Opera Scotland

Jenůfa 1977Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Jenůfa

Scottish Opera's second Theatre Royal subscription season (1976-77) again consisted of ten varied operas. It opened with a revival of the successful Ebert staging of La bohème. This was followed by Confessions of a Justified Sinner (new in the summer), The Magic Flute, Don Pasquale, Macbeth (launched at the previous Edinburgh Festival), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Merry Widow, Fidelio, The Rape of Lucretia and Jenůfa.

After the success of the Stockholm production at the 1974 Festival, it was hard to imagine that Pountney’s staging could stand comparison. To the great credit of all concerned, it did. Welsh National had already announced that they were to mount the work, but after the success of the Swedish visit the plan was greatly expanded, with Scottish Opera joining in, and a series of five works being promised. Jenůfa, The Makropulos Case and From the House of the Dead all opened in Cardiff, while Scottish Opera gave the premieres of Kátya Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen. All were directed by David Pountney and designed by Maria Bjørnson.

The combination of Josephine Barstow and Pauline Tinsley was simply riveting. Allen Cathcart made a surprisingly sympathetic Laca and Gregory Dempsey an extrovert golden boy. The chorus entered fully into the spirit of Pountney's naturalistic concept, with hair-raisingly energetic dancing, and Richard Armstrong was clearly a naturally idiomatic conductor. Altogether a great company performance.