Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Mapleson, James Henry
MAPLESON, JAMES HENRY (1830–1901), operatic manager, born in 1830, was brought on the stage at Drury Lane Theatre as the infant in the christening scene of Shakespeare's 'Henry VIII,' acted on 21 May of that year (Musical Times, 9 Dec. 1901). He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music, which he entered on 5 Sept. 1844. Cipriani Potter, the principal, recorded that Mapleson showed some 'disposition' for violin and pianoforte. After two years at the academy, where he chiefly studied the violin, he played in 1848-9 in the orchestra of the Royal Italian Opera at the same desk with Remenyi, then a refugee in England. Balfe the conductor took interest in Mapleson, gave him singing lessons, and urged him to adopt the career of a tenor vocalist; Gardoni and Belletti gave him like encouragement. In 1849 he organised an autumn concert tour. On the advice of Sims Reeves, he went to Milan and studied for three years under Mazzucato, and sang in opera at Lodi. He returned to England in 1854, but immediately afterwards underwent a surgical operation which destroyed his voice. He opened a concert and dramatic agency, and in 1858 was engaged by E. T. Smith, lessee of Drury Lane Theatre, to manage a season of Italian opera there. Three years later Mapleson took the Lyceum Theatre for a season of his own, engaging Mile. Titiens, Alboni, and Giuglini, with Arditi as conductor. He became a volunteer officer, and was soon known as Colonel Mapleson. In 1862 he secured a lease of Her Majesty's Theatre for 21 years. The most remarkable event of his tenancy was the production of Gounod's 'Faust,' on 11 June 1863. The engagement of Christine Nilsson in 1867 was a brilliant success. On 6 Dec. 1867 Her Majesty's Theatre was burnt down; the next morning Mapleson secured Drury Lane Theatre. In 1869–70 he was in partnership with Gye at Covent Garden; then he returned to Drury Lane, although Her Majesty's Theatre had been rebuilt. He projected a grand National Opera-house on the Thames Embankment; the first brick of the substructure was laid by Mlle. Titiens on 7 Sept. 1875, and the first stone of the building by Prince Alfred (the duke of Edinburgh) on 16 Dec. But money was wanting, and the unfinished building was finally demolished in 1888. Mapleson returned to Her Majesty's Theatre in 1877; but his first season was seriously marred by the fatal illness of Titiens, who had been his mainstay not only in London, but also in his autumn provincial tours, and especially in Ireland. In 1878 he had a stroke of good fortune in the discovery of Bizet's 'Carmen,' which had not succeeded in Paris, but at its first London performance, on 22 June, at once obtained its enduring success. Mapleson then took his company to the United States, and during the rest of his career divided his life between England and America. He managed a London season in the summer, and toured in America during the winter. In 1881-2 he engaged Adelina Patti, who was then at New York; and she was a member of his company till July 1885. Always in low water, yet never crushed by adversity, Mapleson carried on a losing struggle for several years, till in April 1886 he was entirely at the end of his resources in San Francisco, without means and with the theatre shut against him. His company camped out among their luggage, which they dared not touch, and many of the versatile Italians prepared to start as small street-traders. A benefit concert enabled Mapleson to begin his journey eastward; at each successive stage he arranged a performance which paid for the next stage, and thus after some time he reached New York. In the autumn of 1887 he resumed tours in the English provinces, but found himself out of touch with the public. The old-fashioned Italian operas on his repertory had lost their vogue, and his singers no longer attracted. Italian opera in London seemed for the time on the verge of extinction; but in 1888 Augustus Harris took Covent Garden with a very strong financial backing, against which Mapleson could not contend. New enterprises on Mapleson's part were often reported later; he succeeded in opening the Academy of Music at New York in 1896, but the rivalry of the Metropolitan Opera-house soon compelled him to close his season. He died in London of Bright's disease on 14 Nov. 1901, and was buried in Highgate cemetery.
In 1888 he published two volumes of memoirs, frank and egotistic, but amusing n their revelations of operatic management. He married the soprano singer Marie Rozo, who made a first appearance on the English operatic stage under his auspices in London on 18 May 1872, but a separation took place.
[Mapleson's Memoirs, 1888 (the main but rather vague source of his biography); Arditi's Reminiscences; Entry-book of the Royal Academy of Music, kindly examined by Prof. Corder; The Times, 15 Nov. 1901.]