Lumley, Benjamin

1811-1875

Son of Louis Levy, a Jewish merchant of Canada. He studied for the law and was admitted a solicitor in London, 1832. Four years later he undertook to finance Her Majesty's Theatre, and upon the death of Laporte, 1841, he became its manager. He retained the policy of his predecessor and presented the ballet to the neglect of the opera. In this way he quarreled with and lost the performers who had been attached to the theatre. He had three profitable years during his engagement of Jenny Lind, but soon after had to close the theatre. With the burning of Covent Garden in 1856 he tried again, but with not much success. After his retirement, in 1863, he returned to his original profession. During his management he introduced into England for the first time Donizetti's Figlia del Reggimento, Don Pasquale and others, Verdi's Ernani, Traviata, Trovatore, and others, Costa's Don Carlos and Halevy's Tempesta.