THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Jack Leumane

Jack Leumane (1881-82)

[Born Northumberland 1844, died South Australia 23 Feb 1828]

Matthew Emmanuel Catcheside worked for nearly two decades in his father's tea business before adopting the stage name of Leumane and embarking on a career as a professional opera singer.

Before joining the D'Oyly Carte organization, Clarence H. (Jack) Leumane created the role of Captain Harleigh in Stephens & Solomon's comic opera Claude Duval at London's Olympic Theatre, August-October 1881.

Leumane was then engaged as tenor lead with Mr. D'Oyly Carte's "B" Company from November 1881 to October 1882. He appeared as Alexis in The Sorcerer and Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore in November 1881, then Ralph and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance for the balance of his tenure. He left the D'Oyly Carte organization in October 1882 and was replaced by Horace Bolini.

Leumane would appear in London as Sir Lancelot in Dr. D, an English comic opera by C. P. Colnaghi and Cotsford Dick (Royalty, May-June 1885). The following year he was in America with William Carleton's company, where his roles included Nanki-Poo in an unsanctioned production of The Mikado.

In July 1887, as C. H. Leumane, he made his first appearance in Australia with the Williamson Company as Prince Hilarion in the first Australian production of Princess Ida at the New Princess's Theatre, Melbourne. Leumane later appeared in Australia as the Duke of Dunstable in Patience, Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Marco in The Gondoliers in 1889-90. He also appeared in Australia as Geoffrey Wilder in Cellier's Dorothy, and was the title character in Gounod's Faust when it was given in 1888 in Melbourne, the night Federici died at the end of the opera. In March 1890, Leumane was in the first New Zealand productions of Dorothy (Geoffrey), Yeomen (Fairfax), and Princess Ida (Hilarion) at the Princess Theatre, Dunedin.

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