Prom 13: Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers (24.07.22)

[Ein Heldenleben]

And (understandably, I suppose) by the record companies.

Yes they don’t they have the subsidy that the main (ie. non- country park ) opera companies have.
The elephant in this room is the Royal Opera House which has an almost unerring nose for commissioning second rate stuff (Richard B hinted at one ) and ignoring past British masterpieces they have commissioned!

[Master Jacques]

And (understandably, I suppose) by the record companies.

The failure to record New Year at all, even once, was where the rot set in for Tippett; and - for fiscal reasons discussed elsewhere - the inability of his own estate to put money into productions or recordings is severely hampering attempts to keep his works in the public eye or ear.

With so little opera recorded in 'perfect' studio conditions these days, the only releases tend to be CDs and Blu-rays/DVDs taken from live productions, so the lack of new Tippett opera releases reflects the lack of new productions. Graham Vick's acclaimed Birmingham Ice Break would have proved a rights nightmare to release, given the massive number of participants.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The failure to record New Year at all, even once, was where the rot set in for Tippett; and - for fiscal reasons discussed elsewhere - the inability of his own estate to put money into productions or recordings is severely hampering attempts to keep his works in the public eye or ear.

With so little opera recorded in 'perfect' studio conditions these days, the only releases tend to be CDs and Blu-rays/DVDs taken from live productions, so the lack of new Tippett opera releases reflects the lack of new productions. Graham Vick's acclaimed Birmingham Ice Break would have proved a rights nightmare to release, given the massive number of participants.

I was thinking of The Ice Break which was premiered at ROH and dedicated to its music director Colin Davis. I saw it a couple of times in the first run. For all its faults the much criticised libretto is a Von Hofmannsthal compared to Brewster’s for The Wreckers . It also raises some still very pertinent themes. And musically - well comparisons are ridiculous.

I don’t think the VIck production would raise many rights issues. Although I’m not an expert on opera music rights I do know a bit about rights in filming. With amateurs you usually get an all rights universal release form signed. If they want a fee you usually offer to at least match the performance payment which is generally zero. The real problem with rights is when stars are under contract to different record companies - then it pretty soon becomes impossible. The cost of the band will also be considerable and dwarfing that will be the cost of a multi channel OB vehicle plus camera and sound crew . You’d be doing well to film it for less than £80,000 and my figures are probably well out of date - though his recent Othello was filmed quite successfully

[Master Jacques]

I was thinking of The Ice Break which was premiered at ROH and dedicated to its music director Colin Davis. I saw it a couple of times in the first run. For all its faults the much criticised libretto is a Von Hofmannsthal compared to Brewster’s for The Wreckers . It also raises some still very pertinent themes. And musically - well comparisons are ridiculous.

I warm to your defence of Tippett's Ice Break libretto. As Peter Hall (director of the first productions of that and The Knot Garden) rightly said, criticism of the composer's libretti "as literature" is stupid nonsense. The words are marvellous springboards into rich music, which is what matters - and in fact, all five of his operas are full of memorable lines, for the right reasons. It's another case of critical herd-mentality, I'm afraid!

[Ein Heldenleben]

I warm to your defence of Tippett's Ice Break libretto. As Peter Hall (director of the first productions of that and The Knot Garden) rightly said, criticism of the composer's libretti "as literature" is stupid nonsense. The words are marvellous springboards into rich music, which is what matters - and in fact, all five of his operas are full of memorable lines, for the right reasons. It's another case of critical herd-mentality, I'm afraid!

Yes following your praise of the Vick production I read some reviews and the Guardian Preview which quotes from the libretto - they are not bad really . Apparently TS Eliot advised Tippett to write his own - that’s not advice you spurn lightly. The libretto includes the line motherf***ing bastard. Yes folks Michael T was so ahead of his time he invented rap.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Um, I may well be on the wrong thread wanting to discuss The Wreckers rather than Tippett but...

Sacre bleu. I said “never again “ on the Night At The Opera thread but went back on my promise and I’m listening.

I don’t think The Wreckers is much of an opera. Not one memorable tune - just a lot of surface effect.

I've known the overture to The Wreckers since buying this LP in my teens after falling in love with MacCunn's Land of the Mountain and the Flood ov. as a consequence of BBC TV's Scottish detective series Sutherland's Law.


My second pick off that disc was The Wreckers (I'm still working on the other two pieces...), and I was very pleased to hear a lot of its tunes recurring in the opera itself. Not memorable, those tunes? My musical perceptions appear to have let me down again

EH's comment did make me wonder if age sets the bar higher and higher for finding new stuff really memorable. I think I detect it in my own reactions, sadly.

I believe that science has now shown that the old schoolboy distress cry "Sir, sorry, my brain's full!" is a real factor in our later years

[Ein Heldenleben]

Um, I may well be on the wrong thread wanting to discuss The Wreckers rather than Tippett but...
I've known the overture to The Wreckers since buying this LP in my teens after falling in love with MacCunn's Land of the Mountain and the Flood ov. as a consequence of BBC TV's Scottish detective series Sutherland's Law.


My second pick off that disc was The Wreckers (I'm still working on the other two pieces...), and I was very pleased to hear a lot of its tunes recurring in the opera itself. Not memorable, those tunes? My musical perceptions appear to have let me down again

EH's comment did make me wonder if age sets the bar higher and higher for finding new stuff really memorable. I think I detect it in my own reactions, sadly.

I believe that science has now shown that the old schoolboy distress cry "Sir, sorry, my brain's full!" is a real factor in our later years

I’m listening to her concerto for violin and horn now which just 10 minutes in is a much more inspired piece of music melodically than last nights opera . I’m sure not opera was Ethel Smyth’s forte. I couldn’t get over how many of her tunes last night were variations on soh, do, re, mi (in sol fa) or g , c,d,e in c major if you prefer .

Ooh she’s just done a soh , do , re , mi in the slow movement. She’s been listening to too much Brahms,

[Maclintick]

Still, for all the work's faults and my mixed feelings about it, I'm very glad to have heard this Proms relay, where everyone seems to have given their all. Presumably a DVD will emerge from the Glyndebourne performances at some point.

PS: For the future, if any other company wants to give The Wreckers another go, the late Amanda Holden prepared a fresh English translation in the mid 2000's.

https://www.amandaholden.org.uk/translations/opera-translations/783-2

I'm also very glad I heard this controversial "masterpiece" last night in the company of an enthusiastic but far-from-capacity audience in the RAH -- the debenture-holders' boxes conspicuously vacant. The enthusiasm was well-merited for the stellar quality of the performances, but also IMHO for Dame Ethel's bludgeoning sonic tsunami of a piece. I suspect the aural assault some Forumites complained of being subjected to in the more intimate Glyndebourne auditorium was tempered within the vast confines of the Albert Hall -- waves of chorus billowed gloriously round the acoustic fastnesses (OK that's enough nautical metaphors..ed) but the soloists were rarely swamped, & surtitles came to the rescue.

Some have ticked-off the composer for a putative hodge-podge of partially-digested stylistic influences -- "Far too many borrowings, Dame Ethel !" but who's to say what's too much ? Do we castigate Elgar for his almost literal ripping-off of Brahms & Wagner, or Tippett for similar appropriation of Bartok & Stravinsky ? Double-standards here at play, surely ? Overall, The Wreckers exhibited less indebtedness to Wagner than I was expecting -- Act 1 fielding Berlioz, Gounod, Offenbach & Bizet, Act 2 reminiscent of Strauss in more introspective mode. Where I part company with some other posters is that I became bored with Act3's lapse into routine verismo tropes -- surging choruses cutting-off abruptly, to leave a solitary soloist dangling precariously, baleful unison brass interjections, etc. Like BS-P I would welcome a production using Amanda Holden's version, & with the cuts in Act 3 sanctioned by the composer.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I’m listening to her concerto for violin and horn now which just 10 minutes in is a much more inspired piece of music melodically than last nights opera . I’m sure not opera was Ethel Smyth’s forte. I couldn’t get over how many of her tunes last night were variations on soh, do, re, mi (in sol fa) or g , c,d,e in c major if you prefer .

Ooh she’s just done a soh , do , re , mi in the slow movement. She’s been listening to too much Brahms,

EH: very pleased you got more out of the concerto! I listened too and found it more interesting and enjoyable than I have on previous hearings, but nothing like as thrilling as The Wreckers - very likely my brain being too nearly full again

[RichardB]

I’m listening to her concerto for violin and horn now which just 10 minutes in is a much more inspired piece of music melodically than last nights opera

That concerto is really quite interesting, isn't it? A bit too much Brahms in the mix for my liking, but otherwise a non-obvious idea carried through in a non-obvious and convincing way.

[Ein Heldenleben]

That concerto is really quite interesting, isn't it? A bit too much Brahms in the mix for my liking, but otherwise a non-obvious idea carried through in a non-obvious and convincing way.

An extremely intriguing work which I will be listening to again tomorrow as I was interrupted and missed the part vocal cadenza.I did wonder whether the horn part was sufficiently virtuosic. The violinist seems to have many more notes.

[Master Jacques]

Some have ticked-off the composer for a putative hodge-podge of partially-digested stylistic influences -- "Far too many borrowings, Dame Ethel !" but who's to say what's too much ? Do we castigate Elgar for his almost literal ripping-off of Brahms & Wagner, or Tippett for similar appropriation of Bartok & Stravinsky ? Double-standards here at play, surely ?

An interesting point: there's no doubt that we're more likely to be bothered by "cribbing" (RVW's word for his thefts!) in composers we don't warm to, than in those we do. The more we listen to Elgar, the more he sounds like Elgar, and the same's true for Tippett. I'm getting more interested in Tansman, who at first sounded far too much like Stravinsky for comfort, but it really doesn't worry me now - he sounds like Tansman!

As for Smyth, to repeat myself (briefly), I think her musical personality emerges less evasively in two of her short, later operas, Fete Galante and The Boatswain's Mate, than in The Wreckers, where she's too busy trying to make a "big statement" to take much notice of the libretto's potential. If you don't know it, you might give Mrs Waters's solo scene in The Boatswain's Mate ('What if I were young again?') a whirl. A good recording of this number alone is by Eiddwen Harrhy, as a filler for Philip Brunelle's performance of the Mass. It's less pretentious music, but good word setting, a fine character portrait - and I think much more moving, than the vocal solos in Les Wreckers.

[RichardB]

Some have ticked-off the composer for a putative hodge-podge of partially-digested stylistic influences -- "Far too many borrowings, Dame Ethel !" but who's to say what's too much ? Do we castigate Elgar for his almost literal ripping-off of Brahms & Wagner, or Tippett for similar appropriation of Bartok & Stravinsky ? Double-standards here at play, surely ?

The point isn't what's too much or not too much but whether the influences are partly or wholly "digested", I think. You can easily pick up on the influence of Bartók and Stravinsky in Tippett's music (and Hindemith at least as much as either, I would say, although for some reason this tends not to be mentioned so often), but none of that affects its sense of a strong and completely individual vision that may occasionally dip into its own musical origins. I don't get that sense from Smyth's opera which seems to me not much more than the sum of its derivations. (Although the Double Concerto is a different matter.)

[Maclintick]

As for Smyth, to repeat myself (briefly), I think her musical personality emerges less evasively in two of her short, later operas, Fete Galante and The Boatswain's Mate, than in The Wreckers, where she's too busy trying to make a "big statement" to take much notice of the libretto's potential. If you don't know it, you might give Mrs Waters's solo scene in The Boatswain's Mate ('What if I were young again?') a whirl. A good recording of this number alone is by Eiddwen Harrhy, as a filler for Philip Brunelle's performance of the Mass. It's less pretentious music, but good word setting, a fine character portrait - and I think much more moving, than the vocal solos in Les Wreckers.

Thanks for the heads-up on the later Smyth pieces, MJ. I'll have to catch up with these, and last night's double concerto in the fullness of time. I've booked for the Smyth Mass Prom on 20th Aug.

[Ein Heldenleben]

An interesting point: there's no doubt that we're more likely to be bothered by "cribbing" (RVW's word for his thefts!) in composers we don't warm to, than in those we do. The more we listen to Elgar, the more he sounds like Elgar, and the same's true for Tippett. I'm getting more interested in Tansman, who at first sounded far too much like Stravinsky for comfort, but it really doesn't worry me now - he sounds like Tansman!

As for Smyth, to repeat myself (briefly), I think her musical personality emerges less evasively in two of her short, later operas, Fete Galante and The Boatswain's Mate, than in The Wreckers, where she's too busy trying to make a "big statement" to take much notice of the libretto's potential. If you don't know it, you might give Mrs Waters's solo scene in The Boatswain's Mate ('What if I were young again?') a whirl. A good recording of this number alone is by Eiddwen Harrhy, as a filler for Philip Brunelle's performance of the Mass. It's less pretentious music, but good word setting, a fine character portrait - and I think much more moving, than the vocal solos in Les Wreckers.

I’ll see if I can track down a recording . Just been listening to Senza Mamma from Suor Angelica on R3 - that shows how to build an operatic aria . Each successive phrase more melodically beautiful than the last , starting quiet and building , reaching the melodic arc at the right high point , simple melodic building blocks and not over used cliché. If only Dame Ethel had drawn more from Italian music like Puccini than Brahms , Strauss etc.