# Alice Burville

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{{Short description|English soprano and actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
[[Image:Arabella Lane in Billee Taylor.jpg|right|frame|Burville as Arabella in ''[Billee Taylor](/source/Billee_Taylor)'']]
'''Alice Julia Burville''' (11 July 1856 – 4 July 1944) was an English [soprano](/source/soprano) and actress, best known for her performances in [Gilbert and Sullivan](/source/Gilbert_and_Sullivan) operas and other [operetta](/source/operetta)s in the 1870s and 1880s.

Beginning her [West End](/source/West_End_theatre) career by 1874, Burville played leading roles in a variety of operettas.  She also toured in Britain and America, appearing there with [Lydia Thompson](/source/Lydia_Thompson)'s troupe in 1877.  She performed frequently with [Richard D'Oyly Carte](/source/Richard_D'Oyly_Carte)'s companies, joining his Comedy-Opera Company at the [Opera Comique](/source/Opera_Comique) in 1878–79 where she played a role in a curtain raiser to ''[H.M.S. Pinafore](/source/H.M.S._Pinafore)'', while covering the role of Josephine in that opera and playing the role occasionally.  After another West End role, Burville toured America with Carte, finally playing Lady Angela in ''[Patience](/source/Patience_(opera))'' with the [D'Oyly Carte Opera Company](/source/D'Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company) in the New York and then on tour in 1881–82.  Over the next decade, she continued to star in operettas and [pantomime](/source/pantomime)s, primarily on tour in Britain.

==Life and career==
Burville was born in [Stepney](/source/Stepney), London.<ref name=stone>Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/B/BurvilleAlice.htm "Alice Burville"]. ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'', accessed 19 June 2010.</ref> In August 1874 she appeared in [Richard D'Oyly Carte](/source/Richard_D'Oyly_Carte)'s presentation of [Gaston Serpette](/source/Gaston_Serpette)'s [operetta](/source/operetta), ''La branche cassée'' at the [Opera Comique](/source/Opera_Comique).<ref>"Opera Comique", ''The Era'', 30 August 1874, p. 12</ref> Later that year, she made a success in ''Ten of 'Em'', by [Franz von Suppé](/source/Franz_von_Supp%C3%A9), at the [Theatre Royal, Drury Lane](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane): "Miss Burville sings a charming song (which she gave with such freshness and effect as to secure an enthusiastic encore.)"<ref>"Public Amusements", ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', 6 December 1874, p. 5</ref> This was a curtain raiser for the [pantomime](/source/pantomime) ''Aladdin'', in which she also appeared.<ref>"Advertisements & Notices", ''The Era'', 20 December 1874, p. 8</ref> In 1875, she performed in other [West End theatre](/source/West_End_theatre)s in London as Princess Fleur d'amour in [Hervé](/source/Herv%C3%A9_(composer))'s ''Dagobert'' (1875)<ref>''The Era'', 29 August 1875, p. 4</ref> and in the title role in [Lecocq](/source/Charles_Lecocq)'s ''[Fleur de Thé](/source/Fleur_de_Th%C3%A9)'' (1875).<ref>''The Era'', 3 October 1875, p. 8</ref>

In 1876, Carte transferred his production of ''The Duke's Daughter'', an adaptation of Léon Vasseur's ''La Timbale d'argent'', from the [Royalty Theatre](/source/Royalty_Theatre) to the [Globe Theatre](/source/Globe_Theatre_(Newcastle_Street)), and engaged Burville to join a cast headed by [Pauline Rita](/source/Pauline_Rita).<ref>''The Daily News'', 3 February 1876, p. 4</ref> In the same year, she appeared for the manager [John Hollingshead](/source/John_Hollingshead) in an [Offenbach](/source/Jacques_Offenbach) operetta, ''The Song of Fortunio''<ref>[Gaiety Theatre, London](/source/Gaiety_Theatre%2C_London) programme, 25 March 1876</ref> and a [burlesque](/source/Victorian_burlesque), ''Young Rip Van Winkle''.<ref>"The Easter Amusements", ''The Era'', 23 April 1876, p. 12</ref> She then joined Rita on a tour of ''The Duke's Daughter'', managed and conducted by Carte.<ref>"Provincial Theatricals", ''The Era'', 16 July 1876, p. 6</ref> She next toured with [Selina Dolaro](/source/Selina_Dolaro), in Offenbach's ''[The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein](/source/La_Grande-Duchesse_de_G%C3%A9rolstein)'' and ''The Rose of Auvergne'', and Lecocq's ''[La fille de Madame Angot](/source/La_fille_de_Madame_Angot)'',<ref>"Provincial Theatricals", ''The Era'', 29 October 1876, p. 6</ref> before finishing the year in pantomime in [Birmingham](/source/Birmingham).<ref>"Boxing-Day Amusements", ''Birmingham Daily Post'', 26 December 1876, p. 5</ref>

In 1877, Burville took over the role of Rosalinde in London's first ''[Die Fledermaus](/source/Die_Fledermaus)'', by [Johann Strauss II](/source/Johann_Strauss_II)<ref>"Advertisements & Notices", ''The Era'', 1 April 1877, p. 16</ref> and ''[Orphee aux Enfers](/source/Orphee_aux_Enfers)'', both at the [Alhambra Theatre](/source/Alhambra_Theatre).<ref name=stone/> She next toured in America with [Lydia Thompson](/source/Lydia_Thompson)'s troupe, appearing in Offenbach's ''[Blue Beard](/source/Barbe-bleue_(opera))'' and ''[Robinson Crusoé](/source/Robinson_Cruso%C3%A9)'', as well as in ''Oxygen'' and ''Piff-Paff'', playing, respectively, Fatima, Polly Hopkins, Suzel and Joconde.<ref name=stone/><ref>"Provincial Theatricals", ''The Era'', 5 August 1877, p. 6</ref> She returned to London in January 1878, playing the title-rôle in a revival of Offenbach's ''[Geneviève de Brabant](/source/Genevi%C3%A8ve_de_Brabant)'', presented by Carte in a double bill with [Arthur Sullivan](/source/Arthur_Sullivan)'s ''[Cox and Box](/source/Cox_and_Box)''.<ref>"Advertisements & Notices", ''The Era'', 6 January 1878, p. 10; and "The London Theatres", ''The Era'', 27 January 1878, p. 12</ref> She followed this by playing the Duchess of Parthenay in Carte's production of Lecocq's ''Le Petit Duc'' in 1878.<ref>"Drama", ''The Daily News'', 29 April 1878, p. 2; and "The Little Duke", ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', 25 June 1878, p. 11</ref> At the end of June 1878, Burville joined Carte's Comedy-Opera Company at the Opera Comique playing Lady Viola in the curtain raiser ''[The Spectre Knight](/source/The_Spectre_Knight)'',<ref>''The Morning Post'', 31 July 1878, p. 4</ref> while singing in the chorus and covering the role of Josephine in ''[H.M.S. Pinafore](/source/H.M.S._Pinafore)'', playing that part periodically in 1878 and 1879.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 6</ref> In October 1879, she played Josephine on tour, after which she left the D'Oyly Carte company.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 31</ref>

Burville returned to Drury Lane as Clairette in [Augustus Harris](/source/Augustus_Harris)'s production of ''La fille de Madame Angot'' in 1880.<ref>"The London Theatres", ''The Era'', 4 April 1880, p. 4</ref> In 1881, she played Arabella Lane with Carte's American ''[Billee Taylor](/source/Billee_Taylor)'' company<ref name=stone/> and then played Lady Angela in ''[Patience](/source/Patience_(opera))'' with the [D'Oyly Carte Opera Company](/source/D'Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company) in the New York cast at the Standard Theatre and on tour in 1881–82.<ref>"The Drama in America", ''The Era'', 8 October 1881, p. 4</ref> In 1882, Burville returned to London to play Fiametta in Suppé's ''[Boccaccio](/source/Boccaccio_(operetta))''.<ref>"The London Theatres", ''The Era'', 29 April 1882, p. 6</ref> After this engagement, she appeared primarily in the provinces, where she appeared in the title role of ''Merry Mignon'', composed by her husband, John Crook. The theatrical newspaper, ''[The Era](/source/The_Era_(newspaper))'', called her "the merriest, prettiest, and most vivacious of Merry Mignons".<ref>"Provincial Theatricals", ''The Era'', 28 July 1883, p. 9</ref> She starred in a new light opera, ''The Bachelors'' (1885),<ref>"The Bachelors", ''The Era'', 13 June 1885, p. 14</ref> and played in pantomimes, including ''Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, or Harlequin Jack the Giant Killer'' in London in 1887.<ref>"Boxing Night at the Theatres", ''The Daily News'', 27 December 1887, p. 2</ref> In 1892 she appeared in another of her husband's works, ''The Young Recruit'', presented on tour by Augustus Harris.<ref>"The Theatres", ''The Liverpool Mercury'', 22 March 1892, p. 5</ref> Her last known appearance was in ''Geneviève de Brabant'' in [Leicester](/source/Leicester) in December 1893.<ref>"Boxing Day in Leicester", ''Leicester Chronicle'', 30 December 1893, p. 6</ref>

Burville was married for a brief time, beginning in 1876, to [W. H. Denny](/source/W._H._Denny), and then to the conductor-composer John Francis Crook (1847–1922), a friend of [Alfred Cellier](/source/Alfred_Cellier)'s.<ref name=stone/> She survived Crook by more than two decades and died in [Littlehampton](/source/Littlehampton), England, at age 87. Burville and Crook are buried in the [West Norwood Cemetery](/source/West_Norwood_Cemetery).<ref>[http://www.fownc.org/newsletters/no45.shtml Friends of West Norwood Cemetery Newsletter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225224/http://www.fownc.org/newsletters/no45.shtml |date=27 September 2007 }}, No. 45, September 2002</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite book|last=Rollins|first=Cyril|year=1962|author2=R. John Witts|title=The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions, 1875&ndash;1961|location=London|publisher=Michael Joseph}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225054/http://www.fownc.org/newsletters/no50.shtml Friends of West Norwood Cemetery Newsletter], No. 50, May 2004
*[http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=142975&word= Images from the New York Public Library digital archive]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burville, Alice}}
Category:1856 births
Category:1944 deaths
Category:English opera singers
Category:English operatic sopranos
Category:Women of the Victorian era
Category:Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
Category:19th-century English singers
Category:19th-century English actresses

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alice Burville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Burville) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Burville?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.