Opera Scotland

Rheingold 1971Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Rhinegold

Scottish Opera's tour in Spring 1971 was one of its most extended and elaborate, stretching from 11 March to 12 June. There were two clear phases, the first took in Perth, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Liverpool, with the second embracing Glasgow, Edinburgh and a return to Aberdeen.

The Perth opening included the recent stagings of Magic Flute and Traviata, accompanied by the BBC SSO, with two Britten revivals, Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw. for which the pit was occupied by the Scottish Opera Chamber Ensemble. In Aberdeen the SNO joined up for the revival of the 1967 Rheingold staging, as preparation for the single Ring Cycle announced for December. In Glasgow, Albert Herring dropped out, and the season's two big new productions, Siegfried and Der Rosenkavalier, arrived.

The spring tour had the first Wagner performances by the company since 1968. Gibson's grip on the cycle was now completely assured. David Ward was the central focus, with Joseph Ward also returning from 1967. Maureen Guy, an experienced Wagner performer, sang Fricka in the early performances before Anna Reynolds, the current Bayreuth incumbent, joined the cast. Raymond Myers and Francis Egerton both gave excellent, highly characterised performances as the dwarves. Simon Estes, also singing Sarastro in the Flute, had a lovely smoothly-produced bass, and would go on to major roles at Bayreuth quite soon afterwards.

By December there were several scheduled cast changes. However at the last minute the Loge also became ill, and John Dobson travelled from London, complete with his Covent Garden costume, to make his only appearance with the company.