Rosa, Carl (real name, Karl August Nikolaus Rose)
Rosa, Carl (real name, Karl August Nikolaus Rose)
Rosa, Carl (real name, Karl August Nikolaus Rose ), German violinist, conductor, and opera impresario; b. Hamburg, March 22, 1842; d. Paris, April 30, 1889. At 12 he made tours as a violinist in England, Denmark, and Germany; studied further in the conservatories of Leipzig (1859) and Paris. He was concertmaster at Hamburg (1863–65), and gave a concert at the Crystal Palace in London (March 10, 1866). He toured in the U.S. with Bateman, meeting Euphrosyne Parepa and marrying her in N.Y. in 1867. They organized an English opera company and toured America until 1871, then returned to London. After his wife’s death in 1874, he produced opera in English in various London theaters, forming the Carl Rosa Opera Co. (1875), which gave regular performances at the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane (from 1883). Following Rosa’s death, the company became notably successful as a touring enterprise, being granted the title of the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Co. by Queen Victoria in 1893. It remained active until 1958.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire