Frederick Gye
Frederick Gye (the younger) (1810–1878) was an English businessman and
Life
Gye, son of Frederick Gye (the elder), was born at
When Edward Delafield became lessee of the
In 1851 the repertory of Covent Garden opera house included thirty-three operas, three of which were by Meyerbeer. On 9 August
In 1853
The opera during the seasons of 1856 and 1857, commencing 15 April 1856, was held in the Lyceum Theatre, where in the first season forty operas were given, and advertised as being under Gye's direction. The renters and proprietors of Covent Garden finding themselves unable to collect the money to rebuild that theatre, Gye with great energy raised or became accountable for £120,000, the sum which the new structure cost. The opera house, from the designs of Edward Middleton Barry, R.A., was commenced and completed in the short period of six months.[3]
In 1857 Gye obtained a new ground lease from the
An attempt was made in 1865 to amalgamate Her Majesty's and Covent Garden into the Royal Italian Opera Company, Limited, when Gye was to have had £270,000 for his interest in the latter house, but the project came to nothing. In 1869, however, the two establishments were joined under the management of Gye, and a season commencing on 30 March left a profit of £22,000. Mapleson, the lessee of Her Majesty's, and Gye dissolved their partnership in the autumn of 1870, when there is said to have been a mortgage of £150,000 on Covent Garden. Gye had much litigation between 1861 and 1872 with Brownlow William Knox, his partner in the Italian opera, who filed a bill in chancery against him (on 20 March 1861) for a dissolution of partnership and a production of accounts. The action was finally settled in Gye's favour by a judgment of the House of Lords on 8 July 1872.[4]
In 1871 the Royal Italian Opera entered upon a period of prosperity, which lasted until Gye's death. During this time the profits were upwards of £15,000 a year, despite increasing salaries of artists and other heavy expenses. Mlle
During his last season (1878) the novelties were Flotow's Alma and Victor Massé's Paul et Virginie.
On 27 November 1878 Gye was shot accidentally
On the whole his management of the largest establishment of its kind in Europe was honourable to himself and advantageous to his many patrons, and, although his knowledge of music was very limited, his business abilities were great. He was probably by far the most successful lessee of any of the operatic establishments which have existed in England. On 5 November 1878 he patented a new electric light, with which he proposed to illuminate the opera house.
Gye married by licence dated 12 March 1834, Elizabeth Hughes,[6] by whom he had a numerous family. By his will he left the whole of his property, comprising Covent Garden Theatre and the Floral Hall, to his children, the management devolving on Mr. Ernest Gye and one of his brothers.
Notes
- ^ Lumley, Reminiscences of the Opera, 1864, pp. 328–33; Ball, Leading Cases on the Law of Torts, 1884, pp. 135–52
- ^ see John Henry Anderson
- ^ Walford, Old and New London, iii. 236–7
- ^ Law Reports, 5 House of Lords, 656–688, 1872
- ^ "Obituary of Eminent Persons Deceased in 1878". Annual Register. 120. London: Rivingtons, Waterloo Place: 184. 1879 [December 1878]. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Pallot's Marriage Index on Ancestry
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Gye, Frederick (1810-1878)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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