Editing Richard D'Oyly Carte (section)

==Career==

===Theatrical beginnings===
Between 1868 and 1877, Carte wrote and published the music for several of his own songs and instrumental works,{{refn|Carte's [[Parlour song]]s include: "Come Back to Me", words by Carte;<ref name=e21m>"New Music", ''The Era'', 21 March 1869.</ref> "Diamond Eyes", words by L. H. F. du Terraux;<ref>"The Literary Examiner", ''The Examiner'', 13 August 1870</ref> "A Faded Flower", words by Desprez;<ref name=bl>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=1&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl%28freeText0%29=Richard+D%27Oyly+Carte&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any&vl%282084770704UI0%29=title&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any "Richard D'Oyly Carte"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418042039/https://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=1&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl%28freeText0%29=Richard+D%27Oyly+Carte&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any&vl%282084770704UI0%29=title&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any |date=18 April 2023 }}, British Library, accessed 15 January 2019</ref> "The Maiden's Watch", words by Amy Thornton;<ref name=bl/> "The Mountain Boy";<ref name=bl/> "Pourquoi?" Chansonette;<ref name=bl/> "Questions", words by Desprez;<ref name=bl/> "The Setting Sun" (with obbligato flute accompaniment);<ref name=bl/> "Stars of the Summer Night", words by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]];<ref name=bl/> "Three Roses", words by [[Adelaide Anne Procter|Adelaide Procter]]; "Twilight", Canzonet; "Waiting", words by Procter;<ref name=derby>"New Music", ''[[Derby Mercury]]'', 28 April 1869</ref> "Wake, Sweet Bird" (with obbligato flute accompaniment);<ref name=mt69>''The Musical Times'', 1 April 1869, p. 57</ref> and "Why so pale and wan, fond lover".<ref>"Concert at Hanover-square Rooms", ''The Era'', 17 January 1869</ref> ''The Era'' said of the first of these, "Mr. D'Oyly Carte's music is a vast deal better than his words. The song ... musically speaking, is a creditable production."<ref name=e21m/> A review of "Waiting" found it "quite above the average of songs, both as to words and music. Miss Procter's pathetic stanzas are set to strikingly original music".<ref name=derby/>|group= n}} as well as three short comic operas: ''Doctor Ambrosias – His Secret'' (1868),{{refn|Libretto adapted from ''Tom Noddy's Secret'', a one-act farce (1800) by [[Thomas Haynes Bayly]]. First performed at [[St. George's Hall, London|St George's Hall]] (1868).<ref>"Music and Musicians", ''The Daily News'', 12 April 1895; and [http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01016212542&indx=1&recIds=BLL01016212542&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Dr.%20Ambrosias%2C%20his%20secret&dstmp=1547543062869 "Dr Ambrosias – His Secret"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418215309/https://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01016212542&indx=1&recIds=BLL01016212542&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope:(BLCONTENT)&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Dr.%20Ambrosias,%20his%20secret&dstmp=1547543062869 |date=18 April 2023 }}, British Library catalogue, accessed 15 January 2019</ref>|group= n}} ''Marie'' (1871),{{refn|Librettist Edward Spencer Mott. First performed at the [[Opera Comique]], London on 26 August 1871;<ref>"Opera Comique (Last Night)", ''The Era'', 27 August 1871, p. 13</ref><ref name=Ainger92>Ainger, p. 92</ref>|group= n}} and ''Happy Hampstead'' (1876).{{refn|Libretto by [[Frank Desprez]]; Carte used the pen name Mark Lynne.<ref>Seeley, p. 40</ref> ''Happy Hampstead'' was first performed on a provincial tour and then played at the [[Royalty Theatre]] in 1877.<ref name=Burgess/>|group= n}} On tour in 1871 he conducted ''[[Cox and Box]]'' by [[Arthur Sullivan]] and [[F. C. Burnand]], in tandem with English adaptations of two one-act pieces by Offenbach, ''[[La rose de Saint-Flour|The Rose of Auvergne]]'' and ''[[Le violoneux|Breaking the Spell]]'', in which Carte's client [[Selina Dolaro]] starred.<ref name=lm>"Theatres", ''Liverpool Mercury'', 5 September 1871, p. 1.</ref>{{refn|The composer's brother, [[Fred Sullivan]], managed the tour and played Cox; [[Richard Temple (opera singer)|Richard Temple]] played Bouncer, in ''Cox and Box''.<ref name=lm/>|group= n}} Carte's musical talent would be helpful later in his career, as he was able to audition singers himself from the piano.<ref>Stedman, p. 170</ref>

During the late 1860s and early 1870s, from within his father's firm in Charing Cross<ref>Classified advertisement in ''The Era'', 20 November 1870, p. 7</ref> and, by late 1874, from a nearby address in Craig's Court,<ref>Classified advertisement in ''The Era'', 27 December 1874, p. 1</ref> Carte began to build an operatic, concert and lecture management agency.<ref name=Joseph8/><ref name=Ainger92/> His two hundred clients eventually included [[Charles Gounod]], [[Jacques Offenbach]], [[Adelina Patti]], [[Giovanni Matteo Mario|Mario]], [[Clara Schumann]], [[Antoinette Sterling]], [[Edward Lloyd (singer)|Edward Lloyd]], [[Thomas German Reed|Mr. and Mrs. German Reed]], [[George Grossmith]], [[Matthew Arnold]], [[James McNeill Whistler]] and [[Oscar Wilde]].<ref>Ainger, p. 130</ref> [[Hesketh Pearson]] said of Carte: "His acute business sense was aided by a frank and agreeable manner: he could not only see where money was to be made but how to make it. He took what other people thought were risks, but he felt were certainties. ...  He knew everyone worth knowing ... and his practical judgement was as sure as his sense of artistry."<ref>Pearson, p. 87</ref>

===Founding his opera company===
[[File:Trial by Jury cover.jpg|right|thumb|Programme for ''[[Trial by Jury]]'', 1875]]
In 1874, Carte leased the [[Opera Comique]], a theatre off [[Strand, London|the Strand]], where he presented [[Charles Lecocq]]'s new [[opéra bouffe]] ''[[Giroflé-Girofla]]'', given in French by the company who had premiered the work three months earlier in Brussels.<ref>"Opera Comique", ''The Era'', 7 June 1874, p. 12</ref> It did poor box-office business, and had to be closed after two weeks.<ref>Seeley, Chapter 3</ref> He followed it with a modest success, ''The Broken Branch'', an English adaptation of [[Gaston Serpette]]'s ''La branche cassée''.<ref name=DNB/> Carte announced his ambitions on the front of the programme for the latter: "It is my desire to establish in London a permanent abode for light Opera."<ref>"Our Representative Man", ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', 10 October 1874, p. 151</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' commented, "Mr D'Oyly Carte is not only a skilful manager, but a trained musician, and he appears to have grasped the fact that the public are beginning to become weary of what is known as a genuine opéra bouffe, and are ready to welcome a musical entertainment of a higher order, such as a musician might produce with satisfaction".<ref>''[[The Observer]]'', 23 August 1874, p. 3</ref>

Carte later said it was "the scheme of my life" to found a school of high-quality, family-friendly English comic opera,<ref name="Joseph, p. 11">Joseph, p. 11</ref> in contrast to the crude [[Victorian burlesque|burlesques]] and adaptations of French operettas that dominated the London musical stage at that time.<ref>Ainger, pp. 108–109; and Stedman, pp. 128–129</ref> His experience in writing operettas had convinced him that his own creative talents were inadequate for the task. He later wrote to the dramatist [[W. S. Gilbert]], "I envy your position but I could never attain it. If I could be an author like you I would certainly not be a manager. I am simply the tradesman who sells your works of art".<ref>Stedman, p. 232</ref> Furthermore, in 1874 Carte did not yet have the resources to make his idea into reality, and after his season at the Opera Comique, he terminated his lease.<ref>Ainger, p. 107</ref>

In 1875 Carte became the business manager of the [[Royalty Theatre]], under the direction of his client, the popular singing actress Selina Dolaro who was the licensee of the theatre and star of its production of Offenbach's ''[[La Périchole]]''. To fill out the evening (as long programmes were the fashion in Victorian theatre), he needed another piece. He remembered a libretto for a one-act [[comic opera]] that W. S. Gilbert had written and shown to him in 1873, called ''[[Trial by Jury]]''.<ref>Stedman, p. 125</ref> Meanwhile, Sullivan's popular 1867 opera, ''Cox and Box'', had been revived at the [[Gaiety Theatre, London|Gaiety Theatre]] in 1874, and Carte had already asked him to write a piece for the Royalty. Carte knew that Gilbert had worked with Sullivan to create ''[[Thespis (opera)|Thespis]]'' in 1871, and he now suggested that Sullivan could write the music for ''Trial by Jury''.<ref name=Ainger108>Ainger, p. 108</ref><ref>McElroy, George. "Whose ''Zoo''; or, When Did the ''Trial'' Begin?", ''Nineteenth Century Theatre Research'', 12, December 1984, pp. 39–54</ref>  ''Trial by Jury'', a comic treatment of an English courtroom, was an unexpected hit, outrunning ''La Périchole'', and becoming the first step in Carte's scheme to establish a new genre of English comic opera.<ref>Stedman, pp. 129–130; and Ainger, pp. 109 and 111</ref>

[[File:Helen Carte Parasol.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Helen Carte]], formerly Helen Lenoir, Carte's assistant and second wife]]
In June 1875 the Royalty closed for the summer, and Dolaro took her company on tour. While ''Trial by Jury'' and ''La Périchole'' were playing at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in September,<ref>"Public Amusements", ''[[Freeman's Journal]]'', 6 September 1875, p. 1</ref> Carte met [[Michael Ralph Thomas Gunn|Michael Gunn]], a co-owner of the Gaiety. Gunn became a close friend of Carte's, later served as a manager in his theatrical company and was a shareholder and director in his hotel business.<ref>Ainger, pp. 157, 169–171, 184, 193 and 283</ref> Even after the initial production of ''Trial by Jury'' Carte continued to produce continental operetta, touring in the summer of 1876 with a repertoire consisting of English adaptations of French opéra bouffe (Offenbach's ''La Périchole'', and ''[[La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein]]'', Lecocq's ''[[La fille de Madame Angot]]'' and [[Léon Vasseur]]'s ''La Timbale d'argent''), paired with two one-act English after-pieces (''Happy Hampstead'' and ''Trial by Jury''). Carte was the musical director of this travelling company.<ref>''Liverpool Mercury'', 4 July 1876, p. 6; ''The Freeman's Journal'' (Dublin), 28 July 1876, p. 1; and ''The Era'', 23 July 1876, p. 6</ref>

In February 1877 Carte, organising a company for a provincial tour of a successful London [[farce]], auditioned a novice actress called [[Helen Lenoir]]. He engaged her for a small role, but after a few weeks she left the tour and returned to London where she secured an office post in Carte's agency. She gradually assumed a key role in his business affairs and his personal life.<ref name=s22>Seeley, p. 22</ref> [[Frank Desprez]], the editor of ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'', wrote: "Her character exactly compensated for the deficiencies in his."<ref>[[Frank Desprez|Desprez, Frank]]. "The Late Mrs. D'Oyly Carte", ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'', 10 May 1913, p. 19</ref>

Encouraged by the success of ''Trial by Jury'', Carte had been attempting since 1875 to raise money for either a revival of ''Thespis'' or a new piece.<ref>Ainger, pp. 113 and 119</ref> In 1877 he finally found four backers and formed the "Comedy Opera Company" to produce new works by Gilbert and Sullivan, along with those of other British authors and composers.<ref name=DNB/> This allowed Carte to lease the Opera Comique and to give Gilbert and Sullivan firm terms for a new opera.<ref name=Burgess/><ref>Ainger, pp. 130–131</ref> The first comic opera produced by the new company was Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[The Sorcerer]]'' in 1877, with a plot involving a tradesmanlike London magician and his patented love potion. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte were able to select their own cast, instead of using the players under contract to the theatre where the work was produced, as had been the case with their earlier works. They chose talented actors, few of whom were well-known stars; Carte's agency provided many of them.<ref>Jacobs, p. 111; and Ainger, pp. 133–134</ref> The reception of the piece showed that Carte had been right that there was a promising future in family-friendly English comic opera.<ref>Ainger, pp. 141–148; and Jacobs, pp. 113–114</ref>

''The Sorcerer'' was followed by ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'' in 1878. It opened to great enthusiasm but within days of the premiere London experienced an unusually strong and protracted heat wave,<ref>"London", ''The Standard'', 28 June 1878, p. 4</ref> and business in the ill-ventilated Opera Comique was badly affected.<ref>Traubner, pp.  151–152</ref> Takings dropped to £40 a night, and Carte's directors in the Comedy Opera Company advocated cutting their losses and closing the show.<ref>Traubner, p. 152; Jacobs, p. 122; and Joseph, p. 17</ref> After promotional efforts by Carte and Sullivan, who programmed some of the ''Pinafore'' music when he conducted a season of [[promenade concert]]s at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]], the opera became a hit.<ref>Ainger, p. 162</ref> Carte convinced Gilbert and Sullivan that when their original agreement with the Comedy Opera Company expired in July 1879, a business partnership among the three of them would be to their advantage.<ref name=joseph18>Joseph, p. 18</ref> Each put up £1,000 and formed a new partnership under the name "[[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company|Mr Richard D'Oyly Carte's Opera Company]]".<ref>Ainger, pp. 162–167</ref> Under the partnership agreement, once the expenses of mounting the productions had been deducted, each of the three partners was entitled to one third of the profits.<ref name=DNB/>

On 31 July 1879, the last day of their agreement with Carte, the directors of the Comedy Opera Company attempted to repossess the ''Pinafore'' set by force during a performance, causing a celebrated fracas.<ref>Ainger, pp. 170–172</ref> Carte's stagehands managed to ward off their backstage attackers and protect the scenery and props.<ref>Stedman, pp. 170–171</ref><ref>[http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-opcom.html "The Fracas at the Opera Comique"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723085638/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-opcom.html |date=23 July 2011 }}, ''The Theatre'', 1 September 1879, reprinted at the Stage Beauty website, accessed 6 May 2009. See also "The Fracas at the Opera Comique", ''The Era'', 10 August 1879, p. 5 and "The Fracas at the Opera Comique", ''The Leeds Mercury'', 13 August 1879, p. 8.</ref> The Comedy Opera Company opened a rival production of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' in London, but it was not as popular as the D'Oyly Carte production and soon closed.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 6</ref> Legal action over the ownership of the rights ended in victory for Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan.<ref name=joseph18/><ref>"Supreme Court of Judicature, Aug. 1 – Court of Appeal – Gilbert v. The Comedy Opera Company Limited", ''The Times'', 2 August 1879, p. 4</ref> From 1 August 1879, the new company, later called the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, became the sole authorised producer of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.<ref name=joseph18/>

===Early opera successes; property interests===
[[File:Pinafore1899.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Scene from ''H.M.S. Pinafore'']]
''H.M.S. Pinafore'' was so successful that Carte soon sent two companies out to tour the provinces.<ref>Stedman, p. 163</ref>{{refn|The company playing at the cities and larger towns was headed by [[W. S. Penley]]; that playing the smaller towns was headed by [[Richard Mansfield]].<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 30–31</ref>|group= n}} The opera ran for 571 performances in London, the second-longest run in musical theatre history up to that time.{{refn|The longest-running piece of musical theatre was the operetta ''[[Les Cloches de Corneville]]'', which held that distinction until the record-breaking run of ''[[Dorothy (opera)|Dorothy]]'' in 1886.<ref name=longest>Gaye, p. 1530; and Gillan, Don. [http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-longr.html "Longest Running Plays in London and New York"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613222559/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net%2Fth-longr.html |date=13 June 2020 }}, Stagebeauty.net, 2007, accessed 8 October 2009</ref>|group= n}} Over 150 unauthorised productions sprang up in America alone, but because American law then offered no [[copyright]] protection to foreigners, Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan were not able to demand royalties from, or to control the artistic content of, these productions. Sullivan commented that in the US there was a belief "that a free and independent American citizen ought not to be robbed of his right of robbing someone else".<ref>Baldwin, p. 113</ref>

To try to counter this [[copyright infringement|copyright piracy]] and make some money from the popularity of their opera in America, Carte travelled to New York with the authors and the company to present an "authentic" production of ''Pinafore'', beginning in December 1879, as well as American tours.<ref name=Ainger182>Ainger, pp. 182–183</ref> Lenoir made fifteen visits to America in the 1880s and 1890s to promote Carte's interests, superintending arrangements for American productions and tours of each of the new Gilbert and Sullivan operas.<ref name=helenDNB>Stedman, Jane W. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/59169, "Carte, Helen (1852–1913)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004, accessed 12 September 2008 {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/59169}}</ref> Beginning with ''Pinafore'', Carte licensed the [[J. C. Williamson]] company to produce the works in Australia and New Zealand.<ref>Morrison, Robert. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/williamson.htm "The J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company"] {{Webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125013641/http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/williamson.htm |date=25 January 2010 }}, ''A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', 12 November 2001, accessed 2 October 2009</ref><ref name=Bentley>Bentley, Paul. [http://www.twf.org.au/research/jcw.html "J. C. Williamson Limited"] {{Webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203005928/http://www.twf.org.au/research/jcw.html |date=3 December 2008 }}, The Wolanski Foundation, January 2000, accessed 11 April 2009</ref>

In an effort to head off unauthorised American productions of their next opera, ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', Carte and his partners opened it in New York on 31 December 1879, prior to its 1880 London premiere.<ref name=Ainger182/> They hoped to forestall further "piracy" by establishing the authorised production and tours in America before others could copy it and by delaying publication of the score and libretto. They succeeded in keeping for themselves the direct profits of the venture, but they tried without success for many years to control the American performance copyrights over their operas.<ref name=Samuels>Samuels, Edward. [http://www.edwardsamuels.com/illustratedstory/isc10.htm "International Copyright Relations: 1790–1891"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028222322/http://www.edwardsamuels.com/illustratedstory/isc10.htm |date=28 October 2008 }}, ''The Illustrated Story of Copyright'' (2000), Edwardsamuels.com, accessed 16 October 2009</ref><ref>Rosen, Zvi S. [https://ssrn.com/abstract=963540 "The Twilight of the Opera Pirates"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210032126/https://ssrn.com/abstract=963540 |date=10 December 2008 }}, Papers.ssrn.com, ''Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal'', Vol. 24 (2007), accessed 16 October 2009.</ref> ''The Pirates'' was an immediate hit in New York, and later London, becoming one of the most popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas.<ref>Bradley, pp. 86–87</ref> To secure the British copyright, Lenoir arranged an ad hoc performance at the Royal Bijou Theatre, [[Paignton]], Devon, by the smaller of Carte's two ''Pinafore'' touring companies, the afternoon before the New York premiere.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 30; and Ainger, pp. 180–181</ref>

[[File:Savoy-theatre-1881-Phipps.jpg|left|thumb|[[Savoy Theatre]], 1881]]
The next Gilbert and Sullivan opera, ''[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]'', opened at the Opera Comique in April 1881 and was another big success, usurping ''Pinafore'''s position as the longest running piece in the series<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp 16–19</ref> with the second-longest run in musical theatre history to that date.<ref name=longest/> ''Patience'' satirised the self-indulgent [[Aestheticism|aesthetic]] movement of the 1870s and '80s in England.<ref>Stedman, pp. 181–182; and Jacobs, pp. 147–148</ref> To popularise the opera in America, in 1882 Carte sent one of the artistes under his management, the young poet Oscar Wilde, on a lecture tour to explain to Americans what the aesthetic movement was about.<ref>Crowther, Andrew. [https://www.gsarchive.net/patience/wilde/wilde.html "Bunthorne and Oscar Wilde"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505013114/https://www.gsarchive.net/patience/wilde/wilde.html |date=5 May 2011 }}, ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', 8 June 2009</ref> Carte told an interviewer at that time that he had fifteen theatrical companies and performers touring simultaneously in Europe, America and Australia.<ref>[https://www.gsarchive.net/carte/us_interview.html Richard D'Oyly Carte Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429114011/https://www.gsarchive.net/carte/us_interview.html |date=29 April 2015 }}, ''Freeman's Journal'', 25 January 1882, reprinted at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2 November 2011</ref>

Carte had been planning for several years to build a new theatre to promote English comic opera and, in particular, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.<ref name=savoyard>"100 Electrifying Years", ''The Savoyard'', Volume XX no. 2, D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust, September 1981, pp. 4–6; and Ainger, pp. 172–172</ref> With profits from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and his concert and lecture agency, he bought property along the Strand in 1880 with frontage onto the Thames Embankment, where he built the [[Savoy Theatre]] in 1881.{{refn|Carte chose the name in honour of the [[Savoy Palace]], which had been built on the site in the thirteenth century by [[Peter of Savoy, Earl of Richmond|Peter, Count of Savoy]]. It later passed to [[John of Gaunt]] but was destroyed in the [[Peasants' Revolt]] in 1381.<ref>Joseph, p. 79</ref>|group= n}} It was a state-of-the-art facility, setting a new standard for technology, comfort and decor. It was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electric lights<ref name=Burgess/> and seated nearly 1,300 people (compared to the Opera Comique's 862).<ref>[[J. P. Wearing|Wearing, J. P.]] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3206178 "The London West End Theatre in the 1890s"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609050912/http://www.jstor.org/stable/3206178 |date=9 June 2016 }}, ''Educational Theatre Journal'', Vol. 29, No. 3 (October 1977), pp. 320–332 {{subscription required}}</ref>

''Patience'' was the first production at the new theatre, transferring there on 10 October 1881. The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire [[front of house]] was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped on stage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of the new technology.<ref name=bettany>Bettany, 26th (unnumbered) page</ref> ''The Times'' concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with."<ref>"The Savoy Theatre", ''The Times'', 11 October 1881, p. 8</ref> Carte and his manager, [[George Edwardes]] (later famous as manager of the Gaiety Theatre), introduced several innovations at the theatre including free programme booklets, the orderly "queue" system with numbered tickets for the pit and gallery (an American idea), tea served at the interval and a policy of no tipping for [[cloakroom]] or other services.<ref name=bettany/> Daily expenses at the theatre were about half the possible takings from ticket sales.<ref name=Burgess/><ref>Dark and Grey, p. 85</ref> The last eight of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas were premiered at the Savoy, and all their operas came to be known as [[Savoy opera]]s.

[[File:Savoy-Hotel-from-Thames-1890s.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Savoy Hotel viewed from the Thames, 1890s]]
The [[Savoy Hotel]], designed by the architect [[Thomas Edward Collcutt]], opened in 1889. Financed by profits from ''[[The Mikado]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gsarchive.net/museum/mikado/1938film/book/default.html |title=Cinegram of the 1939 ''Mikado'' film |access-date=11 January 2019  }}{{dead link|date=January 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> it was the first hotel lit by electric lights and the first with electric [[elevator|lift]]s.<ref>[http://www.savoy2009.com/files/savoy_leading_the_past.pdf "Savoy 2009 Leading the Past"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219064916/http://www.savoy2009.com/files/savoy_leading_the_past.pdf |date=19 February 2009 }}, Savoy Hotel website, 2009</ref> In the 1890s, under its famous manager, [[César Ritz]], and chef [[Auguste Escoffier]], it became a well-known luxury hotel and would generate more income and contribute more to the D'Oyly Carte fortunes than any other enterprise, including the opera companies.<ref name=profit>See e.g."The Savoy Hotel" financial reports, ''The Times'', 27 March 1929, p. 23; 13 April 1933, p. 22; and 6 May 1942 p. 10</ref> Carte later acquired and refurbished [[Claridge's]] (1893), The Grand Hotel in Rome (1896), [[Simpson's-in-the-Strand]] (1898) and [[The Berkeley]] (1900).<ref>See, respectively, [http://www.claridges.co.uk/page.aspx?id=1846 www.claridges.co.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130073024/http://www.claridges.co.uk/page.aspx?id=1846 |date=30 November 2009 }}; [https://web.archive.org/web/20021221064512/http://www.the-savoy-group.com/Simpsons/AboutUs/History/history.asp www.the-savoy-group.com]; [http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/page.aspx?id=476 www.the-berkeley.co.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911015247/http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/page.aspx?id=476 |date=11 September 2009 }}; and [http://www.cosmopolis.ch/travel/rome/st_regis_grand_hotel_e0100.htm www.cosmopolis.ch] and ''The Times'', 21 July 1896, p. 4; and 20 December 1919, p. 18</ref>

===Peak years for the opera company===
During the years when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were being written Carte also produced operas and plays by other writing teams, as well as other works to fill the Savoy Theatre in between new operas. Many of these were [[Savoy opera#Companion pieces|companion pieces]] to the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Others were new full-length pieces either for the Savoy or for Carte's touring companies, which played the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and the new works extensively.<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 23–27</ref> Carte and Lenoir also continued to run his management agency. As an example of their level of activity, an 1881 souvenir programme commemorating the 250th performance of ''Patience'' in London and its 100th performance in New York records that, in addition to these two productions of ''Patience'', Carte was simultaneously managing many other projects. These included two companies touring with ''Patience'', two touring with other Gilbert and Sullivan operas, one touring with the operetta ''[[Olivette (opera)|Olivette]]'' (co-produced with [[Charles Wyndham (actor)|Charles Wyndham]]), one with ''[[Claude Duval (opera)|Claude Duval]]'' in America, a production of ''Youth'' running at a New York theatre, a lecture tour by [[Archibald Forbes]] (a war correspondent) and productions of ''Patience'', ''Pirates'', ''Claude Duval'' and ''[[Billee Taylor]]'' in association with J. C. Williamson in Australia, among other things.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://gsarchive.net/patience/programmes/250perf/pc250.html |title=250th Anniversary ''Patience'' programme, 1881 |access-date=14 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209151850/http://www.gsarchive.net/patience/programmes/250perf/pc250.html |archive-date=9 December 2017 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

[[File:Iolanthe-programme-1882-Savoy.png|thumb|left|upright|''[[Iolanthe]]'', Carte's first new production at the Savoy, 1882]]
Carte also introduced the practice of licensing amateur theatrical societies to present works for which he held the rights, increasing the works' popularity and the sales of scores and libretti, as well as the rental of band parts.<ref>Joseph, pp. 81 and 163.</ref> This had an important influence on amateur theatre in general. Cellier and Bridgeman wrote in 1914 that, prior to the creation of the Savoy operas, amateur actors were treated with contempt by professionals. After the formation of amateur Gilbert and Sullivan companies licensed to perform the operas, professionals recognised that the amateur societies "support the culture of music and the drama. They are now accepted as useful training schools for the legitimate stage, and from the volunteer ranks have sprung many present-day favourites."<ref>Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 393</ref> Cellier and Bridgeman attributed the rise in quality and reputation of the amateur groups largely to "the popularity of, and infectious craze for performing, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas".<ref name="Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 394">Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 394</ref> The [[National Operatic and Dramatic Association]] was founded in 1899. It reported, in 1914, that nearly 200 British societies were producing Gilbert and Sullivan operas that year.<ref name="Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 394"/>

After ''Patience'', Carte produced ''[[Iolanthe]]'', which opened in 1882. During its run, in February 1883, he signed a five-year partnership agreement with Gilbert and Sullivan, obliging them to create new operas for him upon six months' notice.<ref>Baily, p. 251</ref> Sullivan had not intended to immediately write a new work with Gilbert, but he suffered a serious financial loss when his stockbroker went bankrupt in November 1882 and felt the long-term contract necessary for his security.<ref>Ainger, pp. 217–219</ref> The Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther comments, "Effectively, [the contract] made [Gilbert and Sullivan] Carte's employees – a situation which created its own resentments."<ref name=Crowthcarpet>Crowther, Andrew. [https://www.gsarchive.net/html/quarrel.html "The Carpet Quarrel Explained"] {{dead link|date=January 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', 28 June 1997, accessed 7 October 2009</ref> The partnership's next opera, ''[[Princess Ida]]'', opened in January 1884.<ref>Ainger, pp. 225–226</ref> Carte soon saw that it was running weakly at the box office and invoked the agreement to call upon his partners to write a new opera. The musical establishment was continually exhorting Sullivan to abandon comic opera in favour of serious music,{{refn|For example, ''The Times'', 27 May 1878, p. 6, favourably reviewing ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', nevertheless added, "we cannot suppress a word of regret that the composer on whom before all others the chances of a national school of music depend should confine himself ... to a class of production which, however attractive, is hardly worthy of the efforts of an accomplished and serious artist."<ref>"Opera Comique", ''The Times'', 27 May 1878, p. 6</ref>|group= n}} and after he was knighted in 1883, the pressure increased. He soon regretted signing the five-year contract.<ref>Jacobs, p. 188</ref> In March 1884, Sullivan told Carte that "it is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself."<ref name=Crowthcarpet/>

During this conflict and others during the 1880s, Carte and Helen Lenoir frequently worked to smooth over the partners' differences using a mixture of friendship and business acumen.<ref name=Joseph27>Joseph, p. 27</ref> Sullivan asked to be released from the partnership on several occasions.<ref name=jacobssullivan>Jacobs, Arthur. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26772?docPos=7 "Sullivan, Arthur Seymour"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402180054/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26772?docPos=7 |date=2 April 2013 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004, accessed 11 April 2009 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> Nevertheless, Carte was able to coax eight comic operas out of his partners between 1879 and 1896.<ref>Joseph, pp. 18–19</ref> When ''Princess Ida'' closed after a comparatively short run of nine months, for the first time in the partnership's history, a new opera was not ready. Gilbert first suggested a plot in which people fell in love against their wills after taking a magic lozenge – a scenario that Sullivan had previously rejected. Gilbert eventually came up with a new idea and began work in May 1884.<ref>Ainger, pp. 230–233</ref>

[[File:Mikado-programme-1885-savoy.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Programme cover for original production of ''The Mikado'', 1885]]
Carte produced the first revival of ''The Sorcerer'', together with ''Trial by Jury'', and matinees of ''The Pirates of Penzance'' played by a cast of children, while he waited for his partners to finish writing the new work. This became the partnership's most successful opera, ''The Mikado'', which opened in March 1885.<ref name=Wilson13>Wilson and Lloyd, p. 13</ref> The piece satirised British institutions by setting them in a fictional Japan and took advantage of the Victorian craze for the exotic and "picturesque" Far East.<ref>Jones, Brian. "Japan in London 1885", ''W. S. Gilbert Society Journal'', issue 22, Winter 2007, pp. 686–696</ref> ''The Mikado'' became the partnership's longest-running hit, lasting for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre, and supplanting ''Patience'' as the second-longest-running work of musical theatre up to that time.<ref name=longest/> It was extraordinarily popular in the US and worldwide and remains the most frequently performed Savoy Opera.<ref>[[John Kenrick (theatre writer)|Kenrick, John.]] [http://www.musicals101.com/gilbert3.htm "G&S101: G&S Story: Part III"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105033554/http://www.musicals101.com/gilbert3.htm |date=5 January 2010 }}, Musicals101.com, accessed 8 October 2009</ref> The partnership's next opera was ''[[Ruddigore]]'', which opened in January 1887. The piece, though a financial success, was a relative disappointment after the extraordinary run of ''The Mikado''.<ref>Jacobs, p. 248</ref> When ''Ruddigore'' closed after 288 performances over nine months, Carte mounted revivals of earlier Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Savoy for almost a year.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 11</ref> After another attempt by Gilbert to persuade Sullivan to set a "lozenge plot", Gilbert met his collaborator half way by writing a serio-comic plot for ''[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]'', which premiered in October 1888.<ref>Ainger, p. 270</ref> The opera ran for over a year, with strong New York and touring productions. This was a happy time for Carte, with a long-running opera, new marriage and new hotel and opera house under construction.<ref name=Wilson13/> When Carte asked his partners for a new work, Sullivan again expressed reluctance to write another comic opera, asking if Gilbert would write a "dramatic work on a larger musical scale".<ref>Jacobs, p. 287</ref> Gilbert declined but offered a compromise that Sullivan ultimately accepted: the two would write a light opera for the Savoy, and at the same time, Sullivan could work on a [[grand opera]] that Carte would produce at a new theatre he was planning to build to present British grand opera.<ref>Jacobs, p. 288</ref> The new comic opera was ''[[The Gondoliers]]'', which opened in December 1889 and became one of the partnership's greatest successes, with an initial run of 554 performances.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 13; and Baily, p. 344</ref>

During these years, Carte was not just the manager of the theatre. He was a full participant in the producing partnership with Gilbert and Sullivan, involved in casting and finding designers; in charge of publicity; directing and hiring designers for the non-Gilbert works, including the many companion pieces (sometimes with the help of assistants);<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 15–18</ref> and casting, directing and rehearsing the touring companies, among other duties.<ref>Joseph, p. 90</ref> According to [[Henry Lytton]], "Mr. Carte was a great stage manager. He could take in the details of a scene with one sweep of his eagle eye and say unerringly just what was wrong."<ref>Lytton, p. 66</ref> The quality of Carte's productions created a national and international taste for them, and he sent touring companies throughout the British provinces, to America (generally managed by Helen), Europe<ref name=DNB/> and elsewhere.<ref name=Bentley/> [[Queen Victoria]] honoured the company by calling for a [[Royal Command Performance]] of ''The Gondoliers'' at [[Windsor Castle]] in 1891.{{refn|Following the libretto closely, the queen noticed additions to the text made by some of the actors and asked Carte to explain why this was done. Carte replied that they "are what we call 'gags'". The queen answered that she had always understood that "gags were things that were put by authority into people's mouths." Carte rejoined, "These gags, Your Majesty, are things people put into their own mouths without authority."<ref name=Burgess/>|group= n}} [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], writing in ''[[The World (journal)|The World]]'' in October 1893, said:
{{blockquote|Those who are old enough to compare the Savoy performances with those of the dark ages, taking into account the pictorial treatment of the fabrics and colors on the stage, the cultivation and intelligence of the choristers, the quality of the orchestra, and the degree of artistic good breeding, so to speak, expected from the principals, best know how great an advance has been made by Mr. D'Oyly Carte.<ref>"Utopian Gilbert and Sullivan", ''The World'', 11 October 1893, reprinted in Laurence, pp. 975–976</ref>}}

===Later years===
[[File:Royal-English-Opera-House-1891.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Carte's [[Palace Theatre, London|Royal English Opera House]], 1891, during the run of ''[[Ivanhoe (opera)|Ivanhoe]]'']]
On 22 April 1890, during the run of ''The Gondoliers'', Gilbert discovered that maintenance expenses for the theatre, including a new £500<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=DEFIND&use%5B%5D=WAGE&use%5B%5D=GDPCP&use%5B%5D=GDPC&year_early=1890&pound71=500&shilling71=&pence71=&amount=500&year_source=1890&year_result=2006 |title=Approximately £37,818.60 in 2006 prices |access-date=19 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714064621/http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=DEFIND&use%5B%5D=WAGE&use%5B%5D=GDPCP&use%5B%5D=GDPC&year_early=1890&pound71=500&shilling71=&pence71=&amount=500&year_source=1890&year_result=2006 |archive-date=14 July 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> carpet for the front lobby of the theatre, were being charged to the partnership instead of borne by Carte. Gilbert angrily confronted Carte, but Carte refused to reconsider the accounts. Even though the amount of the charge was not great, Gilbert felt that it was a moral issue involving Carte's integrity, and he could not look past it. Gilbert stormed out and wrote to Sullivan that "I left him with the remark that it was a mistake to kick down the ladder by which he had risen".<ref name=Crowthcarpet/> Helen Carte wrote that Gilbert had addressed Carte "in a way that I should not have thought you would have used to an offending menial."<ref>Stedman, p. 270</ref> Matters deteriorated further, and Gilbert brought a lawsuit. Sullivan sided with Carte, who was building the [[Palace Theatre, London|Royal English Opera House]], the inaugural production of which was to be Sullivan's forthcoming grand opera.<ref name=DNB/> Gilbert won the dispute and felt vindicated, but his actions had been hurtful to his partners, and the partnership disbanded.<ref name=Vowed>Shepherd, Marc. "Introduction: Historical Context", ''The Grand Duke'', p. vii, New York: Oakapple Press, 2009. Linked at [https://www.gsarchive.net/grand_duke/html/index.html "The Grand Duke"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620070606/https://www.gsarchive.net/grand_duke/html/index.html |date=20 June 2009 }} ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', accessed 7 July 2009.</ref>

Carte's first production at the Royal English Opera House was of Sullivan's only grand opera, ''[[Ivanhoe (opera)|Ivanhoe]]'', which opened in January 1891. It played for an initial run of 155 performances, a record for an opera. When it finally closed in July, Carte had no new work ready to play at the opera house, and so it had to close. The opera house re-opened in November 1891 with [[André Messager]]'s ''[[La Basoche]]'' at first alternating in repertory with ''Ivanhoe'', and then ''La Basoche'' played alone, closing in January 1892.<ref name=DNB/> Carte again had no new opera to present at the house, and the venture soon failed. [[Henry Wood|Sir Henry Wood]], who as young man had been [[répétiteur]] for the production, recalled in his autobiography, "If D'Oyly Carte had had a repertory of six operas instead of only one, I believe he would have established English opera in London for all time. Towards the end of the run of ''Ivanhoe'' I was already preparing ''[[The Flying Dutchman (opera)|The Flying Dutchman]]'' with [[Eugène Oudin]] in the name part. He would have been superb. However, plans were altered and the ''Dutchman'' was shelved."<ref>Wood, Henry. [https://www.gsarchive.net/other_sullivan/ivanhoe/wood.html ''My Life of Music''] {{dead link|date=January 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. (1938)</ref> Carte leased the theatre to [[Sarah Bernhardt]] for a season and finally abandoned the project. He sold the opera house at a loss to the impresario [[Augustus Harris|Sir Augustus Harris]].<ref name=DNB/> It was then converted into a music hall, the Palace Theatre of Varieties, and later became the [[Palace Theatre, London|Palace Theatre]].<ref>[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/PalaceTheatre.htm The Palace Theatre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125144632/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/PalaceTheatre.htm |date=25 January 2010 }} at the Arthur Lloyd theatre site, accessed 13 October 2009</ref><ref>See "The Palace Theatre", ''The Times'', 12 December 1892, p. 7; "The Theatres in 1892", ''The Times'', 31 December 1892, p. 3; and "Palace Theatre as Cinema. Stage Plays also to be Given", ''The Times'', 31 January 1921, p. 8</ref>

[[File:Glad to See You Together.png|thumb|left|The ''Entr'acte'' expresses its pleasure that Gilbert and Sullivan are reunited.]]
Because of the carpet quarrel, Gilbert had vowed to write no more for the Savoy.<ref name=Vowed/> When ''The Gondoliers'' closed in 1891, Carte needed new authors and composers to write works for the Savoy Theatre. He turned to old friends [[George Dance (dramatist)|George Dance]], [[Frank Desprez]] and [[Edward Solomon]] for his next piece, ''[[The Nautch Girl]]'', which ran for a satisfying 200 performances in 1891–92. Carte then revived Solomon and [[Sydney Grundy]]'s ''[[The Vicar of Bray (opera)|The Vicar of Bray]]'', which ran through the summer of 1892. Next came Grundy and Sullivan's ''[[Haddon Hall (opera)|Haddon Hall]]'', which held the stage until April 1893.<ref name=joseph111>Joseph, p. 111</ref> While Carte presented new pieces and revivals at the Savoy, his touring companies continued to play throughout Britain and in America. In 1894, for example, Carte had four companies touring Britain and one playing in America.<ref>"The Savoyards on Tour", ''The Sketch'', 13 June 1894, pp. 373–374</ref>

Gilbert's aggressive, though successful, legal action had embittered Carte and Sullivan, but the partnership had been so profitable that Carte and his wife eventually sought to reunite the author and composer. After several attempts by the Cartes, the reconciliation finally came through the efforts of [[Chappell & Co.|Tom Chappell]], who published the sheet music to their operas.<ref>Young, p. 193</ref> In 1893, Gilbert and Sullivan produced their penultimate collaboration, ''[[Utopia, Limited]]''. While that was being prepared, Carte staged ''[[Jane Annie]]'', by [[J. M. Barrie]] and [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], with music by [[Ernest Ford]]. Despite the popularity of Barrie and Conan Doyle, the show was a flop, closing after only 51 performances.<ref>Tillett, Selwyn. "Jane Annie", in the ''Sullivan Society Journal'', 1993 centenary issue on ''Utopia, Limited''</ref>

[[File:Comic Opera at the Savoy.png|upright|thumb|[[George Grossmith]] comforts Carte after failure of ''[[The Grand Duke]]'']]
''Utopia'' was Carte's most expensive production to date, but it ran for a comparatively disappointing 245 performances, until June 1894.<ref name=joseph111/> Carte then played first ''[[Mirette (opera)|Mirette]]'', by Messager, then ''[[The Chieftain]]'', by [[Francis Burnand|F. C. Burnand]] and Sullivan. These ran for 102 and 97 performances, respectively.<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 14–15</ref> The company then toured the London suburbs, and the Savoy was leased to other managements until November, when Carte presented a revival of ''The Mikado''.<ref>Seeley, Chapter 8</ref> This was followed in 1896 by ''[[The Grand Duke]]'', which ran for 123 performances and was Gilbert and Sullivan's only financial failure. ''The Gondoliers'' turned out to be Gilbert and Sullivan's last big hit, and after ''The Grand Duke'', the two men never collaborated again.<ref name=joseph111/> At the Savoy, Carte produced ''[[His Majesty (comic opera)|His Majesty]]'' (1897), ''[[The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein]]'' (1897), ''[[The Beauty Stone]]'' (1898) and ''[[The Lucky Star]]'' (1899), as well as revivals of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 16–18</ref>

Though the 1890s brought Carte more disappointments than hits in the theatre, his hotel business prospered and grew. He acquired [[Simpson's-in-the-Strand]]<ref name=savoy>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021221064512/http://www.the-savoy-group.com/Simpsons/AboutUs/History/history.asp The Savoy Group, history pages, Simpson's-in-the-Strand], accessed 1 November 2009</ref> and [[Claridge's]] Hotel, both of which he entirely rebuilt.<ref>[http://www.claridges.co.uk/page.aspx?id=1846 The Savoy Group, history pages, Claridge's] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130073024/http://www.claridges.co.uk/page.aspx?id=1846 |date=30 November 2009 }}, accessed 1 November 2009</ref> There was one grave setback, in 1897, when he had to dismiss his manager, Ritz, and his star chef, Escoffier, for financial misconduct.<ref>Brigid, Allen. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48534 "Ritz, César Jean (1850–1918)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155511/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48534 |date=24 September 2015 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2006, accessed 18 September 2009</ref> Carte's choice as successor to Ritz was [[George Reeves-Smith]], manager and part-owner of the [[The Berkeley|Berkeley Hotel]]. To secure his services, Carte bought the Berkeley in 1900 and promoted Reeves-Smith to be managing director of the whole Savoy Group.<ref>Jaine, Tom. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37887 "Smith, Sir George Reeves- (1863–1941)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402180058/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37887 |date=2 April 2013 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 18 September 2009</ref> Carte had used the same method, a year earlier, to secure a new maître d'hôtel. He was determined to engage M. Joseph, proprietor of the Marivaux Restaurant in Paris, then at the height of its fame. Carte was seriously ill, but he insisted on being carried to the boat-train. In Paris he bought the Marivaux and returned with Joseph to the Savoy.<ref>''[[Daily Mirror]]'', 10 June 1904, p. 16</ref>

Throughout the later 1890s, Carte's health was in decline, and Helen assumed more and more of the responsibilities for the opera company. She profitably managed the theatre and the provincial touring companies.<ref name=helenDNB/> In 1894, Carte had hired his son, [[Rupert D'Oyly Carte|Rupert]], as an assistant. While Carte was ill, in 1897, Rupert assisted Mrs Carte and Gilbert with the first revival of ''The Yeomen of the Guard'' at the Savoy.<ref>''[[New York Post]]'', 7 January 1948</ref> The Savoy put on a number of shows for comparatively short runs during this period, including Sullivan's ''The Beauty Stone'', which ran for only 50 performances, in 1898.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 17</ref> In 1899, Carte finally had a new success with Sullivan and [[Basil Hood]]'s ''[[The Rose of Persia]]'', which ran for 213 performances.<ref>Rollins and Witts, p. 18</ref> Neither Carte nor Sullivan lived to see the production of the next piece by Hood, ''[[The Emerald Isle]]'', for which [[Edward German]] completed Sullivan's unfinished score.<ref name=timesobit>''The Times'' obituary, 4 April 1901, p. 8</ref>