Opera Scotland

Rake's Progress 1953Glyndebourne Opera

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The 1953 Edinburgh season by the company from Glyndebourne consisted of three excellent stagings, of which the most popular was Rossini's La cenerentola. The other two were The Rake's Progress, receiving its British premiere, and Idomeneo - not seen in Scotland since the ground-breaking Glasgow performances of 1934.

The Rake's Progress had received its first performances in Venice, and had already been performed in New York, Vienna and several German houses, and broadcast on the BBC Third Programme by the time it was given its first performance in Britain. It was not staged at Glyndebourne itself until the following year. In Edinburgh, the performances were dominated by the Nick Shadow of Jerome Hines. The opera itself was not fully understood - certainly it does not seem to have been recognised as any kind of masterpiece - some works take time for their qualities to be accepted.