Opera Scotland

Lucia di Lammermoor 1869Corri's Grand English Opera Company

Read more about the opera Lucia di Lammermoor

As Donizetti's operas gradually fell by the wayside, to be replaced by new works, Lucia alone would survive. However that was at a considerable cost, in that it was usually subjected to substantial cuts that amounted almost to wholesale butchery that prevented a true appreciation of the opera's quality. It was even common for the final scene of Edgar's suicide to be cut, so the opera concluded with Lucia's mad scene, itself frequently in an edited version.

Here there were comments, in Dundee, to the effect that the brevity of the main work allowed a second piece, an old favourite by Dibdin, The Waterman, to be put on as an afterpiece. Of course, audience members from out of town did not stay for that item, but were at least able to see 'all' of Lucia before dashing off for the trains to Perth, Arbroath and elsewhere, as well as the last boat to Newport.

Cast as advertised.