Ptarmigan - 1895
During the month of February, 1895, there was a tremendous surge of activity in Hamilton’s music circles. A locally-written operetta was to be performed at the Grand Opera House with the purpose of raising funds for the charitable work of the Ladies’ Benevolent Society. On February 11, 1895, a reporter from the Hamilton Spectator was permitted to attend a rehearsal of the comic operetta, Ptarmigan – music by J. E. P. Aldous, libretto by J. N. McIlwraith (better known by her pen name Jean Newton.) The reporter, although realizing that the under-rehearsed musicians were still unfamiliar with the score, was still delighted by Mr. Aldous’ compositions: “It is far and away the best music of a similar character that has been composed by a Hamiltonian – perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say by a Canadian.” Even the members of the cast applauded the score at the end of the rehearsal. The choruses of the second a