Opera Scotland

Gianni Schicchi 1925British National Opera Company

Read more about the opera Gianni Schicchi

Puccini's farcical comedy, launched less than a decade ago, had caught on swiftly, and was played again, just once, a few month's after the composer's death. 

An interesting attempt was made to pair it with another mediaeval romp, the recently composed Holst piece At the Boar's Head.

 

An Edinburgh Review

The Scotsman of Wednesday, 21 October (p8) reviews the previous evening's double bill:

Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, which followed, presented a notable contrast in method. With text and music also closely knit, the unerring felicity with which verbal phrase found its complement in the music which was its vehicle was a continual source of delight, as was also the manner in which the accompaniment, never very elaborate, but always sufficient, emphasised the sentiment of the moment.

'Mr William Michael impersonated the artful Gianni, who outwits a group of mercenary relatives of a wealthy man, with an unctuous humour. 

Miss Marjorie Parry, as his daughter Lauretta, and Mr Tudor Davies as Rinuccio, made a delightful pair of lovers, while Miss Constance Willis as Zita, Miss Eda Bennie as Nella, Miss May Blyth as La Ciesca,  Miss Barbara Nelson as Gherardino, and  Messrs Parry Jones, Frederic Collier, William Anderson,  Raymond Ellis,  Sydney Russell,  Philip Bertram,  Norman Roe, and Frank Le Pla as  Gherardo,  Betto,  Simone,  Marco,  the Physician,  the Notary,  Pinellino, and  Guccio, respectively, were all well differentiated comic types.

'It was an exhilarating performance of a work in which, with much that is characteristic, Puccini displays the suggestion that he was perhaps about to venture upon new paths. 

Mr Buesst conducted.'

 

BNOC in Scotland - 1925

The 1925 tour consisted of two weeks in Glasgow (Theatre Royal) followed by two weeks in Edinburgh (King's).

The 19 operas performed during the tour were:

Bach (Coffee Cantata);  Mozart (Magic Flute); Wagner (Tannhäuser, Tristan and Isolde;  Mastersingers); Verdi (Rigoletto, Aïda, Otello); Offenbach (Tales of Hoffmann);  Bizet (Carmen);  Rimsky-Korsakov (Golden Cockerel);  Leoncavallo (Pagliacci);  Mascagni (Cavalleria Rusticana); Puccini (Bohème, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi); Holst (At the Boar's Head);  Vaughan Williams (Hugh the Drover).

The tour schedule was:

Glasgow, w/c 28 September: Mon 28 Rigoletto;  Tue 29 Tannhäuser;  Wed 30 mat Cav & Pag;  Wed 30 eve Hugh the Drover;  Thu 1 Oct Otello;  Fri 2 Madam Butterfly; Sat 3 mat Magic Flute;  Sat 3 eve Bohème.

Glasgow, w/c 5 October: Mon 5 Carmen; Tue 6 Coffee Cantata & Golden Cockerel; Wed 7 mat Rigoletto;  Wed 7 eve Mastersingers;  Thu 8 Otello;  Fri 9 Tristan and Isolde;  Sat 10 mat Tales of Hoffmann;  Sat 10 eve Aïda.

Edinburgh, w/c 12 October: Mon 12 Mastersingers;  Tue 13 Tannhäuser;  Wed 14  mat Bohème; Wed 14 eve Aïda;  Thu 15 Magic Flute;  Fri 16 Coffee Cantata & Hugh the Drover;  Sat 17 mat Golden Cockerel;  Sat 17 eve Carmen.

Edinburgh, w/c 19 October: Mon 19 Otello;  Tue 20 At the Boar's Head & Gianni Schicchi;  Wed 21 mat Cav & Pag;  Wed 21 eve Rigoletto;  Thu 22 Bohème;  Fri 23 Tosca;  Sat 24 mat Carmen;  Sat 24 eve Tales of Hoffmann.