This company was formed by Ernst Denhof, a musician resident in Edinburgh, to give a perfo'mance of ' Der Ring des Nibelungen ' in that city, following on its production in English a t Covent Garden under Richter in 1908. The Edinburgh performances, the first to be given in the provinces, took place Feb.-Mar. 1910, under the direction of Michael Balling, and were sufficiently successful to warrant Denhof giving another series in 1911 at Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow. In 1912 another tour was made -Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow- the operas given being * E lektra,' first performance in English, ' Orpheus,' ' Flying Dutchman ' and ' The Mastersingers.' The 1913 season began at Birmingham with a repertory which included ' Rosenkavalier,' ' Pelleas e t Melisande,' both given for the first time in English, and the ' Magic Flute ' ; but these tours had unfortunately been less and less of a financial success-it was new at that time to give opera on such lines, a large orchestra of admirable quality necessitating higher prices for seats-and the fortnight's season promised a t Manchester had to be reduced to a week. At this moment Beecham came to the rescue of the company, and its personnel may be said in general to have come thenceforward under his control. (See B e echam and B r it ish N at iona l Op er a Co .) n . c . G.