Glyndebourne - October 2007
Date: Wednesday 17 October 2007
Music Scholars' Trip to Glyndebourne
On Tuesday 16th October, the music scholars of St Edmund's were lucky enough to be taken to a production of L'Elisir d'Amore” at Glyndebourne. Alas, this was not the Glyndebourne of the summer season, full of evening-gowned ladies and bow-tied gentlemen sipping champagne and nibbling canapés on the immaculate lawns, rather it was the start of the touring season for the company. The occasion itself was a schools matinee, an afternoon performance specifically aimed at school parties.
For the opera habitués among the staff, the audience overall was a cause for concern prior to the start: whilst we knew we could rely on the comportment of our own well-turned-out pupils, the audience as a whole was very mixed, in terms of age, appearance and, it appeared, likely behaviour.
In the end, we need not have worried. We were treated to an exquisite performance of the highest class. The leading roles were taken by performers who not only dazzled vocally, but who also looked the part and who acted with skill and sincerity. It has to be said that the libretto narrates one of the silliest tales in opera, but the warm-hearted story of an honest artisan who longs for a vivacious but capricious beauty, eventually winning her from the clutches of an unworthy army recruiting sergeant by means of a quack love potion (claret, no less!) was staged captivatingly. Donizetti's music proved accessible and very easy to listen to, especially when the soaring lines were delivered with such ease and panache as the soprano (Adriana Kucerova) and tenor-hero (Peter Auty) managed. The very mixed audience responded with attention, and, eventually, enthusiastic appreciation.
Many thanks to Chris McDade for organising the event. I hope those who had never previously experienced full-blown grand opera emerged convinced that it need not be forbidding, and that it can be a wonderful, exciting and truly memorable experience. The Glyndebourne setting of magnificent grounds and beautiful, intimate, purpose-built opera house added to the special quality of the day. I, for one, would not have missed it.
Janet Mander
17 October 2007
