OPERA
FOR want of high vocal quality, Sadler's Wells rightly makes a brisk and truly vernacular style the first aim of its performances. This is the characteristic virtue of the new production there of The Magic Flute. The translation used is Dent's, and his influence, as in much of their work, is apparent in many other aspects of the production. He is one of the few who insist that there is more to opera than the music, and he is prepared at any time to put the music second for the sake of getting the words or the action across. Carried too far, denti&try of this kind can cause distress to those who know the operas well enough to feel. 'Hang the words, give us the musical phrase!' But Dent's trans- lations, like his ideas on production, are not intended for those who know the operas well. They are for those who are seeing them for the first time, or are still making up their mind whether they like themfor these, he con- siders, are likely to be in the majority in a country where opera-going is so little a national habit. For them the music can speak fully only when they know what it is speaking about, and Dent's aim is to make sure that they know this the first time, else there may never be a second.
Whether or not his estimate of the experience of the Sadler's Wells public is correct, there is a place for 'homely' opera of this sort, and since there is no other, Sadler's Wells must be it. And for that matter, since it does not give. and cannot reasonably be expected to give. singing that will delight for its own sake, it might as well he it—for the present at least. though our ideal for London's second opera house should be something more. Not that the singing on this occasion was without its rewards. June Bronhill, in spite of some nervousness, did better as the Queen of the Night than some more famous singers, and clearly has the entire part in her voice, under control, except the top F, which need not he lamented. Patricia Howard and Denis Dowling sang very agreeably as Pamina and Papageno, though their characterisations were not sharp enough, and Stanley Clarkson was a musically acceptable if dull Sarastro. The weakness was Thomas Round as Tamino, who in an apparent attempt to make his voice bigger is in danger of ruining it. With rare exceptions he bawled unbeautifully, with poor control either of tone or of intonation. His phrasing on the other hand was musical, and if he will concentrate on making musical sounds with his voice again, he will make a pleasing tenor. Rudolf Schwarz. conducting opera for the first time in this country, secured an excellent ensemble between stage and pit, and some very polished playing from the orchestra. It was, on a
general musical level, a good performance. On the stage it had less to commend it. George Devine's production lacked invention and resource, and the sets by Motley were by turns dull, flimsy and tawdry. Who, by the way, teaches or allows the singers to pronounce 'nature' as 'nate-you're'? We all know that this distortion interrupts the flow of tone less than the natural 'eh,' but it would hardly be justified if the tone were Galli-Curci's itself, and in a supposedly vernacular performance is absurd.
The revival of Manon at Covent Garden does this company less credit. Adele Leigh did well to take over at short notice, but on the first night the part was obviously not yet in her voice, and exposed the two main weak- nesses she has still to overcome in her singing —the strained and artificial quality of some of her top notes, and her tendency to let the tone sag in the lower middle register. John Lanigan sang well, but seemed still dogged by his nervousness of high notes that are easily within his reach if he could produce them more naturally. For the rest it was an untidy, depressing routine performance, entirely lack- ing in the charm and prettiness that are the only virtues of the opera, and alone can make us excuse the cheap hamming in the 'dramatic' parts of the music. With a production on a similar level, and dreary, unimaginative sets, it gave very little pleasure.
COLIN MASON
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