The Wreckers: Glyndebourne

[Dave2002]

The Wreckers at Glyndebourne turned out to be an interesting affair. Not the greatest opera I've ever heard, but an interesting one, with a rather grim plot. There seemed to be a lot of work for the chorus. There were slight references to Wagner, and perhaps also Bizet. Over all it was a good performance, though there was a disruption due to illness, and a substitute singer for one of the main characters had to be flown in at short notice from the west of England. He sang from the side in one of the audience areas, while the singer who'd lost his voice acted the part on the stage. There was a description of how the singer was flown over in the Times the day after. Trains were not possible - due to the rail strikes.

See also https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...al-ethel-smyth
There will be semi-staged performances at the Proms.

TV/Video cameras were apparent, so it may appear on TV or in cinemas eventually. I would like to see it again, but there may not be another opportunity in the next few years. It maybe doomed to fade into obscurity, rather like some of RVW's operatic output. I suppose it's a hard issue trying to run repeat performances year after year, and if there is too long a gap between performance runs, then new singers will have to be hired, and production costs would go up.

[kuligin]

I attended this performance too, with Adam Gilbert singing the role of Mark from the side while it was mimed on stage.

I know this Opera well from the Conifer CD of a Proms performance. I thought the Glyndebourne performance was far better mainly down to some inspired conducting by Robin Ticciatti but plenty of first class singing from the whole cast and superb chorus.
A decent production too, though why use modern dress for an Opera set in a village that is destitute?

I have always thought the music to be second rate, and far from the masterpiece described in the programme, which included the remarkable assertion Smyth not Wagner was the real revolutionary! The best parts being for the chorus and for Pascoe, the rest a curates egg. From the recording I thought the influences were Schumann and the Wagner of Flying Dutchman with a near quote of Carmen in the melange. This performance was in French, an inspired choice as such a version existed prepared by Smyth, and the English version is truly awful. This brought out the French influences, more Bizet, the Pearl Fishers, and Gounod and Massenet too. Pascoe sounded like he had escaped from an Oratorio by St Saens as he imitated an Old Testament prophet.

An enjoyable evening but I kept thinking during the longeurs of the Act 1 dialogue which does go on and on apropos English Opera pre Grimes what a shame this care and commitment was not lavished on Sir John in Love, a far superior if somewhat flawed work, never mind A Village Romeo and Juliet, just a hint of political correctness in Glyndebourne‘s choice of this piece perhaps.

[Dave2002]

An enjoyable evening but I kept thinking during the longeurs of the Act 1 dialogue which does go on and on apropos English Opera pre Grimes what a shame this care and commitment was not lavished on Sir John in Love, a far superior if somewhat flawed work, never mind A Village Romeo and Juliet, just a hint of political correctness in Glyndebourne‘s choice of this piece perhaps.

Adam Gilbert was very good - IMO.

Sir John in Love was done at ENO some years ago - and I now notice that was as long ago as 2006. I was very surprised to enjoy that one - and it is indeed much better than some others. It ought to be brought out more often.

I'd have to hear and see the Wreckers a few more times to be able to make a considered judgement - though I doubt that it would ever be considered up at the top of the list.

From where I sat the costumes did not appear to be modern - but they may have not been the "correct" period. Ah - yes - there was the girl with the multi-coloured fancy night club going outfit! Avis - Lawrence's daughter. So a bit of a mixture of costumes. Some suitably tatty as might be appropriate for a poor community, and others just a bit odd. Maybe Avis had picked up something smart from one of the previous wrecks.

[Master Jacques]

A decent production too, though why use modern dress for an Opera set in a village that is destitute?

Perhaps because modern Cornish villages are every bit as destitute as in the 19th century, though reliant on foodbanks and universal credits rather than the shipwrecking business? That bitter aside notwithstanding, I am in full agreement as to your preference for such infinitely superior operas as those of RVW, Delius (and Holst). The Wreckers is a shocking dog's breakfast, and nowhere near the quality of Smyth's better stage works, notably Fête Galante. Once you've heard the Overture, you've heard all the tunes. All this would be easier to indulge, if it weren't for the moronic hype surrounding the blessed thing!

Dame Ethel will be rolling in her grave at the moral turpitude of doing The Wreckers in French, when she was so passionate for the cause of opera in the vernacular. Whatever we might think of her English version - which would be fine if the music weren't so mediocre - it's what she would have wanted, without question. The reason Glyndebourne shunted itself into doing the French version was, that they foolishly decided to add about an extra 30 minutes of music, which the composer sensibly cut before the first night and never reinstated. Only the French text survives for those needless additions, which make a long evening even longer, and the company was too lazy to translate the extra half hour into English.

As Vaughan Williams once said, only snobs and prigs prefer to hear opera in a language other than their own. He cited a lady who was against opera in English, on the grounds that "we don't want to know what the opera's about, we've come for the singing". I fear the same applies to opera administrators, perpetrators of critical editions, and general opera-goers today.

(Oh, and by the way ... I'm reliably informed that the French text itself is embarrassingly poor and unidiomatic, for native French speakers.)

[Cockney Sparrow]

I am in full agreement as to your preference for such infinitely superior operas as those of RVW, Delius (and Holst). The Wreckers is a shocking dog's breakfast, and nowhere near the quality of Smyth's better stage works, notably Fête Galante. Once you've heard the Overture, you've heard all the tunes. All this would be easier to indulge, if it weren't for the moronic hype surrounding the blessed thing!

Since I went on 4 June. I've wondered how to describe my rather negative feeling about the experience. I'm afraid I found the plot mostly ultra-melodromatic - a comparison between a silent film in "hammer horror mode" and a master such as Hitchcock (not that I'm an expert on film). Whilst there were, of course, duets and small dramatic exchanges, when they ended it seemed to be full on heavily orchestrated music - whipped up and overloaded, brass at play for over-long passages. It had no light or shade to offer -Off or ON. I assume Ticciati was dutifully following the score (in a sense, a pity - had he listened to the sound being produced?).

The Glyndebourne chorus is very fine, but here they too seemed to be following direction to sing at ffff to support the ever present dramatic intensity. They sounded coarse - a contrast to the fine sound they made in, for example Handel's Saul (which was thrilling).

Overall, it felt like an assault on the ears, and I for one do not want to hear it again. (It was a cruel comparison having been to the so very wonderful Grimes recently at the Royal Opera House. How anyone could say that any aspect of Grimes was derivative of the Wreckers is beyond belief). If composers such as Wagner and Saint Saens had influenced Smyth, they hadn't influenced her enough.

And to think I travelled there, paid for overnight accommodation, and indulged the 90 minute interval flummery in indifferent weather. (And deluge, thunder and lightning as we left!).

Also it shows me to ignore the critics - I surveyed them and only one included any criticism which alluded to the harsh experience I had. Interestingly, that time expired politician David Mellor thinks that
“Far from a lost masterpiece, Glyndebourne's unmissable take on The Wreckers is one of the best things its festival has done in years….”
Really? I'm sure he gets his regular supply of comps - the mind boggles what he has seen and heard before. But then he goes on to contradict himself:
“What makes it all so difficult is that Smyth couldn’t write a tune. There isn’t a single melody you will recall five minutes after the final curtain comes down.”

When broadcast (or even heard in the Hall) the RAH acoustics, and certainly the balancing, may well put out a more blended sound, but as I say, I won't be deceived and tempted into the opera house again.

[Master Jacques]

Also it shows me to ignore the critics - I surveyed them and only one included any criticism which alluded to the harsh experience I had.

Yes, it's a bad business. We have to read between the lines to work out what these writers really thought of it. Those critical lines themselves strike me as ranging from absurd delusion through politic tact to bare-faced dishonesty. Understandably, nobody wants to end up getting no-platformed over a harmless old opera, when the very existence of paid arts criticism is under threat.

As I've said, I am an admirer of Ethel Smyth's better operas and would much rather have seen Glyndebourne mounting a couple of her one-act gems, than this massive piece of superannuated schlock. But I wonder what I'd have said if I'd been sent along to see the show? Praised the production and the performers, no doubt, and said as little as possible about the piece!

When British opera is scandalously ignored by Glyndebourne and the subsidised 'major' houses sucking up taxpayers' money, it is doubly frustrating that resources are put into displaying dead wood, rather than planting new trees. Investing in something on a similarly grand scale by Sally Beamish, Anna Meredith or Errollyn Wallen would have been much more credible, artistically; but the programmers have completely lost their bottle as far as 21st century composers are concerned.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Say what you like about opera fans they don’t mince their words !
I’ve heard The Wreckers once and quickly decided never again. It’s just not good enough music. It’s ok but that’s it. Not mentioned yet but RVW’s Riders To The Sea is so much better. The British music establishment seems taken collective leave of its senses in the praise that’s been lavished on this hokum.

[Master Jacques]

Not mentioned yet but RVW’s Riders To The Sea is so much better. The British music establishment seems taken collective leave of its senses in the praise that’s been lavished on this hokum.

All of RVW's operas are different gravy to The Wreckers, whichever way you look at it. Even The Poisoned Kiss has a couple of wonderful tunes which it's impossible to get out of your head once you've heard them, and Riders to the Sea touches greatness, as you say. In the composer's 150th anniversary year, Sir John in Love at least is being staged in London by British Youth Opera this summer; but to Covent Garden's shame, they've failed to take this opportunity to revive The Pilgrim's Progress. As they rather botched the premiere, you'd think the Royal Opera would be keen to make amends, but dream on!

As for the critics, the praise spooned out for The Wreckers is skin deep and rings hollow to almost everyone who's actually heard the thing. Their more hyperbolic assertions (silly comparisons to Peter Grimes especially) do its composer no good whatsoever, which is a pity, when several of her less inflated works have so much more to commend them. Her poor grand opera will vanish like smoke, for another 100 years or so, once the dust settles on this quixotic revival.

[Dave2002]

As for the critics, the praise spooned out for The Wreckers is skin deep and rings hollow to almost everyone who's actually heard the thing. Their more hyperbolic assertions (silly comparisons to Peter Grimes especially) do its composer no good whatsoever, which is a pity, when several of her less inflated works have so much more to commend them. Her poor grand opera will vanish like smoke, for another 100 years or so, once the dust settles on this quixotic revival.

I would be prepared to see/hear the Wreckers again - though I fear to do so would only confirm your opinion. For me the plot was the most interesting thing. Musically - I agree with the David Mellor quote mentioned - totally unmemorable.

Critics and writers "have" to write something, to bolster up productions and activity, otherwise they won't get paid. Of course if they consistently write drivel nobody will take any notice, but they can get away with it sometimes.

Now I have to add RVW's Riders to the Sea to my list of operas to see. I have seen Sir John and Pilgrim's Progress.

[Master Jacques]

I would be prepared to see/hear the Wreckers again - though I fear to do so would only confirm your opinion. For me the plot was the most interesting thing. Musically - I agree with the David Mellor quote mentioned - totally unmemorable.

Critics and writers "have" to write something, to bolster up productions and activity, otherwise they won't get paid. Of course if they consistently write drivel nobody will take any notice, but they can get away with it sometimes.

Now I have to add RVW's Riders to the Sea to my list of operas to see. I have seen Sir John and Pilgrim's Progress.

For what it's worth, I agree with you about Henry Brewster's plot: it's well-structured, generates at least two interesting characters (Pascoe and the troubled delinquent teenager, Avis) and is certainly "about" something. It's hardly his fault that his partner's score doesn't cut the mustard, nor was he responsible for her English libretto, though he has to take the rap for the French original. His 'grand guignol' scenario and text for their later Fête Galante is also highly effective.

Brewster - a talented American man-of-letters - is almost as interesting a figure as Ethel Smyth herself, as well as providing (according to her own, detailed account) the most important relationship of her life, even after his death. Their love story is a curious one, and would make a good plot for an opera itself.

[Dave2002]

A slight digression: I didn't realise that Bella Bathurst who wrote an interesting book about going deaf - and fortunately for her - to some extent reversing the process - has also written a book on the Wreckers, as well as a book on lighthouses.

Sound: ASIN : B01KI4VS3K
Publisher : Wellcome Collection; Main edition (4 May 2017)

The Wreckers: ISBN-10 : 0007170335
ISBN-13 : 978-0007170333