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Rose Hill

Additional notice for 10-year stalwart of ''Allo 'Allo'

Monday 05 January 2004 01:00 GMT
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Rose Hill's career as an operatic soprano lasted more than a dozen years, writes Elizabeth Forbes [further to the obituary by Anthony Hayward, 1 January]. She made her début at Glyndebourne in the summer of 1939, as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro. Audrey Mildmay sang Susanna, but, as she also sang Norina in Don Pasquale, Irene Eisinger, the main Barbarina, sang some performances of Susanna, leaving Barbarina to her cover, Rose Hill.

In 1941 she joined Sadler's Wells Opera, at that time a touring company, with reduced personnel and a small repertory, who also gave short London seasons at the New Theatre (now the Albery). In 1945 the company returned to its home in Islington, opening with the premiere of Peter Grimes. Hill stayed at Sadler's Wells until 1948, when she joined the English Opera Group, which had been founded two years previously by Benjamin Britten, John Piper and Eric Crozier.

On 24 May 1948 Britten's new version of The Beggar's Opera was first performed at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, with Rose Hill as Lucy Lockit, the gaoler's daughter. The Beggar's Opera was given at the 1950 Aldeburgh Festival, when Hill again sang Lucy.

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