Opera Scotland

Entführung aus dem Serail 1971Deutsche Oper, Berlin

Read more about the opera Seraglio

This rather routine staging of Seraglio had a distinctly old-fashioned air, one suggestion being that the design concept might even be pre-war. Whatever the difficulties for the Berlin company in finding stock productions to fit the King's (the second work, Reimann's Melusine was almost a chamber-piece), on paper this cast was of high quality. The first night was marred by the illness of Erika Köth, who struggled through 'Traurigkeit', then fainted. After a long interval for medical attention she carried on, never sounding happy, and was unable to sing the second performance. Unfortunately the cover singer was also off form. However the other cast members were fine. Werner Hollweg was one of the best Mozart tenors of that era, not often heard in Britain. Even better, the two performers of Osmin were both excellent - a young, very tall, Swede, and a veteran, more traditional, German.

 

Opera at the Edinburgh Festival - 1971

The principal operatic event at the 1971 Edinburgh Festival was a new staging of Rossini's Cenerentola, with an excellent cast that was recorded during the run. The Deutsche Oper, Berlin, visited for the first time, with an elderly staging of Die Entführung aus dem Serail and a brand new one of Reimann's Melusine. Scottish Opera revived its 1966 production of Die Walküre as part of its preparation for a cycle to be performed in December.