David Mackie is one of our new members and has also had a fascinating career. He spoke at the same meeting as Morrison Sutherland.
Formative Years
David was born in Greenock in 1943, he was educated at Greenock Academy from 1948 – 1961. In 1958 the school put on its first Gilbert & Sullivan opera and over the next couple of years David took part in them and played some of the principal roles. He also played the piano at the rehearsals, never thinking that he might be able to make a living helping to perform these operas professionally.
Gilbert and Sullivan
William (W S) Gilbert was born in London in November 1836. His father, also William, was a naval surgeon who later wrote novels and short stories, some of which included illustrations by his son. Arthur Sullivan was born in London in May 1842. His father was a military bandmaster, and by the time Arthur had reached the age of eight, he was proficient with all the instruments in the band. They were brought together in 1871, by producer John Hollingshead who asked them to produce a Christmas entertainment, Thespis, at his Gaiety Theatre, a large West End house. Over the next three years, Gilbert and Sullivan did not have occasion to work together again, but each man became more eminent in his field.
According to Classic FM: The duo were a perfect psychological study in two halves making a whole. One was prickly and gruff (Gilbert) while the other was cool and erudite (Sullivan), they both thought that their contributions were weakened by the other’s, and they argued like nobody’s business – but they magically managed to create their incredible works despite their tempestuous relationship.
Richard D’Oyly Carte
In 1875, Richard D’Oyly Carte asked Gilbert as the dramatist and Sullivan as the composer to collaborate on a short comic opera to round out an evening’s entertainment. When that work, Trial by Jury, became a success, Carte put together a syndicate to produce a full-length Gilbert and Sullivan work. Carte’s real ambition was to develop an English form of light opera that would displace the bawdy burlesques and badly translated French operettas then dominating the London stage. The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was not known as such until 1879, but 1875, the year of Trial by Jury, was considered to be the start of the enterprise and 1975 was taken to be the centenary year. The rest, as they say, is history.
David joined the company in 1975 and as it had been going for a hundred years, he thought he surely had a job for life. That was not to be, but the next 7 years were among the best years of his working life.
Touring
They toured around the country for forty-eight weeks of the year, doing eight shows a week (more shows in a year than there are days). These tours always included a long London season, usually from the middle of December until about the end of February. By the time of his first London season in 1975 he knew that the Company would be going to America and Canada in 1976 and that he wouldn’t be going with them — “You wouldn’t have enough to do”, they said: “it would be like a paid holiday “. But they said that they would like him to come back for the next season and while the Company was ‘away’ they would give him a job in the office, sending out scores and band parts for schools and amateur operatic societies.
David’s second year (1975-76) started with promotion to Chorus Master and Associate Conductor and he began to conduct the operas. Normally, he conducted the two matinees but occasionally the evening performances. In 1977 (Silver Jubilee year, and by command of the Queen) the Company performed HMS Pinafore at Windsor Castle. By the end of that year they learned that there would be another US/Canada tour in 1978, and this time, thanks to his promotion, he would be going. This was to be five-month tour, starting with a month in Washington DC. They were invited to a reception at the British Embassy along with representatives of British industry and others. As performers they were asked to provide some cabaret.
The tour continued with dates in Toronto, Chicago, Long Beach (where for a number of the troupe, their hotel was the former Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary) and eight other cities. In many of the places they played there were TV and radio interviews with some principals and David had to play for these if songs were required. On one occasion he appeared on The Dick Cavett Show with principal comedian John Reed. The tour was a truly wonderful experience.
In 1979 came another foreign tour — four months in Australia and New Zealand, playing in nine cities. Thinking that the Company still had years left in it, in 1980, David bought his first property (in Eastbourne). They continued to tour in the UK: “Our ladies’ chorus took part in the film Chariots of Fire — performing ‘Three little maids from school’ (from The Mikado)”. This was filmed in 1980 in Liverpool at the Royal Court Theatre while they were performing at the Empire Theatre.
End of an Era
However, at end of the 1981-82 London season David conducted the last complete performance of an opera by the original D’Oyly Carte Opera Company — a matinee of HMS Pinafore, Saturday, February 27, 1982. David now became, perforce, a freelance accompanist, repetiteur and conductor.
Life After D’Oyly Carte
David was involved in further G&S work including concerts with the principals and chorus members of the Company under the title The Magic of D’Oyly Carte. Other London performances and tours of the US and Canada took place with a group of five singers and pianist under the title The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1984-2000, and they made three recordings of G&S items which they sold at their concerts. Especially memorable was David becoming Musical Director for regular performances at Grim’s Dyke in Harrow (formerly the home of W.S. Gilbert, now a hotel), and also conducting a concert at the Albert Hall in 2000 with this group and members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to commemorate the centenary of Arthur Sullivan’s death. In 1989 he gave a series of talks as part of BBC Radio 2’s series of the complete G&S operas; unfortunately, these are no longer available.
David had had to move from Eastbourne into London to get all this work. There, he joined the CAA (Concert Artistes’ Association) and met performers who had been mainly in the Variety side of show business and he worked with a number of them. At the CAA he met a small group of performers who were auditioning for the Council for Music in Hospitals. They were taken on and David played for them and for many other singers and instrumentalists, this being perhaps the nearest thing to a permanent job since D’Oyly Carte. Most concerts were in care homes. They covered the whole of England and Wales and also the Channel Islands, often being away for a week at a time, but two weeks in the Channel Islands: he was in Guernsey for Music in Hospitals when 9/11 happened.
David’s accompanying career continued, including at pantomimes and concerts with the baritone Ralph Meanley, with whom he made two recordings. He also obtained a position as an organist and also conducted two operatic societies. Each one did some G&S but also other operas and musicals such as La Belle Helene, Die Fledermaus, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof. He wrote many articles on aspects of G&S for various magazines. Other publications include a reconstruction, in collaboration with Sir Charles Mackerras, of a lost cello concerto by Arthur Sullivan (published in 1986) and a book Arthur Sullivan and The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (2005).
Back to Scotland
David returned to Scotland in 2007 and had to give up most of his work but he managed to get work almost immediately from Music in Hospitals in Scotland. Gradually he got other work such as playing for the annual Inverclyde Music Festival. That all stopped when Covid-19 arrived.
Just prior to Covid, David had written another book Nothing like Work or Right in the D’Oyly Carte (2018) about his seven years there. With no work during lockdown, he wrote a second book about all the work he did afterwards —A Bit More Like Work or Life After D’Oyly Carte (2021). He has now written a prequel Not a Lot of Work or Life Before D’Oyly Carte (2025). When lockdown was lifted most of his playing work, including the pantomimes, started up again and he now plays for yet another group and has a regular organist’s job again. He now also plays regularly for Dementia classes — a sign of the times.
The fascinating story of a musical maestro in what I believe to be a fairly precarious occupation. Well done, David. If this has whetted your appetite, then do follow the following links:
The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company Archive
New members are always welcomed at the Club. If you are 50 or over, retired, or nearing retirement, (men only, I’m afraid, dear ladies) you can attend three meetings as a guest and find out what a relaxed and friendly time we have. That’s plenty of time to decide whether to become a Club member or not. Please check out our programme and then use our Contact Form if you wish to attend as a guest, or to enquire about joining.
Largs Probus Club will next meet on Wednesday 9th April at 10:00am within the Willowbank Hotel, when Alex McKinnon will speak on Physics and Ben Nevis.