With 1880 comes the début of the great basso, Edouard de Rezké, as Indra in "Le Roi de Lahore."
Next year Anton Rubinstein was in London for the production of his opera, "The Demon."
In 1882 (bringing with it the death of Wagner), we may examine the list of stars at the Opera House once more, so as to note what names have disappeared, and by whom the gaps have been filled. Among the fair sex we find Patti, Albani, Trebelli, Sembrich, Valleria, and Lucca, who had returned after ten years' absence; while the men include Gazaré, Mierzwinski, Faure, Maurel, Nicolini, Soulacroix, and Lassalle. 1882 was further noteworthy as London's great Wagner year, for details of which I am once more indebted to Mr Klein.
"Early in the year a troupe had been formed by Herr Neumann for the purpose of performing 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' in the leading cities of Germany, Austria, Holland, England, and Italy. The months of May and June were chosen for the London visit, and Her Majesty's Theatre was engaged. In all, four cycles of the tetralogy were given. The casts included not a few of the famous artists who had taken part in the initial performance of the 'Ring' at Bayreuth in 1876—among them Niemann, Unger, the Vogls, Hill, Schlosser, and Lilli Lehmann (who sang 'Woglinde,' 'Helmwige,' and the 'Bird' music); with Reicher-Kindermann as Brunhilde, while Anton Seidl conducted."
During the same month Herr Pollini arranged with Augustus Harris for a series of performances at Drury Lane, by the entire troupe of the Hamburg Opera House, and with the very popular Viennese chef d'orchestre, Hans Richter, as conductor.
The Hamburg artists comprised at the time several who were to earn world-wide reputations.
"Imagine the advantage of hearing 'Tristan und Isolde' and 'Die Meistersinger' for the first time," writes Mr Klein, "with such a noble singer and actress as Rosa Sucher, as 'Isolde' and 'Ena'; with such a glorious 'Tristan' and 'Walther' as Brangaene, with that fine baritone, Gura, as 'König Marke' and 'Hans Sachs!'"
In 1883 there are two new productions at Covent Garden, Boito's "Mefistofele" and Ponchielli's "La Gioconda." Then, again, Joseph Maas makes his début in Grand Opera as Lohengrin, while Carl Rosa inaugurates his first season at Drury Lane, and brings to a hearing two new operas by English composers,—the "Esmeralda" of Goring Thomas and the "Colomba" of Sir Alexander Mackenzie.
In 1884, the year of Sir Michael Costa's death, the great names are Patti, Albani, Lucca, Tremelli, and Edouard de Rezké.
In the next year Mapleson is once more in command, and the season closes with the presentation of a diamond bracelet to Adelina Patti, in commemoration of her twenty-fifth consecutive season at Covent Garden.