THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Ernest Vousden (m.d., 1900)

[Born Dublin, Ireland 1872]

In a career of more than forty years as a conductor and composer, Ernest Vousden spent just eight months with the D'Oyly Carte organization:as musical director for The Rose of Persia touring the British Isles with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "D" from April to December 1900.

Between 1893, when he conducted the comedietta A Husband in Clover at the Trafalgar Square, until 1935, when he was musical director for Young England at the Kingsway Theatre, Vousden conducted theatre orchestras in London and in the British provinces on a regular basis.

As a composer, Vousden wrote numerous songs, marches, dance arrangements, and a comedy called The New Mephisto with George Dance in 1900. He is perhaps best remembered for supplying several songs and the pianoforte arrangement for the hugely successful musical comedy A Chinese Honeymoon (Strand, October 1901-May 1904). Vousden was also musical director for A Chinese Honeymoon for its full 1075-performance run.

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