The Trust is most grateful to Christine Langley for a substantial donation of opera programmes that once belonged to her grandfather, Duncan Ballantine (1874-1966) a journalist who worked in the Edinburgh office of “The Glasgow Herald.” He was not only the newspaper’s golf correspondent and latterly chief reporter but also its music critic; a strange combination! Music was a very important part of his life not only from a journalistic point of view but also as a performer and singing member of the Royal Edinburgh Choral Union.
Born in 1874 in Cumnock, Ayrshire, it was he who “discovered” the distinguished violinist David McCallum whom he heard playing as a young man in a picture-house in a Fife mining town, losing no time in bringing him to the notice of influential friends in Edinburgh. David McCallum went on to be the leader of the Scottish Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli and the London Philharmonic as well as the Royal Philharmonic both under Sir Thomas Beecham.
His knowledge of music was profound, gained from attending musical performances throughout his life. His collection of opera programmes (assembled between 1897 and 1945) is generous in its coverage – extending beyond the Carl Rosa Company to include other performances he attended in both Glasgow and Edinburgh given by the Moody Manners, J. W. Turner, Quinlan, Beecham, Denhof, Allington Charsley, BNOC, Castellano, O’Mara, Cunningham and D’Oyly Carte companies.
It would seem that music continued to run in their family; the donation also includes a smaller collection of Carl Rosa programmes from the late 1940s and early 1950s from Christine’s father, Fred Vaughan. This collection of programmes represents a welcome addition to the Carl Rosa Archive.