The end of ENO?

[kuligin]

I appreciate that you have a greater knowledge of what’s going on but could not ENO use the Lowry. I thought the plan was to move HQ somewhere North, the further the better, giving short seasons in Birmingham and Manchester and a greatly reduced presence in London, leaving ON to the Eastern part of the Country and cutting out WNO altogether as already achieved and thereby nearly killed Scottish Opera.

Thus London would be partially levelled down to the North, subsidy would be reduced, and we would get the type of Schedule ON already supplies, three or four operas a year, a musical, a concert performance and Monteverdi with sitars rather than Chittarone.

The problem with enjoying Doktor Faust in Florence or whatever is Manchester Airport, a recent experience has made me vow never again, irrespective of pollution issues.

As a student I heard Thomas Allen as Papageno in Sunderland, WNO also performed Boris Godunov and Simon Boccanegra the same week! How times have changed

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When the Royal Opera were contemplating expanding to include Manchester, the plan was to use the Palace Theatre, following some refurbishment. But that never happened. As for the Lowry, forget it. I may be Salford born, but opera there involves too many compromises.

[Master Jacques]

As a student I heard Thomas Allen as Papageno in Sunderland, WNO also performed Boris Godunov and Simon Boccanegra the same week! How times have changed

A colleague of mine is old enough to have seen Callas, Gobbi and Vickers on stage in Manchester with the Royal Opera, at the Palace Theatre. That is how it should be again, of course, but dream on!

I myself had most of my early operatic experiences (e.g. a wonderful Makropoulos Case with Marie Collier, and The Valkyrie with Remedios, Bailey and Rita Hunter) with ENO on tour in Manchester, also at the Palace. Some of the rest were in Llandudno with the Welsh (e.g. Pauline Tinsley as Turandot). Again, dream on!

London now has one opera house, shared with a ballet company, which puts it well behind Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Budapest, Moscow ... and practically every other major capital in the Western world. What's happened is a mass "levelling down", with no gain to the North, Wales or anywhere else.

What ought to have happened, was an instruction that grants would be maintained, on condition that ALL the funded companies - including and especially the Royal Opera - should be required to reinstitute a certain number of weeks touring to the rest of England and Wales. Instead of which, touring is all but dead.

It breaks my heart.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A colleague of mine is old enough to have seen Callas, Gobbi and Vickers on stage in Manchester with the Royal Opera, at the Palace Theatre. That is how it should be again, of course, but dream on!

I myself had most of my early operatic experiences (e.g. a wonderful Makropoulos Case with Marie Collier, and The Valkyrie with Remedios, Bailey and Rita Hunter) with ENO on tour in Manchester, also at the Palace. Some of the rest were in Llandudno with the Welsh (e.g. Pauline Tinsley as Turandot). Again, dream on!

London now has one opera house, shared with a ballet company, which puts it well behind Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Budapest, Moscow ... and practically every other major capital in the Western world. What's happened is a mass "levelling down", with no gain to the North, Wales or anywhere else.

What ought to have happened, was an instruction that grants would be maintained, on condition that ALL the funded companies - including and especially the Royal Opera - should be required to reinstitute a certain number of weeks touring to the rest of England and Wales. Instead of which, touring is all but dead.

It breaks my heart.

Yes indeed make ‘em tour I say. Liszt played Barnstaple once - now that’s what I call having a regional outreach policy.

[Master Jacques]

Yes indeed make ‘em tour I say. Liszt played Barnstaple once - now that’s what I call having a regional outreach policy.

Indeed so. Visiting Bartók's house/museum in Budapest, I was interested to see a huge map of Europe and America, with pins stuck in everywhere he'd given piano recitals or played a concerto. There were lots of pins in the UK (more than in Germany, by far), but the one which amused me most was ... Aberystwyth!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Indeed so. Visiting Bartók's house/museum in Budapest, I was interested to see a huge map of Europe and America, with pins stuck in everywhere he'd given piano recitals or played a concerto. There were lots of pins in the UK (more than in Germany, by far), but the one which amused me most was ... Aberystwyth!

Even now Aberystwyth takes a lot of getting to. The stamina of these geniuses in the days before jets and in Liszt’s case cars and decent roads never ceases to amaze me .

[Dave2002]

What ought to have happened, was an instruction that grants would be maintained, on condition that ALL the funded companies - including and especially the Royal Opera - should be required to reinstitute a certain number of weeks touring to the rest of England and Wales. Instead of which, touring is all but dead.

That seems to be the most sensible suggestion - given where we are now - at least for the major companies - ROH, ENO, Glyndebourne etc. It would be unfair to force really small companies to have to travel widely, though Scottish Opera does do small scale productions in all sorts of odd places, including in car parks - which provided enjoyable, but very light, entertainment during the height of the pandemic.

[gurnemanz]

Even now Aberystwyth takes a lot of getting to. The stamina of these geniuses in the days before jets and in Liszt’s case cars and decent roads never ceases to amaze me .

I'm reading Jan Swafford's new Mozart tome which includes much detail of his early years Wolfgang when he spent more time travelling than being at home. His letters describe with his typical vivid earthiness the effect these long journeys on poor roads in uncomfortable carriages had on his backside.

[Master Jacques]

I'm reading Jan Swafford's new Mozart tome which includes much detail of his early years Wolfgang when he spent more time travelling than being at home. His letters describe with his typical vivid earthiness the effect these long journeys on poor roads in uncomfortable carriages had on his backside.

Can I add a recommendation for Louis Spohr's two-volume autobiography? It sticks in the memory for many things, not least the endless carriage journeys undertaken by him, his harpist-wife and their family. Meeting other famous players on the road ... getting marooned half-way over the Alps ... overturning in the Russian mud ... it's a very lively picture of just how tough it was for musicians, before the Iron Horse came along!

You can download the complete 1895 translation for Kindle (I got it for free, which it isn't at the moment) and I recommend it as a very good read.

[Serial_Apologist]

Can I add a recommendation for Louis Spohr's two-volume autobiography? It sticks in the memory for many things, not least the endless carriage journeys undertaken by him, his harpist-wife and their family. Meeting other famous players on the road ... getting marooned half-way over the Alps ... overturning in the Russian mud ... it's a very lively picture of just how tough it was for musicians, before the Iron Horse came along!

You can download the complete 1895 translation for Kindle (I got it for free, which it isn't at the moment) and I recommend it as a very good read.

And sixties rock musicians tell of the pain of motoring up and down the A1 before it was jewel carriageway!

[Pulcinella]

And sixties rock musicians tell of the pain of motoring up and down the A1 before it was jewel carriageway!

Did they fight duels as they were travelling?


The first time I heard Monty Don on Gardeners' World refer to his 'dual garden' (as I understood it), I wondered what purpose it served when it wasn't being a full-time garden!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Good letter from impresario Raymond Gubbay in the Times today saying pretty much what we’ve been saying,

“Sir, English National Opera has been badly managed for years. Yet Sir Nicholas Serota would have us believe that ENO asked to move out of London (rather like turkeys voting for Christmas) when it has no definite destination and as yet no feasible plan (“English National Opera to up sticks”, news and interview, Nov 5). If it is foisted on Manchester, where will it perform and why there of all places, when Opera North already does such a good job? It will also be given up to a further £17 million to fritter away in the process of transferring to wherever. Meanwhile, the orchestra, part-time chorus and backstage team will in all probability lose their jobs, and the remnants of a once-great institution will be well and truly broken up. To cap it all, the board of ENO thinks it can relocate somewhere far from London and still maintain the Coliseum. It’s the kind of topsy-turvy scenario that WS Gilbert himself might well have relished.
Raymond Gubbay
London SW1”

[Master Jacques]

Good letter from impresario Raymond Gubbay in the Times today saying pretty much what we’ve been saying,

“Sir, English National Opera has been badly managed for years. Yet Sir Nicholas Serota would have us believe that ENO asked to move out of London (rather like turkeys voting for Christmas) when it has no definite destination and as yet no feasible plan (“English National Opera to up sticks”, news and interview, Nov 5). If it is foisted on Manchester, where will it perform and why there of all places, when Opera North already does such a good job? It will also be given up to a further £17 million to fritter away in the process of transferring to wherever. Meanwhile, the orchestra, part-time chorus and backstage team will in all probability lose their jobs, and the remnants of a once-great institution will be well and truly broken up. To cap it all, the board of ENO thinks it can relocate somewhere far from London and still maintain the Coliseum. It’s the kind of topsy-turvy scenario that WS Gilbert himself might well have relished.
Raymond Gubbay
London SW1”

The bad management is what got ENO into this situation, playing into the hands of ACE's determination to trash the Anglo-Welsh operatic structure. I was speaking to a friend this afternoon, who devoted her working life to the company. She wryly observed that there are now six people - six people! - doing the job which she did by herself in the 1990s. The obesity of the company's administrative tier has frustrated its artistic leaders at every point, making sure that every round of cuts saw their own positions safeguarded, while throwing the chorus, orchestra and stage staff to the lions.

No wonder sympathies are limited, though (of course) most of the admin rats will find routes to jump ship, while the artists have their livelihoods destroyed for ever.

[Master Jacques]

Serota and Murphy have just been defending themselves on tonight's Radio 4 Front Row.

Murphy is acting all wounded this time, denying everything he said about the joys of relocating to Manchester straight after the announcement, and denying the idea came from ENO, having been foisted on the company without planning or warning. He's now saying it all came as a terrible shock, and goes on to blame "a coterie of opera critics" for dragging the company's reputation down (i.e. pointing out how artistic standards had dropped through the floor), when audiences and administrators think it's all marvellous, leading the country in diversity and getting young audiences.

Serota simply pretended that he couldn't hear the more difficult questions he was asked, such as the suggestion that he was breaking the Arts Council charter by allowing HM Government to dictate funding policy to the organisation. Well I suppose it's one way of saying "no comment". His defence of the smash-up was that "the arts is changing". (Yes it is, as arts funding is turning into a top-up for social services, while professional arts are crowded out).

If anyone was wondering why ENO has been singled out for brutal treatment from this time-serving Arts Council, this pair of hypocritical dolts could hardly have made things clearer.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Good letter from Sir David Pountney in the Times today..

“ARTS COUNCIL CUTS
Sir, The abrupt announcement of the withdrawal of Arts Council England’s grant to English National Opera from April is brutal and irresponsible (news, Nov 5; letters, Nov 7). There is an argument for rebalancing cultural funding between London and the regions but this requires serious planning. The fate of several hundred employees and an institution with a history of 90 years is not to be decided so arbitrarily. In any case, the reduction of Welsh National Opera’s English grant by 35 per cent indicates that there is no consistent policy. This grant enables WNO to serve seven regional cities, so this should have been increased, not cut.
Relocating ENO to a regional city could also be part of rebalancing but there is no evidence that this has been seriously considered. There have been no discussions with Manchester’s existing cultural bodies, let alone with Opera North, which already performs in Manchester, nor any analysis of the necessary investment to create a venue in Manchester appropriate for a national opera company. Such a scheme requires a minimum of three years of planning and negotiation.

Slashing the money first and considering the resulting options afterwards is totally unprofessional. Sir Nicholas Serota should not have put his name to such a procedure, whatever the pressure from the government (what happened to the “arm’s length principle”?) and should resign. Arts Council England can have no credibility in these circumstances as a responsible body charged with a serious vision of the country’s cultural provision.
Sir David Pountney
Artistic director, WNO, 2011-19; director of productions, ENO, 1982-93; London SW8”

He’s right . It’s the complete lack of any plan and any breathing space to implement it which is so incompetent.