Opera Scotland

Cenerentola 1967Sadler's Wells Opera

Read more about the opera Cenerentola

In 1961 Douglas Craig and Carl Toms staged The Barber of Seville for Sadler's Wells - a production that survived the move to the Coliseum in 1968, and stayed in the repertoire for a further decade. This had been the obvious Rossinian follow-up to the earlier staging of Cinderella, which was revived several times, but did not have quite that success.

This was the last Scottish visit of the staging, two years before Scottish Opera mounted its first full-scale version, also with Patricia Kern in the lead. She was an ideal interpreter of this and several other major Rossini roles, starring through the sixties in Sadler's Wells productions not just as Rosina and Cinderella, but later as Isolier (Count Ory), Pippo (The Thieving Magpie) and Isabella (The Italian Girl in Algiers).  John Winfield had no problems with the high-flying coloratura, while Julian Moyle (tall and rangy) and Frank Olegario (rotund and smiling) were both excellent buffo performers in the lower roles.

 

Sadler's Wells Opera's Glasgow Season - 1967

Sadler's Wells Opera only came to Glasgow in October 1967, but the four week stay was an unusually long one. They gave three performances of a brand new production of The Magic Flute, four of the familiar 1960 Barber of Seville, three of Orpheus in the Underworld (also from 1960) and three of a vintage       Samson and Delilah, a staging from the early 'fifties receiving a brief revival. The Cenerentola from 1959 returned for a final visit.  Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice was seen in the unfamiliar version for tenor,  Ernani had a rather controversial staging on its only tour, and Malcolm Williamson's Violins of Saint Jacques proved to be a genuinely popular new work.

 

The performance schedule was as follows:

Week 1, w/c Monday, 23 October:  Mon 23 Magic Flute;  Tue 24 Barber of Seville;  Wed 25 Orpheus and Euridice;  Thu 26 np;  Fri 27 Orpheus and Euridice;  Sat 28 Magic Flute.

Week 2, w/c Monday, 30 October:  Mon 30 np;  Tue 31 Samson and Delilah;  Wed 1 Nov Barber of Seville; Thu 2 Magic Flute;  Fri 3 Orpheus and Euridice;  Sat 4 Samson and Delilah.

Week 3, w/c Monday, 6 November:  Mon 6 np;  Tue 7 Violins of Saint-Jacques;  Wed 8 Ernani;  Thu 9 m Barber of Seville;  Thu 9 e Cenerentola;  Fri 10 Orpheus in the Underworld;  Sat 11 Ernani.  

Week 4, w/c Monday 13 November:  Mon 13  Cenerentola;  Tue 14 Samson and Delilah;  Wed 15 Orpheus in the Underworld;   Thu 16 Barber of Seville;  Fri 17 Violins of Saint-Jacques;  Sat 18 Orpheus in the Underworld.

Cast details for 9 November are from a programme in the Opera Scotland collection, and for the second performance on 13 November from a copy in the Mitchell Library.