Opera Scotland

Midsummer Marriage 1988Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Midsummer Marriage

Scottish Opera's first encounter with a Tippett opera was, unsurprisingly, with his first, as a co-production with Opera North in the sporadic 20th century masters series. It was generally well sung, though the orchestra did not find the level of subtlety the work really requires. Tim Albery, directing his first new production for the company, didn't really find a solution, failing to clarify the admitted obscurities in the piece, and not in any way matching the excellent staging Ian Watt-Smith had done in Wales a few years earlier. Sadly, the work itself, not seen in Scotland before, made relatively little impression and was not repeated.

The next Tippett opera came to Scotland quite soon - a single performance of his fifth stage work New Year on its Glyndebourne tour. But Scottish Opera did not try another excursion into Tippett until a couple of decades later, with an altogether more successful Knot Garden.

 

Scottish Opera's Season - 1988/89

The programme for the 1988-89 season of Scottish Opera opened with Midsummer Marriage. The other new productions were Fledermaus, Rheingold, Don Giovanni, Oedipus Rex, Traviata and Street Scene. The revivals were Magic Flute, Iolanthe, and Bohème, In the autumn the previous season's Richard Jones Così fan tutte, redirected by Tim Hopkins, went out on the medium-scale tour. There was also a small-scale, piano-accompanied tour of Don Carlos, so far Scottish Opera's only attempt at this work.