This was the last appearance of The Bartered Bride on a Sadler's Wells tour, though it had long been a mainstay of the company's repertoire.
The three-week Scottish tour began on 1 October at the Edinburgh King's, followed by Aberdeen then Glasgow - that week unusually being at the Glasgow Empire. The schedule for the Aberdeen week was: Mon Bartered Bride; Tue Tosca; Wed Rigoletto; Thu Bartered Bride; Fri Magic Flute; Sat mat & eve Iolanthe. The other venues saw the same operas, usually in a slightly different order.
The cast shows the importance to the company of artists from the Commonwealth. Estelle Valery had appeared frequently with the Carl Rosa in lyric roles, and here sang a character part for the first time. Fellow New Zealander Heather Begg was recently arrived, and would spend a decade as an important company member before transferring to spend many seasons at Covent Garden. The conductor Warwick Braithwaite, though a long-standing and influential resident here, was also from New Zealand.
Of two young Australians, Julian Moyle was already established in principal parts, but the tenor Gregory Dempsey was newly installed. He became an important singing actor in a huge range of repertoire with both Sadler's Wells and Scottish Opera.
Depending on the production, the various entertainers in the circus scene towards the end of the opera performed different disciplines. On this occasion, the presence of the Ringmaster's Wife is something of a novelty, but Leigh Foster was a Sword Thrower, Roger Jackson and Frank Compton were Clowns, while Gillian Hammond was a Veil Dancer, Ann Byrom a Spider and Joy Rootes a Snake Lady.
The cast details for Edinburgh are from a programme in the NLS and the identical list for Aberdeen from a programme in Aberdeen City Library.
© Copyright Opera Scotland 2024
Site by SiteBuddha