ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapter of this book. The book infers that the United Kingdom (UK) had experienced 40 years of stasis but, in terms of organisational structures, public engagement with the genre, and composer achievement. There had been little radical change or development; rather, progress had been incremental and reactive rather than pro-active. It was in the years immediately preceding the war that the touring troupes reached their zenith both in size and scope. Although the number of new works premiered, as listed in, is far from insignificant, and greater than most subsequent commentators have acknowledged, it can hardly be deemed a cohesive corpus, still less a tradition. The perception that opera composition was more trouble than it was worth was reinforced in all manner of ways. It is unsurprising therefore that, in the absence of opportunities, most composers chose to focus on other genres.
