Opera Scotland

Traviata 1971Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Traviata

Scottish Opera's tour in Spring 1971 was one of its most extended and elaborate, stretching from 11 March to 12 June. There were two clear phases, the first took in Perth, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Liverpool, with the second embracing Glasgow, Edinburgh and a return to Aberdeen.

The Perth opening included the recent stagings of Magic Flute and Traviata, accompanied by the BBC SSO, with two Britten revivals, Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw. for which the pit was occupied by the Scottish Opera Chamber Ensemble. In Aberdeen the SNO joined up for the revival of the 1967 Rheingold staging, as preparation for the single Ring Cycle announced for December. In Glasgow, Albert Herring dropped out, and the season's two big new productions, Siegfried and Der Rosenkavalier, arrived.

This was an extensive tour for Ian Watt-Smith’s production which had opened in Edinburgh the previous December. Alex Reid's costumes (late-Victorian era) looked excellent, while Bernard Culshaw's sets looked handsome in the two parties. The 'country villa' scene was set in a garden dominated by a massive tree.

The two leads returned - Clarice Carson a warmly lyrical Violetta and Franco Bonisolli a smoothly debonaire Alfredo. At his single pre-arranged performance of Germont, Brian Kemp fitted in neatly. It would have been good to hear James Loughran conduct more opera in Scotland, but in 1970 he had left his post at the BBC SSO in Glasgow to succeed the late Sir John Barbirolli at the Hallé.