NANCY MCINTOSH

'Nancy McIntosh' (1874 – February 20, 1954) was an American-born singer and actress on the London stage, and one of the last of W. S. Gilbert's protegées. Her brother was Burr McIntosh, a writer, publisher, photographer, war correspondent, radio personality, and stage and film actor. Her father was W. A. McIntosh, the president of a public utility company and member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose South Fork Dam burst in 1889 resulting in the loss of over 2,200 lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Early life and career

After ''Utopia''

References

External links

Early life and career

Nancy McIntosh was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She was described as an expert horsewoman, had won prizes in sculling matches, could shoot and fence, played baseball and cricket and enjoyed swimming and diving.[1]
McIntosh traveled to England with her father in 1892, where she studied voice under George Henschel. She soon sang in concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra and at The Crystal Palace, where she sang in Beethoven's ''Choral Symphony'' and selections from Wagner's ''Die Meistersinger''. Henschel introduced her to Gilbert. After hearing her, Gilbert asked Arthur Sullivan to audition her for the soprano lead in their new opera, ''Utopia, Limited''. Sullivan approved her, and she made her theatrical debut creating the part of Princess Zara in ''Utopia'' (1893-94) at the Savoy Theatre, a role much expanded for her from its initial conception. It was McIntosh's only part with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

After ''Utopia''

McIntosh became a protegée of Gilbert's and eventually moved in with the Gilberts, and they considered her an "adopted" daughter, as they had no children of their own. She then appeared as Dorothy in Gilbert's ''Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith'' (1894), as Christina in Gilbert and Osmond Carr's ''His Excellency'' (1894-95). Sullivan had previously declared that McIntosh would never appear in another of his operas, and so when Gilbert offered Sullivan the opportunity to set the libretto of ''His Excellency'', with the stipulation that McIntosh would play the soprano lead, Sullivan declined the invitation.
McIntosh also appeared in America in ''His Excellency'' in (1895), as La Favorita in ''The Circus Girl'' (1897), and in the title role of ''The Geisha'' (1897-98). She soon retired from the stage, but almost a decade later, at Gilbert's request, she returned to appear as Selene, the Fairy Queen, in Gilbert and Edward German's flop, ''Fallen Fairies'' at the Savoy Theatre in 1909. Management attributed much of the blame for the failure of ''Fallen Fairies'' to Nancy McIntosh, whose vocal powers were not what they had been a decade earlier, and critics said that she was "too much a tragedy queen". The sexuality required by the role was "not her sphere". (Stedman, 334-35). It is likely, however, that the work's tedious libretto was as much to blame. In any case, C. H. Workman, the opera's lead comic and its producer, had the unhappy duty of replacing McIntosh after the first week of the opera's run and incurring the wrath of Gilbert. McIntosh never appeared in an opera again (although she may have had concert engagements).
McIntosh lived with the Gilberts for the rest of their lives, serving as hostess at their home, Grim's Dyke. After Lady Gilbert died in 1936, McIntosh moved to Knightsbridge, London. She also took Lady Gilbert's position as Vice-President of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Also after Lady Gilbert's death, Gilbert's entire estate, including the Garrick Theatre, passed to McIntosh. McIntosh died in London in 1954, and the remainder of the Gilbert estate went to the Royal General Theatrical Fund, including the substantial royalties from the HMV and Decca recordings of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Fund also received stocks and revenues from the sale of Gilbert's papers to the British Museum.

References

★ The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion, , Leslie, Ayre, W.H. Allen & Co Ltd, 1972, Introduction by Martyn Green.

★ W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre, , Jane W., Stedman, Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-816174-3

★ McIntosh, Nancy. "The Late Sir W.S. Gilbert's Pets" in the ''W. S. Gilbert Society Journal'', Brian Jones, ed. Vol. 2 No. 18: Winter 2005 (reprinted from ''Country Life'', 3 June 1911), pp. 548-556

★ Final curtain: The last Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, , John, Wolfson, Chappell in association with A. Deutsch, 1976, ISBN 0-903443-12-0

External links

★ Nancy McIntosh at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

★ "The Controversy Surrounding Gilbert's Last Opera" by Robert Morrison

★ Image from ''Utopia, Limited''

★ Profile of McIntosh