Note 41 — Chapter VI · OPERA IN THE UNITED STATES. PART I: NEW YORK

William Michael Rooke was the son of a Dublin tradesman named Rourke or O'Rourke and was to a large extent a self-taught musician. For a time he taught the violin and pianoforte in Dublin—among his pupils on the former instrument being Balfe—and later he was chorus-master at Drury Lane under Tom Cooke, leader at Vauxhall under Sir Henry Bishop, and a conductor of oratorios at Birmingham. 'Amalie' was produced with success at Covent Garden in 1837.