Henry Russell (impresario)

Henry Russell (14 November 1871 – 11 October 1937) was an English impresario, conductor, director, and singing teacher.

Henry Russell
Born(1871-11-14)14 November 1871
London, England
Died11 October 1937(1937-10-11) (aged 65)
London, England
EducationSt Marylebone Grammar School
Alma materRoyal College of Music
Spouse(s)
Nina Hannah da Costa Andrade
​
(
m. after 1895, divorced)

Donna Shinn
​
(
div. 1926)

Lady Patricia Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood
​
(
m. after 1926, his death)
Parent(s)Henry Russell
Hannah de Lara
RelativesSir Landon Ronald (brother)
William C. Russell (half brother)

Early life

Henry Ronald Russell was born in London, the son of Henry Russell, a composer, pianist, and baritone, and his partner (later wife) Hannah de Lara, an artist.[1] He was the brother of the musician Sir Landon Ronald. From his father's first marriage to Isabella Lloyd, a member of the Lloyd banking family, he had two elder half brothers, novelist William Clark Russell and Anglican priest Henry Lloyd Russell.[2]

He was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School. Russell was "first destined for medicine, but severe illness diverted him to music."[3] After St Marylebone, he then pursued studies in singing at the Royal College of Music and conducting in Italy.[3]

Career

Russell began his career as a singing teacher, first in London (where Nellie Melba supplied him with his first singing pupils)[4] and then in Rome. He then worked as a conductor at various opera houses in Italy. In 1904, he established the San Carlo Opera Company (SCOC), originally a touring arm of the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples, Italy. The company soon became its own institution and toured to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London in late 1905. Russell and his company were responsible for presenting the whole 1905-1906 season at Covent Garden, and Russell directed or conducted all the productions.[4]

After completing the season in London, Russell and the SCOC went to Boston in the United States in 1906. The group remained based in Boston and gave tours annually of mostly Italian operas throughout the United States from 1906-1909 in addition to giving performances in Boston. With the opening of the Boston Opera House in 1909, the company essentially became the seed for the newly formed Boston Opera Company (BOC), which Russell co-founded with the Bostonian millionaire Eben Jordan, Jr.. He continued to direct the BOC until it went bankrupt in 1915.

After the BOC folded, Russell went to work for the Metropolitan Opera in New York as the company's associate director. He eventually returned to England where he was involved in directing productions at the Waldorf Theatre in London. He also directed a season of operas at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.[5]

Personal life

Russell married three times, first to Portuguese singer Nina Hannah da Costa Andrade (b. 1870), daughter of the Marquis de Pombal,[6] whom he married in 1895.[7] Before their marriage, they were the parents of two children:

His second wife was fellow singer Donna Shinn (b. c. 1882),[10] a collaborator of designer Natacha Rambova.[11][12] They divorced and married his third wife, actress Lady Patricia Ethel Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (b. 1902) on 11 June 1926.[13] Lady Patricia was the youngest of three daughters of Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 2nd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and his American wife, the former Flora Davis.[14] A year before their marriage, Lady Patricia's mother remarried to Richard Curzon, 4th Earl Howe.[15] There were no children of the second and third marriages.[16]

Russell died at his home in London on 11 October 1937 at the age of 65.[17]

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References
  1. Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L. (2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 837. ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  2. Holden, Raymond. "Ronald, Sir Landon (1873–1938)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, Oct 2008, accessed 6 February 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. Landman, Isaac; Cohen, Simon (1943). The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times. Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated. p. 277. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  4. Radic, Therese (1986). Melba: The Voice of Australia. Springer. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-349-08670-2. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  5. Ronald, Landon; Wyndham, Henry Saxe; L'Epine, Geoffrey (1915). Who's Who in Music: A Biographical Record of Contemporary Musicians. I. Pitman & Sons. p. 241. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  6. Maeterlinck, Fondation Maurice (1955). Annales - Fondation Maurice Maeterlinck (in French). Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  7. Eaton, Quaintance (1965). The Boston Opera Company. Appleton-Century. p. 336. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  8. Hohenberg, John (1995). Foreign Correspondence: The Great Reporters and Their Times, Second Edition. Syracuse University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8156-0314-6. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  9. "Russell, Sheridan William Robin (1900–1991)". www.oxforddnb.com. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  10. Moran, William R. (1985). Nellie Melba, a Contemporary Review. Greenwood Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-313-23893-2. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  11. Taves, Brian (2014). Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography. McFarland. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-7864-8442-3. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  12. "DONNA SHINN RUSSELL SINGS; Soprano Excels in French Pieces in Aeolian Hall Recital". The New York Times. 17 February 1927. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  13. "LADY PATRICIA IS WED TO HENRY RUSSELL; Actress, Daughter of Countess Howe, Becomes Bride of Opera Impresario in Paris" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 June 1926. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  14. Chambliss, William H. (1895). Chambliss Diary: Or, Society as it Really is. Chambliss. p. 16. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  15. "LADY HOWE DIES' IN ENGLISH HOME; Former Flora H. Davis of New York a Victim of Heart Disease Following Influenza" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 April 1925. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  16. "Dufferin and Ava, Marquess of (UK, 1888 - 1988)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  17. "RUSSELL, IMPRESARIO IN OPERA HERE IN 1905; Associate Director in 1910 at Metropolitan--Dies in His London Home at 65". The New York Times. 12 October 1937. p. 25. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
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