Basil Hood
Encyclopedia
Basil Willett Charles Hood (5 April 1864 – 7 August 1917) was a British librettist and lyricist, perhaps best known for writing the libretti of half a dozen Savoy Opera
s and for his English adaptations of operetta
s, including The Merry Widow
. He embarked on a career in the British army, writing theatrical pieces in his spare time. After some modest successes, Hood and his collaborator, the composer Walter Slaughter
, had a major hit with their long-running show, Gentleman Joe
. Hood then resigned from the army to pursue his career as a librettist full-time, later working with such composers as Arthur Sullivan
and Edward German
.
After burlesque and comic opera
went out of fashion, Hood turned to adaptations of continental operettas for the impresario George Edwardes
, writing English versions of such works as The Merry Widow
, The Dollar Princess
and The Count of Luxembourg
, sometimes drastically rewriting the book and lyrics. At the outbreak of World War I
, he took up a demanding post in the British War Office
, which is believed to have contributed to his early death.
, the younger son of the psychiatrist Sir Charles Hood, M.D
., treasurer to Bethlehem Hospital and a Commissioner in Lunacy
. Hood was educated at Wellington
and Sandhurst
, and was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1883. He was promoted to Captain
in 1893 and retired in 1895, but joined the 3rd (Militia
) Battalion later the same year. He resigned his commission in 1898.
in 1890. The Times
praised the piece and remarked on "a certain flavour of Gilbertian paradox". Hood provided the lyrics to Lionel Monckton
's song, "What Will You Have to Drink?", interpolated into the Gaiety Theatre
burlesque Cinder Ellen up too Late
. Hood then wrote two short operetta
s with music by Walter Slaughter
. The first was Donna Luiza, which The Times again compared to W. S. Gilbert
's work, this time less favourably. The second piece by Hood and Slaughter was The Crossing Sweeper, presented at the Gaiety Theatre, with Kate Cutler
and Florence Lloyd.
In 1895, Hood and Slaughter wrote a full-length musical comedy
, Gentleman Joe
, the Hansom Cabbie, a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts. It ran for 391 performances in London, with a second company also presenting it in the provinces. Its success prompted Hood to resign his army commission to concentrate on his writing. With Slaughter and B. C. Stephenson
, Hood then wrote Belinda, described by The Manchester Guardian
as "childish beyond precedent". The next Slaughter and Hood collaboration, The French Maid
, won better reviews on its pre-London production, and from the London critics when it opened at Terry's Theatre
in April 1897. During the run, Hood wrote a short curtain raiser, Apron Strings, a farcical comedy about marital misunderstandings, which was added to the bill in October. The French Maid, which transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre
with revised music and lyrics, ran for 467 performances in all. The collaborators followed it with six more shows in succession, including The Duchess of Dijon; Her Royal Highness; Orlando Dando, the Volunteer (a vehicle for Dan Leno
); and another successful vehicle for Roberts, Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman (1897). Also beginning in 1897, Hood and Slaughter wrote a series of short musicals for children, based on fairy tales, which received warm reviews.
finished collaborating with W. S. Gilbert (The Grand Duke
, in 1896, was their last joint work), Richard D'Oyly Carte
, the proprietor of the Savoy Theatre
, looked for other librettists to provide librettos for Sullivan to set. Hood was introduced to Sullivan by the composer Wilfred Bendall, with whom Hood had collaborated on The Gypsies in 1890. Sullivan's several operas written in the 1890s without Gilbert had not been successful, but his new opera with Hood, The Rose of Persia
(1899), ran for 213 performances. Hood also wrote the libretti for two short companion pieces at the Savoy. The first was Pretty Polly, which ran with The Rose of Persia in 1900 and with Patience
in 1900–01, and the second was Ib and Little Christina
(1900), which played in several theatres including the Savoy (in 1901, as a companion piece to Hood's The Willow Pattern
). Hood also wrote such plays, during this period, as The Great Silence, with Louie Pounds
(Coronet Theatre, London; 1900), which was presented together with Cox and Box
(starring Courtice Pounds
as Box) and Ib and Little Christina, with Louie Pounds as adult Christina (otherwise, the original cast reprised their roles).
After the success for Hood and Sullivan of The Rose of Persia, the pair were soon writing a second opera, The Emerald Isle
(1901). Sullivan died while writing this new work, however, and the task of completing it fell to Edward German
. The production was another reasonable success, with 205 performances. Hood and German went on to collaborate on the successful Merrie England
(1902), which played at the Savoy for 120 performances, toured the provinces for 14 weeks, and then returned for another run at the Savoy. Of Merrie England, The Observer wrote, "It is not too much to say that Capt. Basil Hood and Mr. Edward German have, by means of the latest Savoy success, increased their reputations to an extent that will lead the musical public to look to them in future for work as epoch-making in its peculiar genre as that of Gilbert and Sullivan. Capt. Hood is the only writer of "words for music" whose lyrics can compare with those of Mr. Gilbert for finish, rhythmic piquancy, and verbal quaintness." When Merrie England finished its second London run, German and Hood immediately followed it with A Princess of Kensington
(1903) which ran for 115 performances and then went on tour. After that, their producer, William Greet
, turned away from light opera, which effectively ended their work together.
Between 1903 and 1906, Hood worked on several musical comedies, including one based on Romeo and Juliet
, but when producer Charles Frohman
started altering his work to suit casting considerations, he withdrew his name from the libretto of what was produced as The Belle of Mayfair
(1906). He also adapted Victorien Sardou
's play Les Merveilleuses as the libretto for George Edwardes
's musical at Daly's Theatre
, The Merveilleuses
(1906). Next, he supplied the Gaiety Theatre with lyrics for the successful The Girls of Gottenberg
(1907).
With the resurgence of interest in Continental European operetta
s, Edwardes engaged Hood to prepare the English versions of what became a series of extremely successful productions. Critical opinion has differed about this period of Hood's career. The Times, in its obituary notice, wrote, "He spent more ability in adapting librettos for the late George Edwardes than the quality of the work demanded … under these conditions he scarcely fulfilled his promise as a wit and poet. By contrast, in the view of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, "adapting German and Viennese operettas … is where he found his métier. Often discarding the original premise, he helped create lively and very popular operettas." Shows that Hood adapted included The Merry Widow
(1907), The Dollar Princess
(1908), A Waltz Dream (1908), The Count of Luxembourg
(1911), and Gypsy Love (1912). Hood's original works were few in these years. In 1909, his Little Hans Andersen was produced under the management of William Greet
. In 1913 he wrote a superior but unsuccessful musical comedy, The Pearl Girl.
proposed another collaboration between Hood and German to provide a musical production based on the life of Sir Francis Drake, but German declined the commission. German had been stung by an unpleasant experience with his 1909 opera, Fallen Fairies
, and after this he wrote no more for the stage. In any case, he felt that the Elizabethan setting of the Drake idea would merely result in re-covering old ground already explored in Merrie England.
With the outbreak of World War I
, German-language operetta lost its popularity. After that, Hood supplied lyrics for individual numbers for some musicals and wrote some non-musical plays. In the early days of the war, he took up a post at the War Office
. Despite the heavy demands of his wartime work, he wrote a patriotic light opera, Young England, with music by G. H. Clutsam
and Hubert Bath
, starring Walter Passmore
, which ran at Daly's Theatre
and then the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in 1916–17 before going on tour.
Hood died suddenly in his flat in St. James's Street
, London, at the age of 53, from the effects of overwork and neglecting to eat.
Savoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
s and for his English adaptations of operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s, including The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
. He embarked on a career in the British army, writing theatrical pieces in his spare time. After some modest successes, Hood and his collaborator, the composer Walter Slaughter
Walter Slaughter
Walter Alfred Slaughter was an English conductor and composer of musical comedy, comic opera and children's shows. He was engaged in the West End as a composer and musical director from 1883 to 1904.-Life and career:...
, had a major hit with their long-running show, Gentleman Joe
Gentleman Joe
Gentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie is a farcical musical comedy with music by Walter Slaughter and a libretto by Basil Hood.It opened at that Prince of Wales Theatre on 2 March 1895 and ran for a very successful 391 performances. The show was written as a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts...
. Hood then resigned from the army to pursue his career as a librettist full-time, later working with such composers as Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
and Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
.
After burlesque and comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
went out of fashion, Hood turned to adaptations of continental operettas for the impresario George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
, writing English versions of such works as The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess is a musical in three acts by A.M. Willner and Fritz Grünbaum , adapted into English by Basil Hood , with music by Leo Fall and lyrics by Adrian Ross. It opened in London at Daly's Theatre on 25 September 1909, running for 428 performances...
and The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg is an operetta in two acts with English lyrics and libretto by Basil Hood and Adrian Ross, music by Franz Lehár, based loosely on the German original, entitled "Der Graf von Luxemburg", which had premiered in Vienna in 1909....
, sometimes drastically rewriting the book and lyrics. At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he took up a demanding post in the British War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
, which is believed to have contributed to his early death.
Early life and military career
Hood was born in YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, the younger son of the psychiatrist Sir Charles Hood, M.D
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
., treasurer to Bethlehem Hospital and a Commissioner in Lunacy
Commissioners in Lunacy
The Commissioners in Lunacy or Lunacy Commission were a UK public body established by the Lunacy Act 1845 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people. It succeeded the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy.-Establishment:...
. Hood was educated at Wellington
Wellington College, Berkshire
-Former pupils:Notable former pupils include historian P. J. Marshall, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, impressionist Rory Bremner, Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, author Sebastian Faulks, language school pioneer John Haycraft, political journalist Robin Oakley, actor Sir Christopher...
and Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, and was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1883. He was promoted to Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
in 1893 and retired in 1895, but joined the 3rd (Militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
) Battalion later the same year. He resigned his commission in 1898.
Early stage works
Hood began writing for the theatre in his mid-twenties. His first one-act piece, The Gypsies, with music by Wilfred Bendall, was mounted as a curtain-raiser at the Prince of Wales TheatrePrince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner...
in 1890. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
praised the piece and remarked on "a certain flavour of Gilbertian paradox". Hood provided the lyrics to Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
's song, "What Will You Have to Drink?", interpolated into the Gaiety Theatre
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
burlesque Cinder Ellen up too Late
Cinder Ellen up too Late
Cinder Ellen up too Late is a musical burlesque written by Frederick Hobson Leslie and W. T. Vincent, with music arranged by Meyer Lutz from compositions by Lionel Monckton, Sidney Jones, Walter Slaughter, Osmond Carr, Scott Gatti, Jacobi, Robertson, and Leopold Wenzel. Additional lyrics were...
. Hood then wrote two short operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s with music by Walter Slaughter
Walter Slaughter
Walter Alfred Slaughter was an English conductor and composer of musical comedy, comic opera and children's shows. He was engaged in the West End as a composer and musical director from 1883 to 1904.-Life and career:...
. The first was Donna Luiza, which The Times again compared to W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
's work, this time less favourably. The second piece by Hood and Slaughter was The Crossing Sweeper, presented at the Gaiety Theatre, with Kate Cutler
Kate Cutler
Kate Ellen Louisa Cutler was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ingénue in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramatic plays...
and Florence Lloyd.
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
, Gentleman Joe
Gentleman Joe
Gentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie is a farcical musical comedy with music by Walter Slaughter and a libretto by Basil Hood.It opened at that Prince of Wales Theatre on 2 March 1895 and ran for a very successful 391 performances. The show was written as a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts...
, the Hansom Cabbie, a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts. It ran for 391 performances in London, with a second company also presenting it in the provinces. Its success prompted Hood to resign his army commission to concentrate on his writing. With Slaughter and B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson
Benjamin Charles Stephenson or B. C. Stephenson was an English dramatist, lyricist and librettist. After beginning a career in the civil service, he started to write for the theatre, using the pen name "Bolton Rowe". He was author or co-author of several long-running shows of the Victorian theatre...
, Hood then wrote Belinda, described by The Manchester Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as "childish beyond precedent". The next Slaughter and Hood collaboration, The French Maid
The French Maid
The French Maid is a musical comedy in two acts by Basil Hood, with music by Walter Slaughter, first produced at the Theatre Royal, Bath, England, under the management of Milton Bode on the 4 April 1896. It then opened London's Terry's Theatre under the management of W. H...
, won better reviews on its pre-London production, and from the London critics when it opened at Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre on Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923.-History:...
in April 1897. During the run, Hood wrote a short curtain raiser, Apron Strings, a farcical comedy about marital misunderstandings, which was added to the bill in October. The French Maid, which transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
with revised music and lyrics, ran for 467 performances in all. The collaborators followed it with six more shows in succession, including The Duchess of Dijon; Her Royal Highness; Orlando Dando, the Volunteer (a vehicle for Dan Leno
Dan Leno
Dan Leno , born George Wild Galvin, was an English comedian and actor, famous for appearing in music hall and dozens of comic plays, pantomimes, Victorian burlesques and musical comedies during the Victorian era...
); and another successful vehicle for Roberts, Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman (1897). Also beginning in 1897, Hood and Slaughter wrote a series of short musicals for children, based on fairy tales, which received warm reviews.
Librettist of Savoy Operas
After Arthur SullivanArthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
finished collaborating with W. S. Gilbert (The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
, in 1896, was their last joint work), Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
, the proprietor of the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
, looked for other librettists to provide librettos for Sullivan to set. Hood was introduced to Sullivan by the composer Wilfred Bendall, with whom Hood had collaborated on The Gypsies in 1890. Sullivan's several operas written in the 1890s without Gilbert had not been successful, but his new opera with Hood, The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia; or, The Story-Teller and the Slave, is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899, closing on 28 June 1900 after a profitable run of 211 performances...
(1899), ran for 213 performances. Hood also wrote the libretti for two short companion pieces at the Savoy. The first was Pretty Polly, which ran with The Rose of Persia in 1900 and with Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
in 1900–01, and the second was Ib and Little Christina
Ib and Little Christina
Ib and Little Christina refers to two theatrical adaptations by Basil Hood of the 1855 fairy tale by Hans Andersen of the same name.The first was a play styled "A Picture in 3 Parts", with incidental music by Arthur Bruhns and was first produced at the Prince of Wales Theatre, opening on 15 May...
(1900), which played in several theatres including the Savoy (in 1901, as a companion piece to Hood's The Willow Pattern
The Willow Pattern
The Willow Pattern is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Basil Hood and music by Cecil Cook. It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on 14 November 1901, running for a total of 110 performances. It toured thereafter....
). Hood also wrote such plays, during this period, as The Great Silence, with Louie Pounds
Louie Pounds
Louisa Emma Amelia "Louie" Pounds was an English singer and actress, known for her performances in musical comedies and in mezzo-soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
(Coronet Theatre, London; 1900), which was presented together with Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
(starring Courtice Pounds
Courtice Pounds
Charles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member...
as Box) and Ib and Little Christina, with Louie Pounds as adult Christina (otherwise, the original cast reprised their roles).
The Emerald Isle
The Emerald Isle; or, The Caves of Carrig-Cleena, is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and Edward German, and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 27 April 1901, closing on 9 November 1901 after a run of 205 performances...
(1901). Sullivan died while writing this new work, however, and the task of completing it fell to Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
. The production was another reasonable success, with 205 performances. Hood and German went on to collaborate on the successful Merrie England
Merrie England (opera)
Merrie England is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood. The patriotic story concerns love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who is portrayed as jealous of the affection of Sir Walter Raleigh for Bessie Throckmorton. Its sunny depiction of...
(1902), which played at the Savoy for 120 performances, toured the provinces for 14 weeks, and then returned for another run at the Savoy. Of Merrie England, The Observer wrote, "It is not too much to say that Capt. Basil Hood and Mr. Edward German have, by means of the latest Savoy success, increased their reputations to an extent that will lead the musical public to look to them in future for work as epoch-making in its peculiar genre as that of Gilbert and Sullivan. Capt. Hood is the only writer of "words for music" whose lyrics can compare with those of Mr. Gilbert for finish, rhythmic piquancy, and verbal quaintness." When Merrie England finished its second London run, German and Hood immediately followed it with A Princess of Kensington
A Princess of Kensington
A Princess of Kensington is an English comic opera in two acts by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood, produced by William Greet. The first performance was at the Savoy Theatre, London, on 22 January 1903 and ran for 115 performances....
(1903) which ran for 115 performances and then went on tour. After that, their producer, William Greet
William Greet
William Greet was a British theatre manager from the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Originally a business manager for other theatre licensees in the 1880s, he branched out as an independent manager in the 1890s and was associated with various London theatres, principally the...
, turned away from light opera, which effectively ended their work together.
Adapter of operettas
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, but when producer Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
started altering his work to suit casting considerations, he withdrew his name from the libretto of what was produced as The Belle of Mayfair
The Belle of Mayfair
The Belle of Mayfair is a musical comedy composed by Leslie Stuart with a book by Basil Hood, Charles Brookfield and Cosmo Hamilton. The story is inspired by the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet....
(1906). He also adapted Victorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play...
's play Les Merveilleuses as the libretto for George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
's musical at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
, The Merveilleuses
The Merveilleuses
The Merveilleuses is a musical play in three acts, with a book adapted from the French original of Victorien Sardou by Basil Hood, lyrics by Adrian Ross, and music by Hugo Felix...
(1906). Next, he supplied the Gaiety Theatre with lyrics for the successful The Girls of Gottenberg
The Girls of Gottenberg
The Girls of Gottenberg is a musical play in two acts by George Grossmith, Jr. and L. E. Berman, with lyrics by Adrian Ross and Basil Hood, and music by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton. P. G...
(1907).
With the resurgence of interest in Continental European operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s, Edwardes engaged Hood to prepare the English versions of what became a series of extremely successful productions. Critical opinion has differed about this period of Hood's career. The Times, in its obituary notice, wrote, "He spent more ability in adapting librettos for the late George Edwardes than the quality of the work demanded … under these conditions he scarcely fulfilled his promise as a wit and poet. By contrast, in the view of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, "adapting German and Viennese operettas … is where he found his métier. Often discarding the original premise, he helped create lively and very popular operettas." Shows that Hood adapted included The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(1907), The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess is a musical in three acts by A.M. Willner and Fritz Grünbaum , adapted into English by Basil Hood , with music by Leo Fall and lyrics by Adrian Ross. It opened in London at Daly's Theatre on 25 September 1909, running for 428 performances...
(1908), A Waltz Dream (1908), The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg is an operetta in two acts with English lyrics and libretto by Basil Hood and Adrian Ross, music by Franz Lehár, based loosely on the German original, entitled "Der Graf von Luxemburg", which had premiered in Vienna in 1909....
(1911), and Gypsy Love (1912). Hood's original works were few in these years. In 1909, his Little Hans Andersen was produced under the management of William Greet
William Greet
William Greet was a British theatre manager from the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Originally a business manager for other theatre licensees in the 1880s, he branched out as an independent manager in the 1890s and was associated with various London theatres, principally the...
. In 1913 he wrote a superior but unsuccessful musical comedy, The Pearl Girl.
Last years
In 1912, the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm TreeHerbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
proposed another collaboration between Hood and German to provide a musical production based on the life of Sir Francis Drake, but German declined the commission. German had been stung by an unpleasant experience with his 1909 opera, Fallen Fairies
Fallen Fairies
Fallen Fairies; or, The Wicked World, is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Edward German. Premiering at London's Savoy Theatre on December 15, 1909, it failed miserably, closing after just 50 performances...
, and after this he wrote no more for the stage. In any case, he felt that the Elizabethan setting of the Drake idea would merely result in re-covering old ground already explored in Merrie England.
With the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, German-language operetta lost its popularity. After that, Hood supplied lyrics for individual numbers for some musicals and wrote some non-musical plays. In the early days of the war, he took up a post at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
. Despite the heavy demands of his wartime work, he wrote a patriotic light opera, Young England, with music by G. H. Clutsam
George Clutsam
George Howard Clutsam was an Australian pianist, composer and writer, best remembered as the arranger of Lilac Time. Clutsam published over 150 songs.-Life:...
and Hubert Bath
Hubert Bath
Hubert Charles Bath was a British film composer and music director. His credits include Tudor Rose , A Yank at Oxford and Millions Like Us .Bath was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1883....
, starring Walter Passmore
Walter Passmore
Walter Henry Passmore was an English singer and actor best known as the first successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, which ran at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
and then the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in 1916–17 before going on tour.
Hood died suddenly in his flat in St. James's Street
St. James's Street
St James's Street is one of the principal streets in the central London district of St James's. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall...
, London, at the age of 53, from the effects of overwork and neglecting to eat.