British Opera in Retrospect

Author(s): Stephen Banfield

Source: The Musical Times , Apr., 1986, Vol. 127, No. 1718 (Apr., 1986), pp. 205-207
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/964706

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 Rossini's
Rossini's favourite
favourite business
business of
of aa symphony
symphonyconcert
concertbegins.
begins.
Semiramide, One may
may ask
ask whether
whether ititisissuccessful
successfulininset-
set-
Henriette Sontag ting the
the mood
mood or
or the
the scene,
scene,whether
whetherthe
the
famous
famous hymn-like
hymn-like passage
passagefor
forhorns
hornsisis
'integrated'
'integrated' with
with the
the rest,
rest,and
andwhether
whetheratat
great predecessor' and sang with the its reappearance
reappearance in
in the
the'oath
'oathquintet,
quintet,itit
'intensely musical sensitiveness and that expresses
expresses the
the five
five characters'
characters'(presumably
(presumably
intelligence of phrasing which makes her different)
different) emotions.
emotions. 'Bel
'Belraggio'
raggio'isisthe
themost
most
the wonderful artist she is'. In modern celebrated
celebrated ofof the
the arias,
arias,and
andagain,
again,hearing
hearing
times the part has been most closely asso- it in context
context rather
rather than
thanasasaaconcert
concertpiece,
piece,
ciated with Joan Sutherland: her perfor- one should
should gain
gain some
some sense
sensethat
thatititbelongs
belongs
mance at La Scala in 1962 'remained a properly
properly to to the
the strong-willed
strong-willedcharacter
characterofof
one-dimensional figure most of the even- the famous
famous and
and notorious
notoriousqueen.
queen.Whether
Whether
it does
ing', in the opinion of the editor of Opera, does so,
so, and
and whether
whetherArsace's
Arsace'sariaaria'In
'In
who found his first experience of the operasi barbara
barbara sciagura'
sciagura' actually
actuallyholds
holdswithin
within
its pretty,
'mildly interesting' but 'generally unrewar- pretty, comfortable
comfortablemusic
musicanything
anythingofof
the 'pianto'
ding'. Recently it has fallen to June Ander- 'pianto' and
and 'dolor'
'dolor'ofofwhich
whichitit
Sontag, was Rossini's own favourite in the nominally
nominally tells,
son to uphold the tradition; she gained great tells, will
will bebeother
otherquestions
questionsthat
that
role, which then fell to the soprano whose acclaim in New York when she substitutedthe sober
sober mind
mind will
will hope
hopetotohave
haveanswered.
answered.
reign covered so illustriously the middle for Montserrat Caballe in a concert perfor-Whatever
Whatever the
the outcome,
outcome,two twoother
otherfactors
factors
decades of the century, Giulia Grisi. In mance of the opera, and her appearance remain.
remain.
is One
One is
is that
that the
thereceptive
receptivemind
mindwill
will
some of her London performances she sang a keenly anticipated event at Covent
always
always find
find enough
enough delight
delightscattered
scattered
with Pauline Viardot as Arsace, once before Garden this month. through
through the
the work
work to
to justify
justifyits
itsrevival
revivalon
on
Queen Victoria who noted in her diary that These matters are what one might call occasions such as this. The finale of Act
'Grisi sang beautifully' but that Viardot's the intoxicants of opera. The great singers, 1, for instance, has the irresistible zest that
voice 'was so small one could hardly hear the glittering events, the dates, the is Rossini's supreme gift. Towards the end
it at times'. Later in the century came the reminiscences: all are wine and heady stuff of Act 2 comes a trio ('Lusato ardir') in
tragic Teresa Tietjens, after whose intense to opera-goers whose present experiences which his grace and elegance find parti-
and regal assumption it seemed to some that tingle with a thrilled awareness of historical cularly charming expression; and there is
even the divine Adelina Patti was ill-advised tradition. A sober critical attention should much else. The second factor worth bear-
in her attempt, after Tietjens's death, to nevertheless be spared for the opera itself. ing in mind is that grounds for a really final
follow her. To others, in both England and To many in the audiences it will be com- judgment do not yet exist. The recorded
America, the evenings in which Patti and pletely new. Some will have collected an Semiramide has Richard Bonynge's cuts,
Sofia Scalchi starred in the opera were odd performance here and there, and more, the Covent Garden performances will have
among the treasured memories of a lifetime. perhaps, will know the recording made in Henry Lewis's. Of the various scores I have
In London only one more Semiramide fol- 1966 and conducted by Richard Bonynge. seen none is complete and definitive. The
lowed Patti before its 99-year absence (that The overture is of course everyone's pro- scholars have served Rossini well in recent
was Anna Cepada in 1887); in New York perty, but will now be seen in a different years: a critical edition of Semiramide
it was Nellie Melba, who according to W.J. light. Its role will no longer be that of a should be high on the list of work still to
Henderson 'effaced the memory of her foot-tapping pastime before the serious be done.

British Opera in Retrospect

Stephen Banfield
Readers
Readers may
may have
havenoticed
noticedthat recently It included numbers from Mackenzie's Col-
thatrecently with Opera Viva and the British Music
there
there has
has been
beensomething
somethingofofa arevival
revival
ofof omba, Goring Thomas's Esmeralda, Cor- Society. The field was broadened to
British
British opera.
opera. In
In1981
1981Nicholas
NicholasTemper-
Temper- der's Nordisa, d'Erlanger's Tess, Naylor's embrace the period up to the 1951 Festival
ley's
ley's The
The Romantic
RomanticAge,
Age,vol.v
vol.vofofthe
the Ath- The A4ngelus, MacCunn's Jeanie Deans,
Ath- of Britain and, again with live extracts, even
lone
lone History
History of
ofMusic
MusicininBritain, appeared, Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing,
Britain,appeared, more obscure corners were delved into,
including
including aa lively
livelychapter
chapter'Opera: 1865- Holbrooke's The Children of Don and
'Opera:1865- ranging from McAlpin's King Arthur and
1914'
1914' by
by Nigel
Nigel Burton.
Burton.This
Thishelped Lewis Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate, as well as
helpedLewis Gatty's Greysteel to Inglis Gundry's The
Foreman and Leslie Head to offer an assess- longer extracts (in each case closing scenes) Partisans, taking in on the way Parry's
ment of some of the forgotten repertory from Delius's Irmelin, Holst's Sita and Guinevere, Cyril Scott's The Alchemist,
through performance rather than from the Boughton's The Immortal Hour. Again Goossens's Don Juan, Albert Coates's
printed page; a concert of excerpts from guided by Lewis Foreman, the exploration Pickwick, Tovey's The Bride of Dionysus
that period, given in February 1983 by was widened the following year by a pair and works by Gibbs, Rootham, Benjamin,
Opera Viva under Leslie Head at St John's, of Saturday morning seminars at the British Drysdale, Alan Bush and others.
Smith Square, resulted (and was recorded). Music Information Centre in cooperation At this stage the interest might well have

205

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petered out amid mutterings about unjusti-
fied or justified neglect. Instead, as its con-
tribution to European Music Year, the
British Music Society seized the opportun-
ity to encourage the production of British
operas by sponsoring a project British
Opera in Retrospect. Its main thrust has
been a competition, with a first prize of
?1000 and two additional prizes, for 'the
most enterprising and worthwhile' presen-
tations of neglected British operas to a list
agreed by the society. The prize-giving will
take place before the performance of Birt-
wistle's The Mask of Orpheus at the Col-
iseum on 30 May; in addition to the main
prizes token awards will be made for the
best production of a new opera, of a Handel
opera, of an 'intimate' opera, of a school
or youth opera and of a 20th-century opera
not in the competitive list. There is also
to be a commemorative book of essays.
A great deal of the effort and interest has
been focussed on the later 19th and early
to mid-20th centuries, for this was the
period whose investigation sparked off the
project. The groups involved have all been
amateur, student or semi-professional -
the professional companies do not risk
neglected British operas, a point to which
I shall return in developing a few thoughts
based on the productions I have seen. My overriding impression is that British
These are Stanford's Much Ado About opera is much less of a special 'problem'
Nothing (Opera Viva at the Jeanettathan it has always seemed. Perhaps, in a
Cochrane Theatre, London, March 1985); century that has seen the sense of an oper-
two double bills, Robin Orr's Full Circle
atic mainstream, or even of alternative
with Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate (Cam-traditions, disintegrate after Puccini -
bridge Opera Trust at the MumfordBerg, Strauss, Janacek and Britten, I would
Theatre, Cambridge, July 1985), and argue, enjoy currency as individuals, not
Holst's The Wandering Scholar withas national standards for international
Vaughan Williams's Hugh the Drovertrading - we are more able to acknowledge,
(Midland Music Makers at the Crescent and expect others to acknowledge, that Bri-
Theatre, Birmingham, October 1985); tain can fight for and win a fair slice of the
Bliss's The Olympians (Occasional Opera
meagre cake (or delicate souffle) that is
Group at the George Square Theatre, Edin-operatic success. Or perhaps, in the final
burgh, November 1985); and MacCunn's decades of that same century, our attitudes
Jeanie Deans (Opera West at the Gaiety to our musical heritage are inevitably hav-
Theatre, Ayr, February 1986). I misseding to become more relaxed and open-
Boughton's The Lily Maid in Chichester,
minded. This strikes me as a point with far-
Vaughan Williams's The Poisoned Kiss in
reaching ramifications. One is that 1945
Aberdeen and London, Bantock's Caedmaris now a long way away, and Britten's com-
in London and one or two others. Notting-
mand of British opera belongs to the past,
ham University's production of Delius'snot the present. I see no reason why a young
Irmelin had to be cancelled. Counter- student or an inquisitive foreigner being
balancing these omissions, productions introduced
of to British opera for the first time
Smyth's The Wreckers (Bradford Opera should find Peter Grimes any more 'rele-
Group, 1982; Warwick University also put
vant' or pregnant than The Wreckers - or
it on in 1983) and Stanford's The Travell-
Porgy and Bess, for that matter - as a por-
ing Companion (Reading University, 1981),
trayal of an oppressive and parochial mari-
as well as Opera North's A Village Romeo
time community and of those who do not
and Juliet, remain fresh in the memory.fit into it, or the music and the dramatic
methods of the one any more timeless than
those of the other. Grimes may be a greater
I

work of art than The Wreckers, but we have

no means of judging this categorically until
we have seen professional productions of
both.

Sensibility Or take Shakespeare. Turning Much Ado

About Nothing into an Edwardian house
and English Song party, as Opera Viva did, was an artful
challenge to any preconceptions about the
Critical Studies of the Early Twentieth Century viability of Stanford's music, and suggested
that English music enthusiasts may find
strange bedfellows in post-modernist pro-
STEPHEN BANFIELD ducers. Much of the music positively
glowed under this treatment. We accept
Verdi's Macbeth; why not Nicolai's The
'This immensely valuable catalogue details all the individual titles, together
Merry Wives of Windsor, Goetz's Taming
with the authors of the texts and the dates of their composition and publica-
of the Shrew (Bernard Shaw was crying out
tion. This in itself is a wonderful source of reference for all singers and
for this a hundred years ago) or Stanford's
accompanists, professional and amateur alike, as well as for teachers of sing-
Much Ado? It is all a question of reasonable
ing, and indeed for anyone interested in the history of English music, of
repertory, and the question is too rarely
which this huge lyrical outpouring may be seen as one of our creative peaks.'
asked.
Music Journal
As for Scott, some of the ground has
'... splendid volumes which are thoroughly recommended to anyone in- already been cleared, by an academic spade.
terested in song, whether as listener or performer'. Delius Society Journal
Jerome Mitchell, in his The Walter Scott
Operas, does not hesitate to rate Jeanie
334 pp. Volume 1 0 521 23085 3 ?27.50 net Deans 'among the half-dozen best Walter
240 pp. Volume 2 0 521 30360 5 ?25.00 net Scott operas'. Hitherto Lajoliefille de Perth
has enjoyed professional performances,
Jeanie Deans has not. We already know a
Cambridge University Press masterpiece, and plenty of good tunes, by
- The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, England Bizet, and will be curious and confident to

206

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hear
hearmore.
more. In In
fact,
fact,
we also
weknowalso aknow
rathera rather
production),
production), Peter
PeterGrimes
Grimestheirtheirfirst positive
positive
firstinin self-knowledge
self-knowledge dramatized
dramatized
good
goodtunetune bybyMacCunn
MacCunn - The -Land
TheofLand
the of the
1945;
1945; the
the postwar
postwarworld
worldisisno
nolonger
longersoso
newthrough
throughrelated
new relatedsources,
sources, staring
staring us in
us the
in the
Mountain
Mountain and and
thethe
FloodFlood
- which may be maythat
- which be the one deserves to have ousted the face.
face. Not
Notall
allthe
theoperas
operas in in
thethetradition
tradition
are are
one
onereason
reason whywhythe the
last night
last night
of Jeanieof Jeanie
other. Moreover, a clearer national opera equally
equally successful
successfuloror significant;
significant; butbut
eacheach
Deans
DeansininAyrAyr waswas
sold sold
out toouta sympathetic,
to a sympathetic, tradition than appears on the surface can has has something
somethingtotoadd add
totothe the
understanding
understanding
intelligent,
intelligent, enthusiastic
enthusiasticand, Iand,
wouldI judge, be discerned once one starts digging. Tip- of
would judge, of the
the others.
others.
proud
proudScottish
Scottish audience.
audience.Why then
Whyhas then has
pett produced The Travelling Companion The
The British
Britishpilgrim
pilgrim sets
sets outoutfromfrom
low-low-
Jeanie
JeanieDeansDeans beenbeen
so longso long
neglected?
neglected?at the Barn Theatre, Oxted. I suspect he land land territory.
territory.Amateur
Amateur and andsemi-profes-
semi-profes-
Mainly
Mainlybecause
because no orchestral
no orchestral parts could
parts could
also had aspects of Bliss's The Olympians sionalsional productions
productionsofof British
British operas
operas
havehave
be
be found:
found: a new
a newset has
set been
has financed
been financed
by by
(Covent Garden, 1949) in his mind when been been anan invaluable
invaluablestart,
start, but but
thethe burden
burden
the
theScottish
Scottish ArtsArts
Council,
Council,
and Opera
and West
Opera Westworking out The Midsummer Marriage; needs needs totobe
betaken
takenupupbyby professional
professional com-com-
confidently
confidently predict
predict
in their
in their
programme
programme
that these two and Britten's Midsummer Night's panies.
that panies. (Two
(Twofinalists
finalistsofof last
last
year's
year's
GKN GKN
this
this'will
'will
bring
bringJeanie
Jeanie
DeansDeans
back into
back the make a trilogy of midsummer operas English
theinto Dream English Song
SongAward,
Award, Robin
Robin Green
Greenandand
mainstream
mainstream of of
British
British
musicalmusical
life'. They from the same decade or so, and Macken- Paula
life'. They Paula Bott,
Bott,undertook
undertook andand greatly
greatly distin-
distin-
deserve
deservetoto be be
right.
right. zie's The Eve of St John adds an earlier con- guished
guished themselves
themselvesinin thetheleading
leadingmalemale
and and
Notwithstanding
Notwithstanding my my
earlier
earlier
remarks
remarks
cordance. Most of these relate to Meister- female roles of The Boatswain's Mate and
about the dissolution of an international singer, as do, in their different ways, Hugh Jeanie Deans respectively.) It is time for
mainstream in the 20th century, I see everythe Drover and Jeanie Deans; add to them Scottish Opera to produce Jeanie Deans,
reason why we should seek to rediscover Vaughan Williams's Pilgrim's Progress, and WNO to mount The Wreckers, and ENO
a broad national one. We are still, it seems,the resulting tight web of influences and and Opera North to toss for Hugh the
repairing the damage of two world wars.preoccupations that draws on the Every- Drover and The Travelling Companion. Of
Jeanie Deans remained in the repertoryman tradition ofLangland and Bunyan and course they would all be a great risk - but
until World War I. The Wreckers was the layered spiritual worlds of Shakespeare a greater risk, or smaller potential reward,
Sadler's Wells's last new productionfurnishes
in us with a coherent British than, say, a Martinfi or Dvorak opera? I
1939 (also The Wreckers' last professional do not think so.
operatic tradition, that of the quest for

Book Reviews

tutions but also

also for
for the
the domestic
domestic market, hasderived from creative work. There are nine con-
market, has
Computers nevertheless
nevertheless been
been rapid,
rapid, creating
creating aa general reader-tributions, each concentrating on a particular
general reader-
ship inquisitive
inquisitive enough
enough toto seek
seek an
an understanding
understandingcomposer and ranging from interviews to articles
Composers and the Computer edited by of this sphere
sphere of
of music
music production.
production. by the composers themselves. The former are
Curtis Roads Electronic music based on more traditional disappointing, at times affording little more than
Kaufmann (Los Altos, Calif., 1985); xxi, 201 pp.;technology has been influential for almost four a superficial discussion of diverse issues. This
$24.95. ISBN 0 86576 085 3 decades, and the involvement of many distin- is especially true of those with George Lewis and
Digital Audio Signal Processing: an Antho- guished composers has encouraged accompany- John Chowning, which are very brief. In view
logy edited by John Strawn ing literature which is now extensive if not always of Chowning's significant contribution to the
Kaufmann (Los Altos, Calif., 1985); xiv, 284pp.; musically substantial. Writings have tended to technology of computer music it would have been
$34.95. ISBN 0 86576 082 9 concentrate on technical aspects, partly because interesting to learn of his views on the creative
Foundations of Computer Music edited by of the rapid development in system design and uses of digital sound synthesis. Instead we have
Curtis Roads and John Strawn the predominance of practitioners who are scien- a summary description of the technical proce-
MIT (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1985); tists rather than musicians. Composers gener- dures used in a selection of his works, supported
xx, 712pp.; ?55.95. ISBN 0 262 18114 2 ally have been slow to investigate the possibilities by a few general comments of a more philoso-
of computer music. Also, during the 1960s and phical nature. The interviews with Herbert Brin
As the digital revolution continues to influence 70s, the expense of the equipment restricted its and James Dashow are less perfunctory, permit-
our appreciation of the performing arts, not least development to a few institutions. More relevant, ting a better understanding of the rationale
through television and the compact disc, so the however, are the difficulties encountered in using behind their work.
notion of music produced through the computer computers and the need for literature that will The articles are more rewarding, not least
has begun to gain acceptance as an important assist those without advanced scientific and Iannis Xenakis's contribution, which delves into
aspect of composition: not that public percep- mathematical knowledge to understand howaesthetics. Charles Dodge's article on his piece
tion of its creative potential has been well served these systems work, and to what musicalIn Celebration provides details of the techniques
by ephemera from the sound-synthesis chips advantage. he used in this pioneering example of synthetic
incorporated in many microcomputers and video Of these three publications Composers and the speech synthesis. This application of digital
games. Progress in the development of affordable Computer is perhaps the most approachable fortechnology is of considerable interest to a number
digital synthesizers, not only for educational insti- the general reader since it concentrates on issuesof composers and his meticulous explanation

207

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