Opera Scotland

Mastersingers of Nuremberg 1920Beecham Grand Opera Company

Read more about the opera Meistersinger von Nürnberg

The Mastersingers was a popular work that remained in the touring repertoire of several British companies, starting with Carl Rosa, Moody-Manners and Denhof. After that, the Beecham and then the BNOC companies took over. Not only that, but four of the principal basses - Andrew Shanks (Sachs), Herbert Langley (Beckmesser), Robert Radford (Pogner) and Philip Bertram (Nightwatchman) would still be singing those roles in 1927, and still under the direction of George King.

In contrast, Albert Chapman had sung Nachtigall in 1896, then the longer role  of Pogner in 1912, before returning to another brief part in 1920. These factors must have provided an encouraging sense of continuity for the performers. Perhaps some of the choristers also had long experience of the work.

The cast for 15 November is taken from a programme in the A M Gardiner Collection in the Mitchell Library. That shows the conductor originally scheduled to be Spencer Clay. He was replaced, according to a handwritten note, by the hugely experienced Eugene Goossens, leaving Clay with plenty of energy to lead the performance of Aïda the following evening.

Just as it is useful to find that Messrs Shanks, Langley, Radford and Bertram were among the principals who joined BNOC, it is useful to have the names of baritone McArthur, tenors Shacknoff and Heaps, and bass Chapman confirmed by this programme as  Nachtigall, Zorn, Moser and Ortel, respectively, for the Scotsman review of a 1922 performance lists them as singers without allocating roles.