CARTE, RICHARD D'OYLY

born May 3, 1844, London, Eng. died April 3, 1901, London English impresario remembered for having managed the first productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, for elevating his era's musical taste, and for contributing to the development of theatre technology. Originally a composer, Carte became a music manager, representing the French composer Charles Gounod. After commissioning Gilbert and Sullivan to write Trial by Jury (1875), he formed the Comedy Opera Company Ltd. (1876) for the production of operettas, introducing to England works by Charles Lecocq and Jacques Offenbach. In 1881 he founded the Savoy Theatre, home of the immensely popular Gilbert and Sullivan productions and London's first theatre to use electric lighting. In an attempt to establish serious opera, Carte built the Royal English Opera House (1887; now the Palace Theatre), for which Sullivan wrote Ivanhoe (1891). Despite subsequent commissions to other English composers (e.g., Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen), that enterprise collapsed. After Carte's death, the touring companies he established, known as the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, continued to produce Gilbert and Sullivan works, with only a brief hiatus (198288) in the 20th century.