Reminiscences of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Ralph Horner was a conductor for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company of London from the late 1870s until the early 1890s. In addition to conducting the orchestra, Horner served as stage manager on the company's tours. He also wrote FOUR BY HONOURS, a one-act "curtain raiser" performed as a prolog to the Gilbert and Sullivan shows on the tours of 1879 and 1880. Consists of an eight page draft of a letter, written by Ralph Horner to an unknown recipient, in which he reminisces about his years with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, conducting the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The bulk of the text concerns incidents which occurred during the troupe's extensive tours of England. A number of emendations in the author's hand have been made in the text.