Opera Scotland

Zauberflöte 1971Glyndebourne Touring Opera

Read more about the opera Magic Flute

At this stage in its development, the Glyndebourne tour, established in 1967, took place in the spring, as a warm-up for the main Festival, though with a different orchestra.  While the Edinburgh Festival had been largely founded through opera transferred from Glyndebourne itself, the touring company had never visited Scotland before, and appearances have continued to be very rare and treasured events.  On this tour, there were three operas, as usual.  Two of them, Eugene Onegin and The Magic Flute, were in excellent, established stagings.  Il turco in Italia was in a less satisfactory production that had only opened the previous summer and which was never revived.

This staging by Franco Enriquez, in Luzzati’s colourful designs, had been on the go for several seasons, and was very well regarded in its day.  It was a worthy representative of Glyndebourne on its first trip north of the border in a decade.  Several of the cast went on to useful careers, including the Scottish Papageno.   A particular note should be made of the young bass from the chorus, doubling as Second Priest and Armed Man.

 

Glyndebourne Touring Opera in Scotland - 1971

The order of performance in Edinburgh was as follows:

Week commencing 5 Apr:  Mon 5  Il turco in Italia;  Tue 6 Zauberflöte;  Wed 7 Eugene Onegin;  Thu 8 Turco in Italia;  Fri 9 Eugene Onegin;  Sat 10 Zauberflöte.