Opera Scotland

Castor and Pollux 1927Glasgow Amateur Opera Society

Read more about the opera Castor et Pollux

Contemporary media are rather vague about the collective title used by the people responsible for this important staging. Described merely as an amateur group, they are not Glasgow Grand, whose 1927 project was Nadeshda by Arthur Goring Thomas, an opera scarce enough, if not quite as far off the beaten track as Rameau was in the twenties. However the conductor, R Hutton Malcolm, was associated with that more famous band for many years, and several soloists including the tenor and translator Guy McCrone would sing major roles with them in future.

The Glasgow Herald review published on 28 April lists solo performers, without allocating specific roles to them. Ladies were Fiona Malcolm, Elsie Hamilton, Constance Herbert (also credited as choreographer), Jean C Henderson and Madeleine Semple. The men were Leggat Paisley, Pat Sandeman, Philip Malcolm and Guy F McCrone (also identified as translator). The Scotsman does allocate some of the roles, though not all.

The handsome visual side of the staging was in the style of Rameau's contemporary Watteau, rather than anything classical. The reviewer did suggest that a harpsichord might have been more appropriate for continuo purposes, rather than the piano that Hutton Malcolm used. But the harpsichord was certainly still a rarity in public concerts at this time, and any idea of authenticity in performance style would be very different from what we expect today.