as Christina in His Excellency

with Charles Kenningham in Utopia, Limited

Early life and career

Nancy McIntosh was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She was described as an expert horsewoman, had won prizes in sculling matches, could shoot and fence, played baseball and cricket and enjoyed swimming and diving.http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/newsletters/gossip/no39/gg39_10.html

McIntosh traveled to England with her father in 1892, where she studied voice under George Henschel. She soon sang in concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra and at The Crystal Palace, where she sang in Beethoven's Choral Symphony and selections from Wagner's Die Meistersinger. Henschel introduced her to Gilbert. After hearing her, Gilbert asked Arthur Sullivan to audition her for the soprano lead in their new opera, Utopia, Limited. Sullivan approved her, and she made her theatrical debut creating the part of Princess Zara in Utopia (1893-94) at the Savoy Theatre, a role much expanded for her from its initial conception. It was McIntosh's only part with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

After Utopia

McIntosh became a protegée of Gilbert's and eventually moved in with the Gilberts, and they considered her an "adopted" daughter, as they had no children of their own. She then appeared as Dorothy in Gilbert's Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1894), as Christina in Gilbert and Osmond Carr's His Excellency (1894-95). Sullivan had previously declared that McIntosh would never appear in another of his operas, and so when Gilbert offered Sullivan the opportunity to set the libretto of His Excellency, with the stipulation that McIntosh would play the soprano lead, Sullivan declined the invitation.

as La Favorita in The Circus Girl

McIntosh lived with the Gilberts for the rest of their lives, serving as hostess at their home, Grim's Dyke. After Lady Gilbert died in 1936, McIntosh moved to Knightsbridge, London. She also took Lady Gilbert's position as Vice-President of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Also after Lady Gilbert's death, Gilbert's entire estate, including the Garrick Theatre, passed to McIntosh. McIntosh died in London in 1954, and the remainder of the Gilbert estate went to the Royal General Theatrical Fund, including the substantial royalties from the HMV and Decca recordings of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Fund also received stocks and revenues from the sale of Gilbert's papers to the British Museum.

References

• Introduction by Martyn Green.
• McIntosh, Nancy. "The Late Sir W.S. Gilbert's Pets" in the W. S. Gilbert Society Journal, Brian Jones, ed. Vol. 2 No. 18: Winter 2005 (reprinted from Country Life, 3 June 1911), pp. 548-556
• ISBN 0-903443-12-0

External links

• Nancy McIntosh at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
• "The Controversy Surrounding Gilbert's Last Opera" by Robert Morrison
• Image from ''Utopia, Limited''
• Profile of McIntosh