA542&ci=534%2C1275%2C461%2C282 |title=Opera in English |magazine=The Musical Times |volume=48 |number=774 |page=542 |date=1 August 1907 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA600&ci=499%2C391%2C457%2C435 |title=Operas in English |magazine=The Musical Times |volume=50 |number=787 |page=600 |date=1 September 1908 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Google Books}} There were Moody-Manners tours not only of Britain but also of North America and South Africa.

The opera historian Harold Rosenthal wrote of the Moody-Manners company: "With the Carl Rosa company, it was the principal training ground for British artists in the years before World War I." Manners held strong views about the training given by British music academies to young singers. In his view students were not equipped for a professional career because they were trained in the principal operatic roles rather than in the chorus parts, which almost all singers new to the profession would need to sing before being promoted to leading roles. He instanced his own early career: "I studied both at the Royal Academy, Dublin, and the Royal Academy, London, and then in Italy, and when I came back to London, all I could get was an engagement in comic opera where I sang for eighteen months before I could become a principal. It was not till over six years after I left my studies that I found anything I had learnt at the academies of any value to me."

Manners encouraged British composers to write for his company, offering prizes for the best operas:Warrack, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WbDbuLJPKBgC&pg=PA313 "Manners, Charles"], p. 313 one of the prize-winners was Colin McAlpin's The Cross and the Crescent (1903).Hubbard and Krehbiel, p. 348. Revival reviewed in The Era, 22 December 1915 He sponsored opera festivals in Sheffield in 1904 and 1906, whose profits helped to found Sheffield University. He also used profits from a successful season in Glasgow in 1906 to help create the Glasgow Grand Opera Society, which continued his work in popularising opera in English between the two World Wars. By 1910, Manners faced financial difficulties and had to disband one of his two companies, and the remaining Moody-Manners Company gave its last performance in May 1916. Manners retired from singing in 1913. In its final season, playing to capacity audiences, the Moody-Manners company offered Il trovatore, The Bohemian Girl, Martha, Faust, The Lily of Killarney, The Daughter of the Regiment, Carmen, and Eugene Onegin, with Moody as Tatiana.{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMkVhgErPTgC&pg=PA109&ci=475%2C957%2C459%2C534 |title=Liverpool |magazine=The Musical Times |volume=LVII |number= |page=109 |date=1 February 1916 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Google Books}}

After the closure of his companies, Manners continued to campaign for a national opera company. He wrote to The Musical Times in 1921, "I here assert for the thousandth time that National Grand Opera can be given in an all round way at popular prices – I repeat, popular prices – far better than it has ever been given, without a cost of a farthing to the rates or taxes."{{Cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SI8PAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA119&ci=492%2C59%2C475%2C843 |title=Letters to the Editor: Permanent Opera in English |first=Charles |last=Manners |magazine=The Musical Times |volume=62 |number=936 |page=119 |date=1 February 1921 |access-date=2024-01-10 |via=Google Books}} In 1926 he wrote a long article on "The Financial Problem of National Opera. By the People for the People", explaining his rationale.Music & Letters, April 1926, pp. 93–105 He disapproved of public subsidy, insisting that opera could be self-supporting and even profitable. Although later attempts to follow his precepts, such as those of Raymond Gubbay at the Savoy Theatre in 2004, have failed,Higgins, Charlotte. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/08/arts.artsnews1 "After just one month, curtain falls on Savoy Opera – West End experiment to find wider audience flops"], The Guardian, 8 May 2004, accessed 26 December 2009 his dream of a national opera company presenting operas in English has been realised.

Manners and Moody retired to Ireland, where he died at Dundrum, County Dublin, aged 77.

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{{reflist}}

• Hubbard, W.L. and H.E. Krehbiel. The American History and Encyclopedia of Music: Operas Part II, Squire-Cooley Co., Toledo, Ohio, USA (1924)
• Mander, Raymond and Joe Mitchenson. A Picture History of Gilbert and Sullivan, Vista Books, London (1962)
• Rollins, Cyril and R. John Witts. The D'Oyly Carte Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. Michael Joseph, London (1962)
• Warrack, John and Ewan West. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press, p. 345 (3rd Edition, 1996) {{ISBN|0192800280}}

• [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/M/MannersCharles.htm Profile of Manners]

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Category:1857 births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:19th-century British male opera singers

Category:British operatic basses

Category:British basses

Category:20th-century British male opera singers