The end of ENO?

[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!

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 .

[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]

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]

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.

[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.

[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

[Master Jacques]

... Gluck in concert, Monteverdi as a cross cultural event with Indian music, really is not what I am interested, and I have been described as an opera fanatic. The Company in respect of repertoire and performance levels is a shadow of what it was, and another cut in real terms, the introduction of ENO into their patch, I really fear for them...

Don't underestimate the intense pressures the opera companies come under to mount embarrassing, cross-cultural mush like that Orfeo, under threat of losing their funding. It's a long time since the Arts Council stood up to political interference, which is where the pressure originates. ON won't have "believed" in that project, artistically, for one moment.

I wouldn't worry too much about ENO and Manchester, which is most unlikely to happen. There's nowhere to house them, for one thing. The Opera House isn't big enough or technically up to scratch; the Palace wouldn't touch them with a bargepole for anything other than two-week seasons; and the new multi-cultural white elephant (Factory International, "Let's invent tomorrow together") that's being launched next year - though for how long, nobody's sure, given the huge running costs - isn't remotely suitable for opera, or anything much else. ENO's multiplicity of stores and warehouses are all around London, their staff will be laid off straight away, and their business plan will be built around hiring out the London Coliseum, which remains their responsibility (or albatross, depending on your viewpoint). The "Manchester" notion is a dirty little fig leaf for Stuart Murphy and ACE, no more.

One advantage of Brexit was supposed to be the increased job opportunities at home for young professional singers and instrumentalists, plus the easy access permit to Europe which was promised but never materialised. Young professional singers now find themselves without serious prospects, unable to work in Europe, while the only full-time opera house left in England still contracts nearly all its principals from abroad.

To say the situation is dire is an understatement. Over the last five years England/Wales music has retreated from the 21st century, to something more like the 1930s - but with the added pressures of royalty-free, on-demand digital to further limit musicians' prospects. Although yesterday's bombshell has been expected for some time by those in the know, somehow I don't think many people expected it would actually be allowed to happen. But who was there to stop it?

[Pulcinella]

I support ON , I will go to Ariadne, though I really fear it might be an opera to hard for them to cast well, Vixen I assume is a revival of a good production and I look forward to it. But that’s it for me for 2022/3. I can’t abide Tosca. Gluck in concert, Monteverdi as a cross cultural event with Indian music, really is not what I am interested, and I have been described as an opera fanatic. The Company in respect of repertoire and performance levels is a shadow of what it was, and another cut in real terms, the introduction of ENO into their patch, I really fear for them.

Yes plenty of good young singers, few opportunities, best singing this year that I have heard was by Catherine Foster as Elektra but she was not singing with a British regional company, because they cannot stage a work like that.

You're right about the Monteverdi, which didn't appeal at all. Nor did the Gluck.
We were happy to find three operas that we like in the next few months (so booked all three to get our discount!).
And we'll use our free bus passes to get to Leeds: can't imagine them lasting much longer either, despite their demographic presumably being predominantly voters for you know which party!

[kuligin]

Not sure I agree with you about ON (though I didn't go to Alcina); very much looking forward to Tosca, Vixen, and Ariadne in Leeds in January/February 2023. I do fear for arts institutions in general though.

I support ON , I will go to Ariadne, though I really fear it might be an opera to hard for them to cast well, Vixen I assume is a revival of a good production and I look forward to it. But that’s it for me for 2022/3. I can’t abide Tosca. Gluck in concert, Monteverdi as a cross cultural event with Indian music, really is not what I am interested, and I have been described as an opera fanatic. The Company in respect of repertoire and performance levels is a shadow of what it was, and another cut in real terms, the introduction of ENO into their patch, I really fear for them.

Yes plenty of good young singers, few opportunities, best singing this year that I have heard was by Catherine Foster as Elektra but she was not singing with a British regional company, because they cannot stage a work like that.

[Ein Heldenleben]

This is really the last rights for opera outside London. ON were dying anyway, as anyone who saw their Alcina will know, all spin and no substance, an Opera company who don’t do Opera. They presumably now won’t come to Manchester, that saves some money and ENO will do a little Puccini and musicals based in Birmingham or Manchester.

I went to the RNCM last night for the first time since COVID, they now do few classical music performances, the Opera school is a shadow of what it was. The Mahler they played was deeply disappointing, not only as a performance lit up only by a superb first oboe, but by a trivial speech from the Director of Communications about how wonderful the performance would be, no programme, the student audience apathetic, on their phones, wandering in and out. It was like going to a seminary were the students do not believe in God.

Well that might be true of the RNCM but I was deeply impressed with what I saw of the RAM opera course a few years back and I’ve heard good things about the RCM . Don’t give up the faith : there are some great young British singers there. They need a domestic showcase ( and easy access visas)