Opera Scotland

Fliegende Holländer 1965Sadler's Wells Opera

Read more about the opera Flying Dutchman

This single week at the Glasgow Alhambra was the only visit by Sadler's Wells in the autumn of 1965. The programme included the first Scottish viewing of a famous Wagner staging, a fresh look at Figaro, and a very rare sighting of Weber's Freischütz. The full schedule was: Mon Flying Dutchman, Tue Marriage of Figaro, Wed Madam Butterfly, Thu Der Freischütz, Fri Figaro, Sat mat & eve Orpheus in the Underworld.

Dennis Arundell's staging of the Dutchman was a landmark in the history of Sadler's Wells, a modern production, as the Herald put it 'an assured success visually from the moment the curtain rose on the first striking pictures provided by the imaginative settings of Timothy O'Brien and the lighting of Charles Bristow.' It had opened at Sadler's Wells on 29 October 1958, and remained a fixture in the repertoire through the sixties, and briefly survived the 1968 transfer to the Coliseum. It must also have been the project that led on to even more famous stagings of Mastersingers and the Ring.

Cast details are from Opera Scotland's copy of the programme.