KOANGA

the 1935production of Frederick Delius's opera

in the context of its performance history

documentation and sources Part Two

by

Lewis Foreman

The Delius SocietvSociety

1995I 99s CONTENTS

This issue completes the two-partfwo-part survey, begun with Journal 113,ll3, of the performanceperfonnancehistory of De1ius'sDelius'sopera Koanga.

KoangaKoanga:: The 1935 Tour

Introduction . . 31 Birmingham 5 LiverpoolLiveqpool...... 77 Manchester ...... 1313 Bradford.Bradford ...... t717 Extracts from Herbert Thompson's Diaries . . . .2424 Leeds . .2525

Performances after Beecham . .2929

1958 BBC Broadcast (Stanford Robinson) . . ..3030 The American Premiere (Paul Callaway) ...3232 1972 Camden Festival (Charles Groves) ...... 3939 Louisiana and Leeds (John Shenaut and Michael Williamson)Williamson). . 43 Leeds Youth Opera .43

2 KOANGA:KOAIVGA:THE TOUR 'fheatre) Birmingham (Prince(Prince of Wales Theatre) 1212October 19351935 Liverpool (Empire(Empire Theatre) 18lS and 21 2l November ManchesterManchesfer(Opera (Opera House) 28 October andand2 November (matinee)(natin6e) Bradford (Alhambra Theatre) III I November Leeds (Grand Theatre) 23 November

ItIt isis apparent that the touring orchestrawas not of the quality of the London Philhannonic Philharmonic Orchestra which was in the pit at Covent Garden. Tony Benson states* thatthat'for 'for the tour, an orchestrawas built around the nucleus of a dozen LPO players, with Anthony Pini leading the cellos, John Denison the horns, and John CroftCruft as first oboe.' It It is not clear what the LPO did in the interim or whether, like Beecham, some of the key players attempted to commute between engagements of the LPO and the opera tour. Nevertheless, the opera orchestraorchesffa received some good notices during the tour which suggests that it retnainedremained more or less consistent throughout and cameciune to know the repertoire well. During this time, Sir Thomas Beecham's own schedule was unremitting. Between the Liverpool opening (with Der Freischiltz)ltreisch*u) andand KKoanga,oanga, he conducted a Liverpool Philhannonic Philharmonic concert and, in London, a Royal PhilhannonicPhilharmonic Society concert (15th and 17th),lTth), and after the Liverpool performances,perforrnances,two HalleHall6 concerts on consecutive days, and on 27 OctoberOctober a Beecham Sunday concert at London's Queen's Hall.Hatl. He returned to Manchester for Koanga the next day. After Koanga, he conducted concerts in Liverpool (29th), Sheffield (30th), and London (31st), before taking Der Freischiltz in Manchester on 1 November. This pattern continued, and after a matineematinde of Koanga in Manchester the following day, he returned to London for a Queen's Hall concert, concert. was back in Manchester for Der F-reischiltzFreischutz on 5 November, and was at Queen's Hall on 7th to present the Gold Medal of the Royal PhilhannonicPhilharmonicSociety to Sibelius on whose behalf it was received by the FinnisltFinnish Ambassador.The concert he conducted on that occasionincluded not only Sibelius's Sixth Symphony but also the first performance of the Monn/Schoenberg Cello Concerto. Perhaps the most pertinent of Beecham's other activities during the opera towtour took place the day before the Bradford performance of Koanga when he was at Queen'sHall with a programme that included

3 Delius's other scoreto to celebratethethe soundsof Negroessinging on the St Johns River inin FloridaFlorida, Appalachia. Between Beecham's performancesperfonnances of Der Freischiltz inin Bradford and Leeds on 13 and 20 November, he had visited Berlin for twotwo concerts with thethe Berlin Philharmonic, on 17 and 18 November. The finalfmal performanceperfonnance of Koanga culmecame at Leeds on 23 NovemberNovember.. (Koanga had been first announced for 18 November, but was presumably changed to allow Beecham to visit Berlin.) Two days later he was in the recording studio, recording the fourth act of LoLa BohimeBoheme with his Koanga, John Brownlee, in the cast. Thus Koanga was briefly an active part of a living repertoire, before being forgotten again until it was revived by StanfordRobinson in 1958. Lewis Foreman * SirSir Thomas Beecham Bart, CH.C.H. : A Calendar of his Concert and Theatrical PerformancesPet:formances compiled by Maurice Parker, with a Supplement compiledcompiled by Tony Benson (private publications, 1985 and 1990)le90)

OPERA HOUSE ... MANCHESTER ProprlelorsProprietors -. Howard and Wyndham Lld.Ltd. ManagingManagrng DireclorDirecror - A. 5lewarr Stewart Cruikshank ManagerManagcr- -- Sydney PonerPorrer AssisranrAssistantManagerManaqer T. D. Conacher PublicilYPubliciryManager Manaicr . Thos. B. Woodward

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MONDAY, 28th 28rh OCTOBER toro 9thgrh NOVEMBER, 1935 FOR TWO WEEKS EVERY EVENING. Malin~~: Matinee:EACH SATURDAY at 2

fI;I~A\~GIP,A,NIDI[) fV|DlplElp,A,/V /1: ll?A\ 1r=1~~lrIIVtFtEslt|tvAlLA\IL

4 KOANGAKOANGA ONON TOUR:TOUR: BIRMINGHAMBIRMINGHAM

andand cannoteannot urakenlake an1'tlringanything butbut a11 dcad-rrcightdead-weight ENDEND OFOF TIIETHE OPERAOPERA repgrtory,reRe;tory, patronisedpatronised b5'bJ' habithabit ratherrather tbonthan fromfrom anfan~ reallyreally intclligeotintelligent interestinterest inin onan importrntimportant FESTIVAL. bfnnctlbtftnc""of "rif tnrttle.tnttAtC. . t'.. Konngn,ttKORnp:R," endand inin ea moerllromeasure theth~ reqivelsrt!vivals of,of, 'nndi 'l 11 Freischlltz'TFreischtitE·'.' 'nnd;" RelloHallo inin llrrehersMucherB'~ too;too; " " 'entetprire rhowed~howed esrctlyen~·t1:" thothe kindkind ofof 'enterprise thatthat irJ. ths leart whether .,.. I{OANGAI\:OANGA" '' INTRODUCEDINTRODUCED TO werrtod.wAnt'l'd. lt,It, doe,rdoclI notnot mnttermnttl''' inin the I,-ollt "'hether "" KontrgrKonnga" " rotrtninsrrmninll irlin lhethe repertoryrt'rl'rtnry oror nob,nob, on~ for nll THE PRO\ZINCES.PROVINCES. end"nd one cnnnot'lhinkennnot' think thetthAt lleechnm,Ht'l'cllnm, for nil hirhis ndorntiorrnrtorntion ofof l)olius,])l'liu~, itnnginosi,"n~inrll t.hncthnt itit will'will. 'flre The firstfir!lt timetim(' thothe ttnttltralunullllal rrrhjectlluhjf'<'t isill attrnctive,attrnctive, nnd tlteth(l~ettin~1I settings byh~' N. dede lllolnrMolu nero"'err dalightful noCnot rnAn oporcoperA ono cortldcon Id bearb('"r to go toto often. The storylItory irill reellyreally tootoo ehildislrchildish for rords,word!', ereH'n en nrehsuch rtiltedstilted one!ones rrIII DeliurDf'liull reClet The brilliant opreraopera festiralfestinl rrith~ith rrhicb~hich Sir ineflectivelyinefT('etivply to mrrrig.mUllif. publie for opera by ThonrasThomas ReeclramBeecham lenr,lent BirnringhamBirmingham a feature lf,aIf/A largoInrj!;o newnl'w public is ereatedcrt'oted for opera by nell and n'hichwhich no ContiuentalContinental city of its size lacks, buthut Cheth"" fine €nt€rpriseenterpri5e of thirthil {'ompnny, eompnny, well And good;~ood this por- nhichwwch vers\·er., ferrfe~ cau.nratch,can.match, at anlan:- rate in its ; freshfrl'llh errdieneesAudiences mny then etrjoyenjoy this por­ vocal resources, and none cancan· surpass on the tieularticl1lar experieneeexperience ogninagain and ngnin.nll:nin. Rrrtnllt uhoCwhat orclrcstralorchestral side, catnecame to an all-tooopiuions aboutaborrt itit weresere divided,divided, itaitr first6rst If Jlllve lrtve Rlentioned, nrentioned, and eud dozensdozenc ofof othersolhers oneone performanceperformauce a~a~'anay frllmfrom LondoDLondon wassar attendedattended byby {'ouldeould thin1c thin'l< of,of, eveneren ifif theythey do do not not remain renrain iniu a largelrtg" numbernuntbcr ofof cultintedcultirated peoplepeopleand and listenedlistened thethe repertor~. repertory. In In anyany caear€,lie, as a3 Sir Sir ThomasThomas toto" withsith curiosity. crrriosity. ThatThat oneone cannot csnnot regardregard itit Hecchallllfcceham ill ir c1enrly clearly well*ell aware,anore, itit isis its its business business asas oneone ofof the the ,,"orld'lin'orld't greatgreat operasoperac i.ir entirel:)" entirely toto dodo so, eo, justjrrst ases itit is ir the tbe dutyduty of of the the publicpublic toto tcsidetcside thethe poi:::.poi;!. ThoscThocc operasoperar areare ~eryrery fe,,'fen' supportsrrpporClIuchrrreh ,enture!l. ventureg.

55 KOANGA ON TOUR: BIRMINGHAMBTRMINGHAM

To return to " Koanga," it is enyeasy enough tp point out ~hatrhat is 'Hongrrrong ;w-ith. rith. it. OtperaOpero is after all a dramaticdrarnetie art, and Delius, say rry whatiwbat you ,n-ill,,rrill, is not a dramatic composer. That is not altogether 11e defect, defeet, except iDlinl soro far as his t' tackling of conl"entionaleonrentional opera-and"opera-and " Koanga " is nn'ver-r conl"entional-n-asconrentional-rras in itself a mistake·mistake. It is true that tbat dramaticdrarnatic portions of his workrvork are ineffectiveineffeetive becausebeeause he ""ritesrrrites the same kind of muscnrusc for all the characters,characters. keeps much the same orc-hestralorelrestraltexturetextttre going all the time and merely superimposes declamation upon the instrumental fabricfabrie instead of ,,,,,riting,rrriting phrases congenialcongeuial to the l"oiceroice and naturallyoaturally declaimed instead instaad of awk­ark- It"ardlynardly fitted in. But it is equallyequallg true that tbat such sueb a story required a more n)ore coarse-grained, eoarse-grained, direct, sensational musical inl"entions-Ikeinrentions-lkePuccini's,Puccini'5, for instance;instanee; the in"entionintention of one 'Whorrho is a man of thetbe theatre first and a r musician afteTo\Tards.after;rrards. Delius, eveneren at thisihis earlyearl5: stage, iW"asiras too sensitive a music-almusieal personality te> to make mak6 the most of stage cruditieserudities I\'\"hichlrhich might in less refined hands hauds bave made a cn.pitalcopital opera of sorts. AllAr it is, all the mostnrosL lo,"elylorely mnsicmrrsic in "Koangat'I(oanga "-andt'-6nl it canean be very 10l"elylorely indeed-Qccursindeed-occurs where noth nothinging happens on the stage. It is played "",benrheu tbe curtnin is do""n,dorrn, or sung behind thetbe scenes,seenes, or heard ,when,*hen the stage ctage is in pitch darkness, and the real Delius comescomel out most touchinglytouehiugly in the prologue and epilogue;. epilogue; n-hichrthich havehaye no action, but are merely the anticipation aDdaud contempla­ eouternpla- tion "Of of the action. aciion. Hereflere and in suchsueh a piece of orchestral ""rtingrrrting ase! the prelude behn~enbetseen prolop:ueprologue and first act, veryver-v muchmueh iDin the vein of thetho exqnisiteerqnisite "A(>palachia""A4rpalachia " variations,veriatioos, Delius'sI)elius's music is to be heard almost at its greatest.greates^". But that it is heard in an opera house houre is onl~onlr an acddent,accident, fortunafortunatete for all ell of us last Saturday.Saturda5, hutbut prol"'ingproring nothing iDin favour of t'KoRnga " Koanga " asa3 anno opera. op€re. The shet'rsbeer es~ence essence of musicality :wu.rrar given forth byhy the J!loriousglorious orchestraorchestre under Beecham's direction,direetion, quite without rrithout thattbet glamour glemour of the theatre whichrhich !>lozartllozart alone knew how to blend ,1rith,rith the musical abstractionahstraction of a perfect concert, but as lo,"elylorely asat an)"thinganything thattbot ("ouldcould bebc heard at an orchestralorchestrel performanceperformrneo aoywhere.eoywhere. TheTbe thornlchoral sinl!ing.singing, ,,:hichn'hich adds 50so much mucb to this purelypurelv mll!\ic31musical Appeal,nppeal of the .1fork,r!ork,•. ,rrls,vas almost efluallyequally good, far superior iodet'diudeed to anything that is usually henrdheard on the stage.etoge. If I nel[lect neglect the solo singers somewhat,tomarrhat, it illir neither oeither their faultfaul! nor 'mine,lnine, but th.ethc composer's. comyrcser'a. They rC311y reall-r hadbad very little chance, though John Brown Brornleelee in the very exactinReroeting high baritooe part of Koan~n.Koangc was rra3 veryeery impressive.irnpressive. OdaOdo SlobodskayaSlobodckayo asar PalmyraPalmyre ""asrres perhapsperhapr a little srtificial,artificiol, bllt but ,.er~rery ('ffectil"e,affectire,andnnd her fine rin~ingringing soprano.stoodcoprano.atood her in good stead. ConstanreConstanee Willis,\f illis. FrankFranh Sale, Leyland White,l\.hite, Leslie Horsmnn and Reginnld Reginold Thur~oodTburgood.ell.a IJ oWorked*orkcd with greatgreet .devotioodevotion on rather thanklesstbrnkless material.matcrial, andaud the'eightthe eight young ladieslrdierto·to l1rhomrwhom thethc story rtory is.ir. told·told'sengsaog prettily. Birmingham Post E.E.BDo 14 October 1935

6 KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL

Delius's Opera ttKoangatt particularly thethe dialogue which "Koanga" Delius rarely seems to make either musically interesting or dramatic­ dramatic- f.:mpireF,mpire Theatre:Theqtre: "Koanga""Koange" by b), ally telling. It isis often technicallytechnically Fred.erickF'rederick Delius,l)elius, Conductor,('onduclor, SirSir dramatic (if (if I may use the phrase); Ihomasf'homas Beecham. FirstF'irst dramatic inin intention.intention.The notes are performance in Liverpool. there,there, but not thethe inspiration.inspiration. The (By(By Our Music Critic) phrases move in what is intended to The operas of Delius have been the be an expression of excitement, but vehicle for a good deal of they do not engender the feeling theorising, some of it extremely they setout to invoke. interesting,but I do not think any THE REAL DELIUS of it can be said to apply to the Much of this part of the work, early work "Koanga", which, it too, is too heavily scored - again I seems to me,ffi€, is in design and allow for the placing of the treatment just conventional opera orchestra - and this adds to the and to be regarded as such. Here is performers' difficulty. And I could no slight and shadowy story not feel that Delius's music really serving mainly to inspire emotions heightened the tragedy of ofthethe death for Delius to sublimate in music of the lovers, as, since this is grand such as in "A Village Romeo and climacteric of the opera, one might Juliet". This is a full-blooded, full-blooded. reasonably have expected it to. rather melodramatic operatic But - and here is the point of my libretto with very stilted dialogue, argument - immediately after the which the producerhas - inevitably, tragedy, while the curtain is I think - treated as realistically as lowered for the setting of the scene possible on the stage. I cannot, for the epilogue, Delius, with his therefore, see any other way to characters disposed ofofand and the needne~d regard it but as grand opera pure for dramatic action past, glides and simple - though grand opera, imperceptibly into a reflective to adapt Wilde's epigram, is rarely threnody, the poignancy of which pure and never simple. wrings one's heart as nothing in the My impression on this first drama proper has done, and lifts hearing is that Delius succeeded one to the heights as it sings the better than one might have eternal tragedy of ill-starred love. expected in a medium which was And the curtain rises on the short not particularlysuited to his genius. epilogue with the exquisiteplay of A certainproportion of the work is the girls' voices singing, as they undoubtedr;'undoubtedl~. ineffective as opera, raisetheir armsto the sun:

7 KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL

Once more the Jieldsfields are all aglow The warmth of springtime greeting, brilliant soprano voice, which was May God to parted lovers pity show, very telling in ensembleensemble. The And bless their meeting! chorus, both girls and men, sang Not very remarkable as poetry, but well throughout. hear how Delius translatesit. And Sir Thomas Beecham,to whose this, I submit, is the real Delius, the devotion to Delius we owe this composer at his best and his most interesting production, conducted characteristic;the composerwhom with an unusual air of high even music critics love. purpose, and made this orchestra ADMIRABLE SINGING sound better than any of the other But it would be wrong to give conductors have been able to do. the impression that this is the only Having learned Sir Thomas' effective moment in the work, for opinion of music critics during the there are many. The orchestral week, I find it a relief not to feel interlude between the Prologue and called upon, for once, to try to vary the first scene, with its lovely the usual superlatives in describing melody, might well provoke as his work. many manifestations as did I should like to add that I found Orpheus with his lute; the end of this performance most stimulating, the first act, if its quintet and male as any musician must, and I hope to chorus are regarded as vocal colour take the opportunity of correcting in an orchestral climax, is highly my first impression when it is imposing; the Negro choruses, repeated on Monday evening. reminiscent, of course, of Liverpool Echo "Appalachia", areare a pleasant 1935 feature; and Koanga's solo at the 19l9 October 1935 end of the first scene of the third act is a lovely piece of vocal writing. On the stage, Mr John Brownlee sang Koanga admirably. The music has a high tessitura forfor baritone, but Mr Brownlee lacked nothing here, and although he seemed to be forcing his voice at times, inin thethe role just alluded to,to, he sang beautifully. Miss Oda Slobodskaya,Slobodskay4 I am afraid, failed toto make Palmyra much more than an operatic heroine. But she has a strong and

8 KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL MUSIC ON- MERSEYSIDS:

Liverpool And The Opera And Sir Thoma. Beecham'~ Onslaughts

NOTES AND NEWS BY T. J. B.

Despite Sir Thomas Beecham's An Infrequent Luxury animadversions, Liverpool has supported The truth Is, of course, that the opera­ this opera season very well. I confess public is not wholly a musical public. that when I saw the rE:\Pertoire, with in the sense that the public for orches­ three completely unknown operas in it. I tral concerts is. A large proportion .>f the opera public looks upon opera as a did not think we should do _nearly as well pleasant titillation of ear' and eye­ as we have done. As it is, with the which, hi many caseI, of course; it is­ exception of .. Koanga," for which no and, therefore, generally prefers ~o hear one with nny knowledge of the public a work it knows rather than face the effort of making the acquaintance -of 1\ could have expected large audiences, all new one. This state of affairs is very the operas have been very well reprehensible, no doubt. but it exi!'t.8, patronised, in some cases completely and until this section of the public can be educated to a hi1:her musical ou~. sold standard, the position Will have to be Sir Thomas in his preliminary bom­ faced by every operatic venture. With bardment blamed the music critics for regular seasons I do not doubt that an damning" Koanga," although Liverpool appreciable -improvement in taste would soon be accomplished; indeed. I am sure had not then seen the work. It was it would. But with opera euch an very flattering of Sir Thomas to attribute Infrequent luxury-I do not think we such influence- to- the critics, and no one have had fiftee,n weeks_,of firet.-clafll _th~· tw~nty year~tna.DY was more surprised than they were to opera in last _ learn of it. As one who has spent 8 people are Inclined to take adyantage fair amount of time in endea\'ouring to of these rare yisits to see again the persuade people to visit unfamiliar works they like. operas 1 have come very firmly to the Paying For Novelties conclusion that the public has a mind The policy of making the -popular' of its own. and no amount of persuasion operas pay for the novelties bad a great will make it go to something it has made up its mind it will not like. Sir Thomas -deal to commend it, but when, Sir will not know, since he always refused Thomas brings out six operas only one to bring his opera compariy herein the of which, .. La Boheme:' can be truly old days. of the herculean efforts made by Liverpool critiCll to (>ersuade people cal!ed popular in England, and three of '0 go to see luch .. novelties" to Liver­ ,,"hlch are practically unknown, f do not pool audience.. al .. The Ring" .. Par­ see how he can expect overwhelmtne Pelle~s sifsl," .. Loulse," .. and audiences, boweyer much IUch enter­ Mellsande," .. Coq d'Or," .. AlkesUs," and the Mozart operas, when the prise may deserve them. B.N.O.C. Introduced them to us And - Personally, I should like to have eeeu.. their effortl met with but indifferent ~ach performanCe of .. Koanga:; .. tor, success, lu.ch wl!rke al did succeed doing Instance, packed with people 8S moveo­ so rather ID - ePlte of the critiCll' praise than because of it. by the beauty of the work as- 1 -... 9 KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL myself, but II know thattbat Delius doesdoer notaot yetyet, commandcommand suchsueh general admiratioDadmlretion SirSir T. Beecham even from people who profestprofesr toto ,bebf musicians,mueiciane, letlet alone fromfrom thethe hetero­hetriro. genous collection of people whichwhlch con­con May Cut tributestributec toto make up aB .." fullfull houaehouge'.',lot~', fo~ ansn opera performanceperformauce inin this thir country. Liverpool'sLlverpool's PositionPosilion Out Liverpool SirEir Thomas, 1I remember,remember, described the tbe coming into being of the present venture ventufo asag a miracle,Btiracle, and he seemseeemgtoto beba expec~erpect,' ins:ing miracles toto happenall alongalonc thethellnc.line. ItIt IS is truetrue thatthat manymani of the performanceiperformancer H" Pitiful Response"Response" one has heard fromfrom SirEir Thomas the'set&ebc manyma.ny years might well be describeddeecribed a8es miraculous.miraculous, but his wand isis hishir ba.ton.blton, to OperaOpera and when he puts that down he isir no uo longerlonger a magicIan,ma,gician,whatever else hehc may,may be. And II rather think that Liverpool Fr3mFrtm Our Own Reporter willrv.ill not compareco-mpareso badly withwitb the otherolhcr Liverpool, Tuesday cities at whichwhilh the companycomplny remainsremainr for as fortnight, when the tour i.ii ended. And ISGUSTED with the this,this, II repeat,repeat. illia the first6rat experienceerperiencc of f\ Beech~mBeechamopera whichwhicb thisthie malignedmiUgned city DlJ receptionreception given to the has enjoyed. CoventL)oventGarden Grand Opera fe~tiTalfeptivalin Li,"~rpool,Lirprpool,Sir Thomas LiverpoolLit,erpool Echo Heechamlfeecham saysea-veheire is "serious)y" seriously con­con- 24 October sidering"sidering " refusingrefnsing to conducteonduet opera or concertscone€rtsin the citycity.. .." 1tr1 am forced lorced to10 believe that the peopl!peoplo ofol LiverpoolLlverpool areare entirely entirely ,uneducatedun6ducatedwhenvhen itlt comesconres to opera," he saidsalil inln an interviewlnterview to-day: .." ThevTt ii' do not know how to appreci~leappreciate it and labour under the wrong impression that the entirebntire repertoirereperttilre consistsconslsts of a dozen or so operas.,opera6. 1I have gone 10lo the troulbletroutble of produclngproducing some orof the lesser-knownlesser-hnown rvorksworks withrvitb all the resources that Covent Garden can offer, but (heth€ public responseisls pitiful. cc,. MY 2 WORST HOUSES"HOUSES'' .." Liverpool cannot summon up enough interest 10lo flll a theatre rorlor t\\'otrvo weekss'eeks.. 'added .." In any case," 'added Sir Thomas, .." l,iverpoolLiv4>rpooJ hastlas liltlelittle to olfero.cfe~ an artist. Its clinrate.climate, on account ofI)f itslis geogra-geogra­ phicatphical positlon,position. affects singers' throalsthroats and itil lrashas no really good concert hall. .." Thel'he trvotwo worst bouseshouses 1 I have ever Daily Dispatch played to in my life have beenhe€n lnin Liverpool, and 1I am seriouslyseriollsly con-con­ 23 October sidering giving the cityclly a miss in the ffutureuture." ... 10l0 KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL DELIUS'S "KOANGA"''KOANGA'' It was a very enthusiastic audience that greeted the perfonnanceperformance of Frederick Debus'sDelius's opera "Koanga" at the Empire last night, under the direction of Sir ThOlnasThomasBeecham. It is an opera that invites some rather rare kind of appreciation, for the curious fact is that it is least successful when it tries to be most impressive.'impressive.All the really operatic moments in it are the least effective. And yet, when all is said and done, it is a greatgreat opera,operA a fine musical work, and a beautiful score. People who do not know that Debus'sDelius's "A Village Romeo and Juliet" is the fmestfinest opera of modemmodern times will, of course, not, appreciate a comparatively immature work of this kind, which has yet the genuine Delius touch and the note of sincerity and pathos which is in all his work. We had some very good singing - John Brownlee as Koanga and Oda Slobodskaya as Palmyra were excellent, and Sir Thomas gave us the ravishing orchestral interludes which are the cream of the opera. A.K.H. Daily Post,Post. 19 October 1935

THE LIVERPOLITAN. November,Novemberr 1935

An Open LeflerLetter to Sir THOMAS BEECHAM, Bart. Dear SirSir Thomas, from DavidDsoid Websler.Webster. The BritishBrirish public owes you a great debt could have given the whole thing such a of gratitude.gradrude. Your musicianship has cachet. delighted them over a long period of years. You are not pleased with the way your Just as you have been unsparing with your Opera CompanyC-ompany has been received-you talents and your energies, you have been feel that thedre Critics have let you down and unsparing with your own money, which you feel that the public of Liverpool have you have spent freely for the sake of music. not given you enough support. You have Finally, there is your enormousenorrnous couragecoruage said quite firmly that you are not interestedintercsted to which many delights have been due, in touring an Opera Repertoire of nothing not thethc least of them being youryoru new but old favourites. You have further Opera CompanyC.ompany now on tour. said that your choice of works ought to be You have brought us Opera better sung more of a guarantee of merit than the than anything we have had in the Provinces words of the Music Critics. You have for many years.ye.rrs. You have havc brought us said if you don't have bene~ benei support you well-knownwell-knowu stars and young singers of will throw the whole thing up. already first class merit and even greater Now, you see, even God has allowed possibilities. No one but you would free will andaad the mere fact of His being have had the courage and the energy ha~has not been proof enough over all the to bring this Opera Company to life, centuries for what success He has had. no one but you could have made such a He has in addition to revealing Himself, Himselfl collectioncoUection of talent, and no one but you had to use Methodist Parsons and WeeVee

11ll KOANGA ON TOUR: LIVERPOOL

Free Elders and allall sortssorts of other devices whole answer. An art studentstudent would have toto bring pressure on man's freefree will toto made a better jobiob of the setssets and costumes costurnes make him decide forfor His existence, andand forfor Koanga-any setset of costumescostutnes more inin these these days of 1935 1935 when various. formsforms unsuited toto the the people wearing them of entertainment entertainment of a a very easyeasy kind can can cancan rarely have been seenseen on any stage. stage. be had for a small amount of money, with There was a chance here, however litdelittle a small amount of trouble,trouble, you will have to was spent on the production,producdon, toto get some put more showmanship and more timetirne and good designs. Any decent dancing troubletrouble into into the the seJJingselling of your Opera school inin Liverpool would have been schemes. It It is not enough toto announce ashamed toto have put such costumescosturnes in thethc names narnes of futurefuture operas and to say who frontfront of a crowd of adoring parents. Poor isis conducting and who are singing, and Madame Slobodskaya was dressed likelike a toto expect people simply toto rush into into a corner cupboard with a vase on the top.top. theatre.theatre. Poor Mr. Brownlee-one Brownlee-tenor. do something to make more entertaining, to make it more who crossed and re-crossed the stage entertaining, to make it reasonable man three times in each direction in the first reasonable and more appealing to the man six bars of his first aria, and that sort son of in the street. You enjoy Enioy debunking the critics:cridcs : why not debunk Opera a bit. thing went on through the work. True, it is Make it entertaining-make it human. unlikely that you will find great vocal and great acting talent in one and the same Then I would like to pick a quarrel with per:on,person, but if you cannot produce good the general showmanship of your Company. acting you can teach people not to be Much as we would like to think otherwise, annoying on the stage, not to fidget, Dotnot to people are attracted anracted to theatres, cinemas,cinetnas, stand like fish wives. It isn't by accident music halls, concert halls, by personalides,personalities, that you will constantly find two or three by pcople.people. Your company abounds with levels in stage sets on the Continent. The people who have good stories in a publicirypublicity producers realise that the use of different sense. The press of Liverpool had levels offers scope for change and variety practically no advance information about of position and posture~osture for poor actors. either Operas or people. There was a story around Miss Perli which has beenheen The lighting, generally speaking, in all the productions was the sort of thing we-llwe.ll exploited. The Liverpool_FchoLiverpool Echo told quite an interesting story-ofstory of Brownlee's guarantcedguaranteed to show every ioinjoin in evcryevery interesting flat, and every piece of gauze hangrnghanging movements, but any enterprising publiclrYpublicity about the stage. AunosphereAnnosphere wasn't made manasermanager would have had-had Mr. Brownlee by it-atmosphere was ruined by it. I arrive'inarrive in LiverooolLiverpool bvby air for his first know that pan of the answer on the stage Koanga perforinanceperformance an bourhour before sim~ers production side is rnoney,money, but it is not the the show-show started. The Italian singers 12 KOANGAKOANGAON ON TOUR:TOUR: MANCHESTERMANCHESTER

mustmust havehave manymany-has reminiscencesreminiscences of of Opera. Opera. between.between. TheThe audienceaudience wouldwould have have Dua,P*, II think,think, has sungsung MimiMimi inin'fourfour workedworked themselvesthemselves intointo aa frenzy frenzy andand languages.languages. ThereThere couldcould-notnot havehave beenbeen aa thoughtthought thethe performancesperformances andand performersperformers CompanyCompany touringtouring EnglandEngland forfor yearsyears aboutabout twicetwice asas good.good. TheyThey wouldwould have have gonegone whichwhich soso muchmuch couldcould havehave been been written.wrirren. awayaway andand yelledyelled thethe newsneq's ofof youryour stars stars TheThe paperspapers werewere anxiousanxious toto getget asas muchmuch fromfrom thethe housetops. hbusetops. ThisThis isis thethe sort sort ofof materialmaterial asas possible-theypossible-they gotgot practicallypractically thingthing thatthat makes makes'smrs-itstars-it isis the the sortsort ofof nothing.nothing. What$fhat aa chance chance forfor appeal appeal youyou thingthing thatthat makesmakes shows,shows, thatthar sellssells p~r­per- havehave inin youryour presentpresent Company.Company- CochranCochran sonalitiessonalitiesand and',r'illwill makemake OperaOpera CompamesCompanies wouldwould havehave floodedflooded thethe presspress withwith stori~sstories justiust asas muchmuch as as itir will will make make aa playplay oror aa ofof thethe newnew slimslim primaprima donnasdonnas andand athleticathletic musicalmusical comedy.comed]'. baritones-nobaritones-no Operadpera Company Company hashas hadhad YouYou havehave got toto workwork forfor audiencesaudiences to­to- suchsuch aa collectioncollection ofofgoodgood figures figures for for yearsyears It sot day,day, howeverhox'eve-r goodgood your]tour material?material-, pa~­par- ThereThere isis nothing nothing more more dampingdamping to to thethe ticularlyticularll' forfor Opera:Opera : for for Opera-gomgOpera-going ISis enthusiasmenthusiasm ofof an an audience audience than than toto be be notnor aa habithabit inin thisthis country-youcountry-you havehave toro offeredoffered atat thethe end end ofof each each show,show, whenwhen itsirs use all the resources of showmanship to enthusiasmenthusiasm isis approaching approaching fever fever heat, heat, a a use all the resources of showmanship ro seriesseries ofof bad bad curtains, curtains, with peoplepeople pullingpulling tempttempt the the personpcrson whor.r'holikes likes entertainment, enrertainment, atat oneone another,another, andand thethe people whom theythel' butbut finds finds listeninglisrening toto music an effort, toto likelike want onon most accompaniedaccompanied by b1' aa crowdcrowd of of thethe product thatthat you areare offeringoffering forfor sale.sale. people people whou'ho have sungsung sixsix bars. Boheme Dear Sir Thomas, aa very greatgreat admirer adrnirer was a wonderful stage was a wonderful show.shou'. Any An-v sensiblesensible stage andand aa whole-hearted supportersupporrer begs you to to management would have sent Madame management would have sent Madame do, or to have done, work along thesethesc lines,lines, Perli on by bv herself-they herself-thev would have sent senr before you do more blaspheming against Borgioli onoir byUy himself-they would have do blaspheming sentsenr themthem on together, together, and so on, and therhe general public. interspersedinterspersed one or two fuller fuller curtains inin From a Seat in the Stalls * OperaOperd Houseflouse " KoangaKoangd*It . RememberiJlgRemeruberipg the.the . warmwarnr rh.ythms rlrythms and ERY few conlpOSergcomposershave e~~rerer harmonies .of!negro of lDegro!J1usic music ~verve haveltave learJ~tlearnt I /ERY • to appreculteappreeiote durmgduring thlsthis century, eentrrry, Itit VV been deft enough to surviveeuryive the 5eemed-.eemeda pity that J>eliusJ)elius snouldshould h'avelinve clumsiness of the operatiooperatic teohnique.technique. ch~e~.chc*en.aa settin~setting in.irr the l\1is~i~s~ppiNississippi an,1ur)rl ·. ° hI dOd R ° ° LouisianaLOUISiana countrycountiy rvithout\Vlthout utJh~lIlgutitising tlrenrth~m MMozartozart invarioblyInv~ruL y did,1, RossinioSSlnl 'Occa-ocea- to their full. sionallydid,sionally did, andBnd TVagnerWagnpr nansgedmanaged The .au~ienc·e',audienee', however,h~W1!ver, $erewer~ ,dldl)" ,vildll · enthusiestic,enthUSiastIc, but itIt was mamly Su tot erash through~ by sheer forc~ nrainl_r' Sii o crash hroug I1b • Y s heer force of Thomas Beecham's superb-aud handlinrrhandlinl! of na orchestration. l)eliusDehus most certainly rn8gnificsDtmagnificent orche-rtraorchestra and a nragnificentmagnIficent did not. caet.t,hotcast.that caused their applause. Never before have I1 realised rvhatwhat a John Brownlee's ringingsinging of "Koansa,""Koan'!a," superb concert composer Delius.Deliu$. waswa9 till an African prince ini~ and outout· of eaptil;it!'.capth:Uy, I hesrd lriahis opera. The finest ruonrents,moments, rvBLwas feerleesfearl~s pnd~nd rich.rIch. OdsOda Sloboiskal:riSlobod~kaya musically, csnlecame last night,night rvhenwhen thethe asa~ Palmyra, tlethe unfortunateunfortunat~ reeipientrecipient. bf of curiaincur:ain w8swas down or the stagestal!e was in ItisIus love,love, badhad perhapsperhnps tootoo nrriclrmuch tlrotlw semidarknes€.semi-darkness. Then tlrethe mrisicmusic itself Itandard..R,t.andard. operatic. Rgliln,fi~u~~, but slreshe snngsang toldtold thethe story. But when it,it, had to behE. withWIth feelingfeehng and intelligence.mtclh~ence. [inked.link~d. wit[with. action-theaction:-th~ mouthing, Altogether thethe. superb~uperb orehestrotionorchestrntion gestieulating,gesticulating, unnatural ectionaction of aliall andnn.cl some of thethe singings~ngm~-evehing, would~oulcl have mndemaJe opers-itopera-it becasrebecame dumb. this!hls a finefine orstoriooratofl? en'mng, bui.but. 1rsa~ oDrrrc,opera -$oqg+01;1$ periods olof gloonrygloomy reeitative,recitative,\\ith nitlr itIt nndoubtedlyundoubtedly fcilrdf:Llh~d. P. fi;Il-: F. obbcuie meaqings alrd little mu~ical oDscure meallings and little ruu.:ical ManchesterM h t E . 1I.T value, eonstBntlyconstnnUy held up thethe setion.action. anc es erEveningvemng lVewSNews .. 29 October

t313 KOANGA ON TOUR: MANCHESTER

OPENING NIGHT

Before the Opera, GOD SASAVEYE THE KING

Monday, 28th October, at 7.307.3O In English ffOANGA (B.,'(Bl FHEDEHlCKFllEDElll(lK DELll:SDEI.It:S (1862-193.1).(1862-193{). (First PerforlllulH'ePertorurln(e illirr )IillI('he",tel").JIanr'hester).

Koallga,.lioitttg:t,,allrttt.\lliclrt .\fri,·all I'rilll"el)rinr.e alldlntl \'oodo" \-txxl,r,r I'rip~tl)r'iest ...... JOH:'."TOIJN IlH()\\":'."Llfj:ltllO\\'\I.14-l.l nOlil)ott.Io.e.Jll'~ .\lal'hll·7..-\lllt:trez. al Plallter l)llrrter...... LEYL.\:'."DLl,:\'L.\\D \\'HITE\\'Hl'l'lt SilllOlISitrrort I'~'n'z,ltult.z, )) l),rn.. 11 .lllS';'s.r()sti's Over"'t·pr()vt'rsr.er. ... FII.\~Kl,'lt.f \Ii S.\I.ES.\ l,l.l Ilallg\l·all.llirng*'lrr, air \'oodollixxlxr Prit"tl'rimt...... HI·J~I~.\L()ltl,l(ilN.\l.l)'l'l{t'llUOi)l)THI'HU()OD rlldc[-ttt'lc JllC.J.rc. allrrtt "IlloLl Slan'Slrrve ...... LESLII.l.:Sl,ll.:E HOIlS.\I.\~HOIIS]I.\N Palmyra.lrllrn.r'r';r, a:t 1lIlIlattll.tnnlrttr), hahrrll-sistcr.II.", i",teI' tllto Clllthilda('hrththlrr ; lIfof thl!tlte Jal Jrrlott..tt ra, llr ec ...... 0)).\Ol)A SLOn()J)SK,\ SLOBODSIi-{\'.\L\ Clothilda,(lhrthihlrr, \I"ift'rrift,tot.. DOlil)on.lrrsti,J ..'Se )[Ul"tlllt·7.Jlartrrrr,z ... ('O~ST.\~l'J<.:(lO\S'l'.{\('U WILLiS\\'il.LtS Hellec , ( E~I)) .J,UIEs Helene .. ELrS.\m:TH .\ n:Ll~G Jeallne ! I'lalltel'" / B.-\IW.-\)U L.\~E )lurll' \ ~! P.\THICI.\ m'EST

.-\111'01'(' 1' Dallghtel'''' DOHOTlIY D()~.\LnS()~ HOI·t!'II"'e...... I p.\n,I~E GHEY Olive .. \ •.\~\\'\':-; n.\\·)ES Puulette . .. ES.\IJ<: \\'EIlU

Conductor-SIRConductor-SlR THOMAS THOIUAS BEECHAM, Bart Bart.

PRDLUGUE.-VerandahPROLOGUE.-Vcrendeh of as SouthernSouthcrn Plantation house. housc. ACT 1.-Courtyardl.-Courtyerd and .nd GardenGsrdrn of Don Martinu'Mertincr' house. ACT 2.-2.-TcrreccTerrace of Don Martinez' Mrrtinor' House. Hou3!. ACT 3.-Scene3.-Sccnc 1.l. A GladeGledc in thethc Forest. Forcst. SceneSccnc 2. Untln thethc "'antation.Plantetaon. EPILOGUE.-VerandahEPILOGU€.-Vorandeh of a SouthernSouthcrn PlantationPlantstion house, houtc. 'l'lro The ad:ulIat'tiulr takpstlkes pllll'Pgrlrtt'eonort arr plantatiollplirrtt;rtiott011ott the )Ii,.·j",,,,ippi llirr-issippi in L,'lIlsialla.L,rtrrri:rrr:r Pel·jod-Se(·ondPeriod-Sc<'ond HalfHrrlf of,r[ the 18thlSth Centlll·Y. Cerrtrrr-v. I)anl'psl)rrrtresillrn ,\(,t.\ct 11 ll arJ'lIl1gpdrrrrnrrge,lI)\'bt .-\.'01'0:\"Alti'l'()NY Tt:J)()H.TI;lX)ll. 1'I'illl'il'nll)r'inciqrnl()ulII't>r:l)unr.er: THOIL\TH()ll-{ )1.-\llJllSH.{I.L.HsH.\LL. SI'('IIPI'YSccrterl' lIntlunrl CI)litIIlIlP'"Crxtrrrrresd~si"'IIrlesigtterl ..t1 b~'b-r' :\.N. DJ<:.I)D. )I()r..\~.f,IOf,-lS.

HERRIOTS SWIMMING POOL MIXEDMIxED BATHING-PUBLIC DAYS: MONDAY,MONOAY,WEDNESDAYWEONESOAY & SATURDAYSATUROAY SALT WATER 60 x 60. TEM.TEM.7078 dellreu.dcgrccr. --- CAFE, MUSIC,ll USIC, Etc.--f,ls. - FINEST MEDICALUEOICAL BATHSEATHS IN THE WORLD. WOBLO, LADIESLAOIES ANDANO GENT'S HAIRDRESSING.HAIFORESSING. Only Address:Addre$: QUAY STREET.-BLA. 4455.4455. (Next(Ncxt door to thisthir Th.atrThretrc.)•.)

14l4 KOANGA ON TOUR: MANCHESTER The Merits of "Koanga"66Kontrga" {^1LI&iAflCALLYT~ThiATICAllY thethc shortsbort seasonsersm Sir Thomas Thomes Beecham,Bcecbem, who conducted C{-, J Qfof operaopcn which bepnbc8m at st the tbc thethc workworl divinelydivincly andend ases 'houghthougb hehc lovedlovcd every note of it, drew drcs some somc mostEost ftJpere)pera Houseflorrse 011 on MondayMon&y eveniDgcvcoing imaginativeimagioetivc playingpleying fromfron thethp orchesua63ehasg1 ;; couidr-'ourcinot have brvc begunbegu worse:wotsc : the tbc which althoughdthougD by noDo means mclns thetbe e1~entselerneutschosechcc toto greetgrcst thethe occasionoccasioa LondonLoadon Philharmonic Philbrroonic isis yetyct ar molt nort withwitb ae small but bu decidedly dccidcdtyunpleasantrmpleasrnt worthysotthv substituterubrdnrte EspeciallyErgrccidly wl)U)d wr-rrrldon~ oae likelikc toto mention mcotion thetbc hom hora playing,phtint, of typhoon.typhoon. However-itHwwcr-it would rould taketrlc a whichwhicl everysvcry note-1p&nnotHp.rt from that tbrt holocaustholocnustto RepLccp Manchester peoplepeopb impossibleimpossible trill tri[ iniB the thc interlude intcrlude to to the the away fromfrom tbci.r?hcir music, and thetbc lastllst act act!-wesI-was pure andend toneful.toncfrrl. theatrethcaue was filled6llcd !! And now a e complaint!comphint ! Why Vby shouldsbould thethc production havebeve beenbeea so uninspireduninspircd WhatWhrt isis moremre surprising isis thattbat it andend lacking leching iniD imagination?imeginetion ? The waswns filledfilhd for ae completelyomplctcly unkBOWDuntnowu settings,settiagc, with thetbe exception ereption of the thc scene Ecene workrporkby b-va farfrr from popularpopuhr composeraonposcr inin the forest, werewele confused,confuccd, garish,grrish, andrDd -a---{ most hearteningherraoing sign. sig!. TheTbc long hopelesslyhopclessly insensitiveiascnsitive to the spiritrpirit of the opera: opera : they mightmiglt quitequitc easilyersily have hrve and sint:eresinccre applauseep'plnrscat et thethc conclu­onclu- beenbcen liftedliftcd lock, stock,stocl, and rad barrel, barrcl, fromfrorn sion of the tbc performancepcrforoence ledlcd oneme to the production of "'Show" Show Boat."B@t." TheThc believe thattbat thethc audienceaudicnceat leastlcast had costumescostunes were eere evenevcn worse. In what wbet found the operaopce vastly to its ia lihing, should have brve beenbcea the impressive inpressivc second econd liking, actecr the lovers werewcrc thrust thnrst into hideous hideour whateverwhetevcrthosethosc Jeremiahslercmiahs thethc critics fancy-dress, with KoangaKoenga in ar red rcd might havebeve to say about it. And it dominodomiao culminating culminrti.g in a e monstrous Don$lous wouldwouid be UJlf'ortunateuaforrunate if criticism, criticism' chimney-potchimaey-pot hathrt of red crinkly paperpspcr .has so tren­tren- looking likelihc nothing 80co much as lr an Jr which bas already dealtdcalt so enormouseDormous ChristmasCbristmrs cracker. creckcr. Palmyra Pelmyn chantlycbantly and I think tbiDt unfairly with waswes hardlyberdly less comicalconic.L I simply simpty had brd " Koanga,"KoangSr" werewcre alloweddlowed to ieopar-jeopar­ to close closc myEy eyes to preservepseEcryethe tbc illusion.illurioa. dizedizc the futurefunue of an opera that in Why,Vhy, too, atlt the abduction ebduction of Palmyra Pelmyn should therethcre haveheve occurred a I total totel spite of its ia faults containsconains finefinc and eclipse over Louisiana?Louisirnr ? Perhaps Pcrhrps it was wes lovelylovdy music. mnsic. to enable ensble KoanpKcryr to deliverdelivcr his ~cunC in AdmittedlyAdrdnedly there is a e great deal in ar greengtreeu limeline reminiscentrcrninicceat of AbaDazarAbenezer " KoangaKougr " whichwhicb is second-ratesccond-rate Delius : atet his grizzliestgtizzliest I the music is often tritetritc and conventional,conventionel' Of the ballet in the second sccond act 1ct oneoDe not to saysey downrightdownrig[t derivative-Wagner derivative-Vagner simplysirnply declinesdccliaes to speak. rpeel. It is all ell the tbe is calledcallcd in on moremorc than one onc occasion.dccasion. moreEore unaccoUDtableuo.ccountrblc sincesincc Sir Thomas Thonrs Koanga'sKoengl's rage againstagrinst captivity in the hasbas never ncYer beeabeen oneoDe to crave cnee our onr first act, sGtr the interpolated intcrpolated weddingrvedding indulgence.iadulgsncc. festivities,fcstivitics, the voodoo rites, Koanga's •aaa • • and Palmyra's Prlmyra's death, arearc situations situadons TheThc workworl mayDrry be immature; irnrnrttre; it is which are ere dealt dcalt witbwith in the idiom of a DODenooe the le,slera aI fine .r.hievement.echievemcnr. The""Tberr pactp"ct'entury, .'gg119",and not a vcryvery good oneonc at isir ar greatgrat dealdcel to bcbe learnt lcernt from thethc ,' .rbviousubvious musicalities of a none- earlyeuly andud passingprssing tendenciesteadencics of a e )1I)(/ ",pired,pired type. composer.coeposcr. To suggest suggcrt thattbrt it will But there rhere is alsodso quitequitc as much of thethc endangerendrnger Delius's reputationreputetioa is non­ non- great !>elius;Delius; the poctpoet whose music scn8c.sense. Does "Il"11 Trovatore" Dutput us out rcflcctsreflects for us the ssd,sad, haunting bcautybeauty of countcnencccountenance with "F8lst"Falstaff," ffr'" or Verdi of mrnkind.mankind. The love motif of KoengaKoanga for thrtthat oette:maner ? and Prlrrryg,Palmyra, tbethe sbon,short, often minute, A NANROWNARROW YIEW.VIEW. orchestrelorchestral contcmplationscontemplations on thcthe passing TbcThe most scriousserious attack, however, on trsged%tragedy, and tbethe supremely lovely "Korngl""Koanga" is on broadcrbroader grounds-its closi.gclosing sc/ene,scene, sound thcthe authcnticauthentic notenote; ; whohwhole cristenceeDstcnce esas an opera is suspect. thrtr aD opera is suspcct. thcythey contain more 6sig than the essenccessence of It is suggested th.tthat it is ii not dndetic,dramatic, the l.lterlater Deliur.Delius.

l515 KOANGA ON TOUR: MANCHESTER

hashrs no plot, has noDo characterization~characterization' thattbrt it lacks lecks anyray sensefcDse of cohesion . allell of which accusations, eccusetions' if looked lookcd atet from&om the thc acceptedeccepted andsad conventional cmventional As Koanga andaad Palmyra Mr. Johnlobn point of view, are perfectlypcrfectly true­true- BrownleeBrownlce andend Miss Oda Ode SlobodsbyaSlobodrbye thoughthougb "Koanga""Koenga" compares favourably shared theth. singingrioginS of thetbc evening evcning with aI with most operaticopcntic subjects. subiccts. niceai6s distinction.fistinction. If Miss Migs SlobodskayaSlobodrkeya But suchsucb accusationseccusations betraybctray a some­sone- never reallyrcally coDvinced convinccd us that thst shesbc hadbrd whatwbrt narrownenow and conservative coaservative outlook; penetrated,pcnetratcd, so to speak, spcak, beneathbeocath the thc andsDd certainlyccrtainly point to a lack of know­know- skin of this sadsed and beautiful bcautiful girl, sheslrc ledaeledgE of thetbe composer's other works for at least gavegaye us singingsing.ing that tbet wasuns in thethc stage,rtrge, or the tbc ideals whichwhicb inspired itself admirableedmirable andend sensitive. scasitive. It isir themthcm andend upon which they were unfortunate, though,thougb, that thet this singer singcr founded.foundcd. Delius's approach appmach to operaopcra has so little felicity fclicity about ebout her acting:acting : waswrs anrn entirelycntirely personalpcrsonel affair,efiair, and end with here were wcre all the stockstocl gesturesgestnres of a thethc possible exceptionerception of Debussy'sDcbussy's centuryceotury ago, unbelievableunbelicvablc andexcruciat­ aod crcruciirt- "Pelleas"Pell&s andend M~lisande" MClisandc" completely ing. Mr. BrownleeBrownlGe roserosc splendidlysplcndidly to original.originrl. He dispenseddispcnrd with witb practicallypncticelly Koanga's emotionalcmotionel heightshcights and gavegtve us thetbc whole rigmarolerigmerolc of operaticopcntic traditionuadition somes9m9 reallyrcally beautifulbcautiful •'riezzamezza voce' andaod set sct himself himsclf to cultivate cultivete insteadinstcad a singing.srngrng. quiet,quict, unobtrusive,unobtrusivc, swift,ssift, poetic, andend tellingteUiag techniquetechniquc of his own. 'Plot/'Plotr' or 'The 'action,''rctiogr' iniD thetbc normalnornrl sensescnEc of the 'The World of Music' words, were of interestintercst to him only in edited by Howard Agg 10ro farfrr as es theythcy allowed, dlowed, andend pvegrvc oppor­oppor- tunity to, the thc music to brood androd refl~ctrcflcet Manchester City NewsNetvs uponupoltbethe destiniesdertinics of thethc characterschrnctcrs (SIC).(ric). 2 November 1935 pouessposrc3r neitheracithcr form norac life.lif- But it would bebc ueleSIurclcr to conyeycoavcy thesethcrc delicate,dclicrte, intimate, intinrtc, I1lbde, robtlc, and rad c~ely-poisedcrqdritdy.poild re8ectiODl tr0cctioor of this compoterconporcs iniD the tb. dumaydunry and rod conven­ conveo- tionaltioarl operatic opcntic form:fcm : to telltcll these rhclc tales, trl6, ''KOANGA'' androd in the thc waywry Deliuaf,hliur wantedwrated them,lhGa, "KOANGA" ANDAI\D swiftly,siftly, intimately, intinrtdn poipandy,eoiprnd% andend with witb lhnrhrt infinite iafnitc sadnalredncrr whichshic.h isir their thdr OTHER THINGS essence,csrcnoe, someloEG new ner methodmstbod walrrr required.reqnircd. ThulThur Deliul Delius evolyedcvolvcd ar series scricr of, shall rbdl Sir T. Beecham'Beecham'ss Views we say,sry, 'tableaux;"trblcrurr' linkedlintcd toeether' toScrhcr by short orchestralorchcrtrd interludes.intcrludcs. (It hashr sincecincc Sir Thomas Beecham spoke with a beenbcco followedfollowcd by AlbaD Alb.n BerJ.) Bc8S.) ThereThac number of newspaper repre­repre- is only roomrtxro here bcrc for me G to mentionncotion the thc number of significancesigniicene of Delius'lDclius'r operaticopcrrtic style,atylc, sentatives who had been invited to not to discussdircrrg it in detail: deteil : but onceoncc thethc meet him in Manchester yesterday factsfects have hrve been bccn graspedgnrpcd wevc shalllbrll be bc meet him ablerblc to seeccc whatrvtrt hashr eluded cludcd thethc deuactondctrecton afternoon. Apparently the course of of a e workworl likelilc "Koanp.""Kcngl." the discussion was unpremeditated, DRAMADRAMlt 01' OF SITUATION. SITI'ATION. for he opened it by asking his WeVc shallcbrll realize iealiz.c thatthrt anea opera opcrt cancen be bc morernorc than thrn 0. onc thiDg,thing, andead thatthrt therethcrc are rrc guests what he could do for them. severalscvcrrl ways\rly! of being bcing dramatic!dnortic ! 11"SomebodySomebody must ask me some "Koanp""Kcngl" doesdocr not pretendprctcod to Jivegivc uaur thethc more obvious obviouc 'drama''dreot' of thethc cJuh clrrh questions," he said, and looked of personalities,personrliticr, which is the ItOCk-in­ nocl-in- round the room. "You look as if tradetredc of mostEort operaolrcru; j rathernthcr do wewc get rhatrbet subtlerubtlc and rnd infinitely infnitely more norc you could ask me something," he movinlToving qlUllityqurlity which lieslier in the pathospthor said, fixing one of the company. Ofor irony of ae situationsiturtioa in whichwhicb no wordwqd is spoken. rpolcn. (The(Thc 'curtain''curtrin' to acttct I, andend The question thus produced related Koanp'sKo..g.'3 entrancecntrlacc in act·ect'22 would be to his commentsconrmentson Liverpool. good eumples.)crnplcs.) 16l6 KOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORD

Sir Thomas expressed some BradfordBrudford surprise thatthat his comments had Festival been read in Manchester. He thenthen proceeded toto express some views Of Opera.OpeFa. upon news and the press. "The press musical press never conveys toto thethe 'Koanga' public anything itit might possibly Delius's 'Koanga' want toto know. ItIt isis only concerned At The AlhambraAlhumbra with its own peculiar views ... ." Did he expect thethe lazinesslaziness of Liverpool Liverpool in Manchester? Nothing could be further from the Manchester, Manchester, he replied, used to be truth than certain critical a real city: nowllow it was only pronouncements which followed imitation. The public was spoiled, the first performanceperfiormanceof Frederick spoon-fed, flattered. "The silly Delius's "Koanga" at Covent public musical public quails and cowers Garden two months ago. The fact before before the writers upon music," he was borne in upon one by the said. "Nobody has ever written performance under Sir Thomas intelligently intelligently upon music yet.yet, How Beecham which last night you can you write intelligently about inaugurated the visit of the sound?" sound?" recently-formed London and Someone asked if he had anyany Provincial Opera Society Ltd, to special reason for reviving 'reviving' the Bradford Alhambra Theatre. "Koanga". "I'm not 'reviving' it," We were assured after the Thomas Sir Thomas said. "I'm producing it, Covent Garden occasion that the because it's a grand piece, a score betrayed the prentice hand; magnificent magnificent work of art. I expect that it bore the signature of the you've you've beenreading some nonsense talented amateur. Since then there in press. in the press. I shall keepkeep'Koanga'in 'Koanga' in has been time for a more leisured repertoire the repertoire and produce it in and accurate examination. It is now America America and in Germany. It will coming to be acknowledged that end by being the most popular of although inevitably lacking much of the lot." The the lot." The operas the critics the intimate poetry of Delius's damned gone damned had gone into the maturity, the work is of fertile and repertoires repertoires of every opera company finished musical craftcraftsmanship.smanship. in world. in the world. The critics might be There is no technicalgroping or jabberwock. writing about the jabberwock. fumbling. The musical material evolves with amplitude and resource.Clearly, the Delius of the 'nineties was a musician of high

t717 KOANGAKOANGA ONON TOUR:TOUR: BRADFORD BRADFORI) technicaltechnicalaccomplishmentaccomplishment who,who, hadhad TheyThey dodo not not staystay inin thethe mindmind oror hehe wished,wished,could could havehave wonwon palmspalms heartheart asas creatures creatures ofof flesh flesh andand andand goldgold medalsmedals fromfrom conserv­consery- blood.blood. InIn thethe mainmainmusic musicand andstory story atoiresatoiresandand academies. academies. runrun platonicallyplatonicallysideside by by side.side.They They WAGNERWAGNER INFLUENCEINFLUENCE dodo notnot achieveachievethethe mysteriousmysteriousandand ItIt is is inevitableinevitablethatthat therethere shouldshould incalculableincalculablefusionfusion thatthat isis ofof the the bebe tingestinges ofof Wagnerism Wagnerismhere here andand essenceessenceofofopera. opera. there.there. WagnerWagner tyrannicallytyrannicallydomin­ domin- THETHE SINGERSSINGERS 'nineties. atedated thethe 'nineties. Palmyra'sPalmyra'slamentlament JohnJohn Brownlee, Brownlee, thethe Koanga, Koanga, overover Koanga'sKoanga'sbody inin thethe lastlast actact stalwartstalwart toto thethe eyeeye andand gratefulgrateful toto recallsrecalls Brunnhilde'sBrunnhilde'sthrenody threnody overover thethe ear,ear, mademade asas muchmuch asas cancan be Siegfried's body inin thethe lastlast act of made of Koanga. Oda Slobodskaya "The"The Twilight". Koanga himself, was equally commendablecommendable and aided and abetted by the orchestral persevering as Palmyra. Frank Sale brass, occasionally forgetsforgets he isis a and Leyland White, as thethe planter Voodoo priest and becomes second and the slave overseer respectively,respectively, cousin to the Wotan of "The brought to their parts an agreeable Valkyrie". and redeeming swagger, and Constance Willis made the most of The most remarkable thing ConstanceWillis madethe most of her limited opportunity as the about these reminiscences, how­how- limited opportunity as the ever, is their insignificance, as planter's wife. There is a sizable orchestra, compared with the bulk of the There is a sizable orchestra, which Beecham had moulded after score, which none but Delius could which Beechamhad moulded after his own heart. Their playing last have written. The authentic voice is his own heart. Their last night, a constant beguilement, was there,there. It sounds most clearly in the night, a constantbeguilement, was of a standard far beyond that to preludes and interludes, which are of a standard far beyond that to which one is accustomed with freighted with tenderness and rare which one is accustomed with It fancy. It is to be heard also in much touring opera. It is to be regretted that there were many empty of Palmyra'smusic where the voice that there were many empty is supported by cool wood-wind patchesin the more expensiveparts of the house. One is constrained to and sensitive string writing in of the house.One is constrainedto wonder whether Bradford's regard Delius'slater manner. wonder whether Bradford's regard ll for Delius is nothing more thanthan liplip "Koanga","Koanga , then,then, isis good music. -R Unhappily one cannot laylay hand on service.-R heart and declare that itit isis good Yorkshire Observer opera. There is a lacklack of charact-charact­ 12 November 1935 erisation and of revealingrevealing action. Koanga, Palmyra, and thethe restrest hold forthforth inin volublevoluble alternation, but one isis littlelittle wiserwiser whenwhen theythey havehave done.done.

1t18 KOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORD

muse on the strange factfact thatthat a man Delius' who was born within a stone's "Koanga""Koanga" throwthrow of where theythey were sitting sitting should compose, thousands of In His miles away, away,music destined to draw Native City themthem togethertogether on his doorstep, so toto say, as eager listeners after his Sadder thanthan thethe story of "Koanga" death. fact not even itselfitself was the fact thatthat not even SENSE OF INJUSTICETNJUSTICE first- under Beecham and with a first­ The premier and subsequent class company did thethe performa..l1ceperformance class performancesperficrmances of "Koanga" else­else- of thethe Bradford composer's opera wherewhere had made it clear that here anywhere near fillRll the Bradford was not an opera in the sense that Alhambra Theatre last night. the word usually conveys. At first­ first- With this original work, written hand, and so in proper perspective, by Delius largely as the outcome of that suggestion was confirmed. his sojourn in Florida, Sir Thomas Cable's book "The Grandissimes" Beecham's new opera company has inspired a typically though in thus made its Yorkshire debut in hardly mature Deli:1n Delian score circumstances that hardly rebound embroidered with sound patterns of to the credit of the city. There is intense beauty. just in - just this to be said in mitigation ­ BRILLIANT PASSAGE that the reception accorded by One could imagine a through­ through- first those who did witness the first going musical melodrama being performed Delius opera ever performed in the fashioned out of such a story as a an composer's birth-place was an negro's love for a fellow slave and five enthusiastic one. For about five her suicide over his body after he was minutes at the conclusion there was had been flogged to death because which continuous applause which he had dared to protect her. Delius Sir Thomas redoubled when Sir Thomas has kept the soft pedal on this side joined principals Beecham joined the principals on of the story. He has turned who the stage. But to those who attention rather to the pathos of the thought the occasion demanded a lovers' fate in particular and a deep speech, Sir Thomas administered sense of the injustice of the old the gentle rebuke of observing: 'I plantation slavery in general, should have thought the music of substituting for the obvious the opera sufficiently eloquent to dramatic situations music mostly of speak for itself.itself If it was not I an intense poignancy, a poignancy should say something.As it is, I say heightened in effect by confrstcont:-1st nothing.'nothing.' And the audience rose with the pathetic attempt at gaiety and went home, some perhaps to for the intemrptedinterrupted wedding scene.

19l9 KOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORD

This was heralded by a prelude fromfrom a fewfew of thethe strings in in assoc­assoc- BRADFORD'S iationiation with thethe high woodwind and FESTIVALFESTTVAL thethe tappingtapping of a tambourine,tambourine,joined after a while by a hidden chorus, and merging intointo a dance move­move- Verdi Work That No ment introducing guitars, harp, and rhythmic drum taps, and swelling One Should Miss intointo a full orchestral finale. The wedding ballet echoed the earlier motives of thisthis prelude, but By SIR THOS. BEECHAM, Bart. from the point at which the slave [The[The Bradford visit of thethe recently­recently- girl Palmyra was abducted - the formed London and Provincial only really unsatisfactory piece of Opera Society Ltd., which has been stage-craft - the music was suf­sut arranged in conjunction with the fused with darker colours that local branch of the Imperial League became intense with the approach of Opera, opened last night with a of the tragic climax, but afterwards performance of Delius's "Koanga", softened into a subtly-tinted mist of conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.] whispered music unsubstantial [sic] as the dream which it brought to a It has been suggested in certain close. close. quarters that the present repertoire As the hero of the opera, Mr is not sufficientlysufiicientlypopular to suit all John Brownlee was ideally cast, tastes, but if my choice of works, singing nobly and investing the part with the possible exception of the with as much fibre as was possible. one novelty, "Koanga", is not He had an supporter in He had an experienced supporter in based on popularity I should like to Miss Miss Oda Slobodskaya, the know what is or can be. Palmyra, who though in Palmyra, who though in appear­appear- I am giving "La Boheme", Bohdme", the ance was not mulatto, ance was not a convincing mulatto, opera of Puccini which the public gave life to the part and sang it gave life to the part and sang it loves the best; "Il Barbiere di well. The right shade well. The right shade of Siviglia", the admitted masterpiece ruthlessness was observed by Mr of Rossini; and "Der Freischutz" of Leyland White as Martinez, the Weber. "Siegfried" requires no planter, and Frank Sale as Perez, recommendation,and as for "Un his overseer, Miss Constance his overseer; and Miss Constance Ballo in Maschera", although it Willis a notable Willis contributed a notable share may not be so familiar to English as Martinez's wife. as Martinez's wife. audiences as "Aida", "Trovatore" Telegraph and Argus and "Rigoletto", it has in every 12 November 1935 other country been held in equal esteemfor the past 50 years. 20 KOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORD

After all, Verdi is one of the two SUPREMACY OF DELIDSDELIUS indisputableindisputablemasters of opera, and II refer refer again toto "Un"IJn Ballo in a piece thatthat isis certainly of equal Maschera" of Verdi as a perfonn­perform- merit with thethe others toto which I ance that no one should miss, for have referred should appeal to thethe thethe chief reason thatthat itit is is in in thisthis intelligentintelligentcuriosity of the amateur. work thatthat thethe singing strength of BRILLIANT COMPANY thethe company isis peculiarly well It should be unnecessary toto revealed. commend this company toto a high Lastly, I revert toto thethe subject of consideration of thethe public, but I "Koanga". do not think it is out of place to Delius needs no introduction to claim that perhaps on no previous an audience who delight to honour occasion have so many artists of him as one of the most internationalrepute been gathered distinguished men Yorkshire has together for the purpose of ever produced, but there may be interpreting these operas in the many who, for one reason or most satisfying manner. another, may be inclined in advance In no foreign opera house is it to differentiate between the possible to hear finer renderings of acknowledged great master of the such parts as Koanga by John concert-room and the hardly yet Brownlee (baritone of the Paris acknowledged, equally great, Opera House), Rosina in "11"Il master of the theatre. Barbiere di Siviglia" by Stella However, it took some 20 years Andreva (first soprano of the Royal for the public to realise to the full Opera, Stockholm), Mimi in "La the supremacy of this composer in Boheme"Bohdme" (at both performances) choral and instrumental music, by Lisa Perli, perhapsthe greatest owing to the originality and Covent Garden success for the last unfamiliarity of his accomp­accomp- 15l5 years, Amelia and Brunnhilde by lishments, so it requires a little Eva Turner (one of the two great more time for the professional dramatic sopranos of Italy), not to writers on music to realise that his speak of the equally admirable contributions to operatic literature interpretations of Dino Borgioli (of are just as remarkable as those in. the Scala, Milan, and the Salzburg the other branchesof composition. and Florence Festivals), Heddle I remember so well in 1908 Nash, and Vincenzo Bettoni (his giving for the first time in London Basilio in "Il"11 Barbiere di Siviglia" Delius's "Sea Drift". Of this work, is, perhaps,unique). a leading critic of the time wrote in

2l21 KOANGAKOANG.AON TOUR: BRADFORD the following terms: "With a SIR THOMAS possible exception of the final pages, this score is a meaningless BEECHAM mass of hopeless cacophony." "SLATES"'!SLATES'' A DIFFERENT TUNE Twenty years later, in 1928, I BRADFORDBRADFORT) gave this work at the Leeds Festival, when the successor to this ), worthy man on the same journal For Poor Support of wrote: "This is probably the most , Delius Opera I beautiful work in modern times." I have little doubt that the few inexplicablegrunts of disapproval that have greeted "Koanga" in the MAY NEVERI{EVER Press will before long be gradually RETURNRETURI\ TO CITY altered or modified into approval or acceptance of it. At any rate, every mUSICIan musician "Insult"fnsult to Memory of knows by this time that Delius, unlike most other modern Great Man."Man.tt composers, has never written, nor indeed, was capable of writing a single bar of music that is "It is questionable whether I shall unbeautiful. ever return to this town," said Sir Another truth is that from the Thomas Beecham when, at a first note to the last the score of luncheon given to members of his "Koanga" is an enchanting pro­pro- company at Busby's today, he cession of lovely sounds, and that criticised in strong terms Bradford's should be enough for everybody. lack of interest and appreciation of good opera. Yorkshire Observer The company last night company j 12 November 19351935 performed Delius's "Koanga" for the first time in Bradford. It was given at Manchester last week, when it was very successful. Sir Thomas said if a similar perform­perform- ance of a work by a great continental composer had been

22 KOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORDBRADFORI)

given inin any town or city on the "WHY''WHY SHOULD II COME continent, itit would have bc~n be.rn TO BRADFORD?"BRADFORD?'' impossibleimpossibletoto get a seat forfor lovelove or InIn an interviewinterview with a money. It It would have been a point "Telegraph"'Ielegraph and Argus" reporter ofofhonour.honour. afterwards Sir Thomas, asked what FIRST-RATE COMPOSER his impression of the audience was, Even ifif itit had beena second-rate said "I have no impression except composer it would have been the thatthat itit was inadequate in numbers." same, but here one had a first-ratefirst-rate He pointed out thatthat a concert composer. series he was toto give inin America itit The lack of appreciation was impossibleto getget a seat for the shewn last night would go down next three years. in history as a black spot. "Why should I come to "I shall repeat this in the public Bradford?" he asked. Press atet some lengthlensth and in no "I go to Berlin and you cannot uncertain terms. get in. I go to America and you "It was an insult to the cannot get in." memorymemolT of an great man. I "IF''fF I COME AGAIN"AGAIN'' question whether I shall ever "Here in Bradford we play a return to this town." splendid work of my greatest He added that nothing he had friend, and you do not come." said altered his appreciation of "If I come to Bradford again I what had been done by the band of shall require some very serious opera lovers in Bradford who had evidence in advance that the public tried their best to interest the public will support the operas.operas."" in the opera season. Telegraph and Argus 12 November 1935

The cntIc critic Herbert Thompson attended the performances in Bradford and Leeds and recorded this fact in his diary [overleaf].[overleaff. Thompson's diary is valuable not only for documenting every concert and opera he attended over decades,but also for his habit of recording playing times.

23 KOANGAKOANGA ON TOUR: BRADFORD ;:,,,::[:,il.":lff'], Halt QuarlerDay. RemembranceDag //r^ /'1^,-,44C.c d.*/ Turo ,*,f q--)elJa4e fu "r2^<'.u/'-' l+tetai..-,rt--;(nn ffia/ V, C.r.(-/ f /-1r 4*f4 - a,/ //. o J 4-'/,2^ J: 1*rA/*-c- a, U h/, u/'e-<-.''z-c^ ^ b*- A,^;^ fu-^.. Ep.+-'e/- & ,^+A- I fT, J-C*4h;rL, H; r*-e:t4'tt*rr/,+L- JJ" Affi-^;3 c-t l+-cv6rctss ca4r /{4- A,;tL4 cpsil'u c/. * , n *A)u;; i 'f :: tr4'":,78;; ftz;ffi"f;*F re.4 ?, a /v/Ws*k. G-1 c,.G! f lS'Z*4i. f- h^^- 7efia)au24 G1az' ^^ rj?,:i,t* "ru /ffi&t t n7ffi ' h:ffiW i;;W-!ffi;:H ft1 jiff* (83'fuH.#.W,f {ffil;ffft z/; : E 3t ;E 2-t+!.a 2.. et r-ffifi1rb'c,ffiJ: h"-r. ryrt' i'{fr/..,, *, /; r, cDD 4,nc - o-4 t7.. {;t a Puu6 (-.a?L od.m^s(}^utoc^\ 11 d,}Q-4v76"Zi^, c(r/o J4i.), 'I 4 fj cv' (bn, c e CC.,), A.qat ;/.eo tt,.--' 6tt u ^ (f ch:z*,.a*) ), n < (O_ey';1r dc ) ^do-to), f q. q.i6..p4=li"--a J!,;; Qzfl7{zt- ?J* "*, {e .___ ln, ) aa-.w-OaE.Bq-- dt 6.ff ,Hf a iffii.*r.r* -t " t@n?c(, ^rt 7-3b-tr---, ct.tJ ,* //n,- ry] Hgtlg i{r.r+,.- kffi'n^-.ktr. ?6-:-?.3o : lT 5:2. ct^r"

Regarding"Regardlng " FreischUtz,"Frelgchlltz," the tbs overtureoverture andand •' SoftlySoftly Sighs"8lghe " are,are, of of course, courge, soso tam1l1nrlamlltor OPERAOPERA ININ LEEDSLEEDS thatthot only only the the supreme aupreme geniusgenlur whichwhlch inspires lnrplres themthem hindershlnders themthem fromlrom beingbelng consideredconsldered hackneyed.hackneyed. ButBut the the operaopera has hes notnot oftenoftea ANDAND BRADFORDBMDFORD beenbeen stagedetaged Inln this thls country country intn recentrecent years,year8, thoughthough thethe Cnrl Carl Rosa gnveagnvo a veryvery creditable credltoblo performanceperlormance atat Leeds only only threethree yearsyears ego.ago.

Forthcoming Visit ofof CoventCovent "The" The Masked Ball" Verdi'sVerdl's .." Masked Ball ,." isls vlrtuallyvlrtually a.a Garden Society novelty. ItIt ists anan operabpera whichwhlch had aa singu­alngrr. larlylarly unfortunatE'unfortunate. startstart Inln llle~ lUc. Based on 6cribe'sFcrlbe'e .." GustaveGustav€ IllIII.."...• which whtch had been set bY Auber in 1833; the 'Dlot. concerning SIX PRODUCTIONS EACH .JPlJJ~~~~~bt~SW6d~~~ :nd~n0t -,,11oje

25 KOANGA ON TOUR: LEEDS

Born in ln ·the ths same samo year.yehr, 1813,1813, they,.p;-e.they..pro. servedserved theirthelr own individualities, lndlvldualltles, but ca.m.eca"qo LEEDS OPERA under the same same Influences. ln(luences. The" Tho " Ba.lloinBallo ln Maschera"Maschera " wasw&s firstflrst heard in ln 1859. 1859, when.,when, .." Lohengrin"Lohengrln " was ninenlno years old;old; ."" Rhein­Rhetn. SEASON gold"gold " had been completed in'"tn' ' 1854;186t; SEASON .." Walktire"Walktlrs " in ln 1856, a.nd .." Siegfried:'Slegfrled," .up:,:to_up,'to Act HIi.,.• inln 1857. 1857. 60So thetbo advance advancs Ilhown'1nlhown: lD, thetho musicmuslc of "Un" Un Ballo" Ballo " may !alrly- falrly-bobe "BQHEME"" BQHEME" WITHVITH SOME attributedottrlbuted toto the ths tendencies tendencles of thetlmetbs tlmo..•. "tt Koanga"Ko&ngatt CHANGESCHAI{GESIN CAST The Sto1'yatory of .•" Koanga," whichwhlcb, leIt ~n,tn sOmasorq8 J respectsrerpecta thet$e mostrnoat interestingitrterestlng th'J\1rthhr Inln th'ath'C progrllmme,progrlmme, DeliuaDelluc tooktook from lrom ~r.(~(,lJ.t',-'t... '~ "30v6~ebv6l 'KOAIVGA' ofbl Creole'Cleole 11fe,lt(o, .." TheTho Orandlasllilet'/'· Orandtg$lrrcr,' 'the Ttlti DELIUS'S 'KOANGA' .~~a atmosphereatmoephero heho reproduced fromtrcm blc BeforeBelore consideringconsldering what was in experienCesexperlen0es when he was an alleged.alleged, oraiiBi~o:a^d'jb planter inln Florida.Flortdc. The Tlrs story,gtory. cut down~down'totp some respects respecfs the most mosL interesl.lnginieresulng absolute essentin.ls,eesentlals, islr of a negro slave,;alavgl . a.I feature of the memorable season.season, PrincePrlnco Intn his hls native natlvo land, who fallslaUB intn Idveldle given by the Covent Garden Company,Company withwlth Palmyra. Palmyra, the half-caste half-casto maidmald brtl1e b! thc Planter, and Isls allowed to marry·her.marry'her.- ,:But'Bu! that came to an end atal Leeds GrancGrand duringdurbrg thetho weddingwedcllng festivities' testlvlt-tes ' ehe.6hd I~ lb Theatre on Saturday, somethingsomethlng must kidnappedIrldnapped by thetho jealousJealous slave·drlver,slave-drlver, Pere~.·Peroz.. be saidsald otol .," La Boheme," Boh0me," whichwhlch was Koanga, enraged enroged by the tho loss of his hlr brld!" brldi. givenglven at the afternoon performance. flghta and kllls tho planter, Ifo make~,.h18 makes.hls at the !1ghts and kllls the planter, He 1mportlln~ escape,eaiape, but eventually return~ returns to··tn : the,tlro TheThc cast calt pre6entedpresented some sorne lnportaDi plantationplantatton to tlndPerez flnd Peiez 8t111 stlll Importlutlng tirportunliig d1!terences,clltferences,asaE comparedcompar€dwithwtth that thst at o( thf' the Palmyra. In thetho mel~emel6e Pei'ezPerez 18lc ~1llt;d~killed, .~~irhd performancepcrlormance on Tuesday Tr:esdayevening. evenlng. five(lve orof KoangaKoauga himselfhlmsell falls fallg under the 8pe~r8 aptiaii.tcif.. or tiletlro more Importantlmportant parts beingbelng takentsken by theths planter'splanter'8 men. To completecompleto the tragedy.trrigedy, di!!erentdltlorent artlsts.artlEts. One must avoidsvold th:.!ths PalmyraPslnyr& Iltabs ctabg l.erself.l^ers€lf. , da.ngerdanger ofol making maklng invidiousinvldlous compar1somcomparlson3 ThisThl.s Isle theths barest outlineoutllne of the tlre melo­melo. betweenIJet\rcen thetho two casts. casts, and be s:ltls!ied s3llslied, tot,o dramaticdramatlc story. DeliusDellue nelno doubt feltlelt that attemptBttampt some Cew few estimatesesllmates orol the art~stiartisti Its violentvlolent actionactlon was not'not inln accord w1thwlth Whowho appeared on Saturday.Soturday. hla gentle mus€, so he added PIOIo.gu~Ppologiro h18 gentle muse, so he added a LisaLiss Perl1 Perlt resumedresurned, her part otof Mlmi, ancaud and an Eptlogue, ln whlclr n~gto and an Epilogue, In which an old negto tellatzllc retaJned,reta:lned, I!tt she could notDot Increase, lncrease, our the legend ofo( Koanga to a group Ofol young admirationad,Eiratlon for thll1,thls, the !1rsttl,rst 1'olerole she hs.ihas glrls. who are moved by the 8tory. whlch girls, who are moved the story. Whicll. taken asaE an operaticoperatlc artist'.artlstr. To hear a isls then presented inln dramatic dramatlc form. ,'It:ft singerslnger on the stage stags who has an invinciblp.Invincible isls thetJro sameaame devicedevlce as waswaE adopted In.Offln.Ol(-eu-..en. ' preJud,lcoprejucUce Intr favour lsvour o!ol hittinghtttlng the middlemlctdle boch'sbach's" " Contes d'Hoffmann,"d'Hgffmann,rr- oft makln~ maktni ..t otof the ths note.note, and staying stsytng there tillilll itstts story wlthln a story. In the prertFt story Within a story. In the' preaep.t conclusion,concluslon, islc in Itsel! ltscl! aa, pleas:wtpleas3nt productlon,production, some gome other musicmuglc by Del1u8.hasDelluc.hbc '"9 experience.experleDce,an\iaDd when U) Itrt there isls addedaddcd i. been lncorporated; tho been Incorporated; the da.ncesdgnces in ln Act·Act. tt.U. keenkecn dramatIcdramarlc Il"UItlnct.lnsclnct, whIChwhlcfr enablesensbles her from 1~89. ~nl1 from a suite.Bulte, "Florldar"" Florlda," wrlttenwritten inln 1889,aud, to giveglve lIfellle to the chnrncter. character, One'sone's satis­ Eatts- a Preludo to Act III. from 0. dlscarded a Prelude to Act Ill. from o discarded opera.opgta. factionfactlon Isls complete, complote, even Iflf as 011on the tlre ".Tho Maglc Fountaln." ".The Magic Fountain." ,., presentlrreseut occasion,occsllon, herlrer voice seemed rathe;'rathel' SinceSlnco .." Koanga"Koanga " wasuras Introduced lntroduced to thlatJrtb oft colouroolour Inln some highhlglr notes. She had a. a country country at8t thetho recent Covent Covcnt Oart1ep.Oardcn very effectiveo(tectlve fallfoll In thethc MusettaMuseita ofot Odette 8e8son, enough ,,td season, 'enough has been heard of ol It lt ·,to de l"oru,Forar, wbo realised realls€d the character well,weu, realle€ thgt realise tha.t Itlt 18 ls one of theths outstandingoutatandln! and wh06e whose voicevolce haslrag a& certaln edl;eedge whichwbtcb pro'duced a.n~ on:,~ operasofleras produced inln recent times.ilmes. altd otro emphrskcdemphasised ttrsthe c.ontrart.contrast. msy expect wlth some con(ldence ~1a may expect With some con!1dence that tJrti BeddloHeddle Nash was aDall excellcntexc<'!llcn t represents-representa­ work by compoe€r o! Yorkshlro work by -&a composer or Yorkshire blrthbirth m#rntf tlvctive ofor Rodolto,Rodolt'o, and,and. as tnIn " The Barber,"Barber." on havo lufllclent lnterest have su!!lclent Interest to oveicomoovercome evclleven fhundsy,Thuractay, tbotoe ltall8nitalian language secmedseemed to the canny Yorkshlreman'eYorkshireman's· distrust of to dlstnrrt of t$cth"e coEccome verTvery errtlyeully and plesrantlypleasantly fromCrom hlshis unknown. It wlll bo~h unknown. It will b€be oonducted,conducted. lnin both Jlp&liPs. Vlnce:rzoVince:lZO Bettonl'EBettonl's !Ineflne votcevoice and Leedg and Bradtord, glr Th6m~.· Leeds 'and Bradford, by Sir T1l6mil 1nlt1nctlnrtlnct lortor oomedycomedy madomade hlrahlm auan e!!ective Beecham'Beecham, e(fccilvc CoItJ:rc,Colllne, atrdand hche gavosa-ve aa. sulftcteDtlysu!!1clently H.'T.ts..r.

26 KOANGAKOANGA ONON TOUR:TOUR: LEEDSLEEDS

unctuourunctuous lntarpretattouinterpretation otof htshl3 farewoUfarewell toto itit aflordsaffords eflecttveeffective rellef,relief, asas doesdoes thethe veryvery bllhis ovcrooet,overcoat, whtch,which, ltIf ltIt bebe thethe garnrentgarment charmtngcharming dencedance lnIn tbatthat Act,Act, wblchwhich wagwas hohe purchasespurchases lnIn tlrctlle 6€condsecond act,act, hashas hardlyhardly veyyvery prettllyprettily executed..executed,. asas indeedindeed allall thsthe tbethe chermcharm ofof anttquttyantiquity toto raakemake lrlmhim sentt-senti­ lncldeDt8lIncidental dsDcesdances durlngduring thethe weekweck hevehave mentoltscmentalise ovcrover lt.it. been.been. Arthur FeerFear made ea dcltghtfuldelightful Marcello There areare somesome eplsodesepisodes wfilclrWhich seemseem .ln.in botbboth votcevoice andand personallty.personaUty. IlobertRobert Alva raiberrather lesrless spontaneous,spontaneous, but therethere isis nono we8was aa sstlsfacgorysatisfactory Schaunard, Bnda.nd Octave roomroom forfor suctrsuch aa completntcompll\lnt c\oncerntngconcerning thethe DuoDuo. agatnagain doubled thethe comiccomic psrtsparts of scene inin thethe forest,forest, \rrlrlchwhich lsIt; reallyrcally great BbaottB'enoit ondand Alclndoro. nrtrslc,music, hlghtyhighly ptcturesque.picturesque, lrrllfull o(of The conductor wBgwas SlrSir Thomas Beecham, aimosplrere,atmosphere, aDdand Intcn8€lyIntensely lmpresstve.Impressive. TlrisThis and thothe orcbestralorchestral playtngplaying dlsplayeddisplayed thatthat has geDulnogenuine mestery,mastery, and anttcipacesanticipates thethe grtraordlDaryextraordinary reflnementrefinement and beauty thstthat mature DeltusDeUus more thanthan anythlnganything elseclse lnIn hc.hashe' has thethe knack of securlng.securing. IfIt is not thathe work, unlecsunless ltIt be ilretlle lovelylovely entr,acteentr'acte oftcuoften one herrshears thlEthis beauttfulbeautiful score lntor-inter· preeedlngpreceding thethe Eptlogue,Epilogue, whlchwhich tsIs hosttnoat pretadpreted wlttrwith guchsuch Ia feeltngfeeling for 1t8Its many eloqucnteloquent muslc,music. rtalngrISing toto thethe hetghtheight ofor thethe .nlcett6E.,niceties. The audlenceaudience wa3was a8as enthtrslsstlcenthusiastic tragedy,tragedy, aDdand lndeedIndeed f&rtar surpa$tngsurpassing tnIn scas usustusual tnttltwith ltsits applause, but managed polguBDcypoignancy ttIta present8ttonpresentation on tbethe stage. Thlr ls to','dcstroyto"destroy tlrethe cndtngending olof one 6ceDoscene !l!?y belngbeing Th1s Is not to aaysay that the producttbnproduction too preclpltatc,precipitate. oneOne Dotlcednoticed wlthwith psrttculsrparticular of illcthe operBopera warwu Dotnot very efftclente!Uclent througb.through. satlstectlonsat18fact1on lrowhow crowded were pltpit and out. JohuJohn Brownlee, aBa8 &a mettermatter otlof! gallery eour!?,course, donlnateddominated tbethe cast, not onlvonIV o s" KoantaKoanga " beesusebecause olof the dlgnttydignity and force of htshis lmpereonatlon,impersonation, but because hlshis tsis the out. The first production 8tat LeedgLeeds of annn the out. tL llrsb Ptoducblou stsndtDBstanding personality persouallty in the drama. important work by an EngllshEnglish composercoDporcr dramB. tEportsnt worB The otlter erilst8, Oda should in any case be regarded asaa ae Eatlermatter The other artIsts, Oda Slobodskaya sbould la aDy calo bo reg8rclod (Palmyra), Constance WIl11sWtllls (Clothllde).(Ctothldd). or some momflnt, but eEpeclallyf'8peci~ly when thothe o! sotoo utoEcDg, Leyland WhiteWhlte (Don Jose),Jos€), FrankFrantc Salt!' composer was ot West RldlngRiding b[tb,birth, 1!lf not SEte conposer was of (Perez),(Perezl, andaud ReglnaldRcglnald Thurgood (the(thc ot.ql Engl1&h ancestry. .. Koallga"KoBrlgB " hasIras nowDow Engllslt ancestry. " Priest),Prlest), allaU contributed contrtbuted to thetho complete­complete- been heard in manyrnany EnglishEngllsh towns duringdurlug beeu heard ln neS8nees of thetlre production,productlon, asa^s diddld the ttre eightelgbt the present tour oto! the Covent Garde.llGarderr tbe pres€nt tour charmingclrarmtng girlsglrls otof the PrOlogue.Prologue, and Company, and last oto( all inln Bradford, Bradtord. thetlto CoEpany, and last EpUogue. A foremost(oremost place, too, should be City where Del1u8 was born. Its receptionreccptlon Ctty whcre Deltua wal born. Its givengivcn to the thc orchestra,orchostra, whichwhlch under the liaa been as varied as 18lc usual ueucl Inln the caseca56 lrar becn al varl€d as highlyIttghly sympathetic.s.vEpstbetlc, or oneono might mtght inIn the ot any new.,work, and itlt isla hardly necessarynecosEary ol aoy rrow-.lryork, and cIrcumstt.nce:,ctrcurcsteuces say6sy 10vin5', lovlng, care cate of Sir6tr toto . point.-potnt.,to-:tJrs,to- "the ~~~I).O;:$nulr'erablai,ctssFlrr:QalDP~ea: O~o! ThomasTlromas Beecham, did full fult justiceJuotlce to a.a very operaaopcrar whichpblcb havebrvc wonvor theirtbclr way\ray onlyoaly bea.utlfuIbeoutllul 6OOre.soore. through'tlrrougb strongltroag oppoaltion oPpodtlon toto generl\lgenernl For ae practlcallypracttcelly unknown work thotho acceptance.accaptaocc. tnIn £he-caMtbc -ctrc .of-ot "'Xoanga"" Eo8nga " itlt audienceaudtonc€ was a largelarge one, and one rejoicedreJolced people Is18 nottrot easy €ary toto pronounceironouncc aa confident contldent verdictvordlct thatth8t therethcrc were 8060 many people sufficientlysufftciently atot once. oncc, fortor one onc hu bar toto b~ancebalcncc ita lte strongerEtronger enterprls1ngtoentcr?rtstug to triumphtrlumph overover YorkshireYorkshlrc plg withwlth ita ltr weaker weakcr ~lementa,Ql€6entl, but this thts at leastlcalt cautioncautlon andond patronisepetronlsG thethe proverbialproverblal Of" pig ma.ymey bebc said,told. thattJrst itlt repayareps!tr ae seeond6e@rrd hearing.hearlng, inin aI poke."polc." OneOn€ trusts that,thst, after stter tasting.talttng, soso thatthEt a I criticcrttlc shouldshould notnot be bc ashamedashamed toto "sit"slt theytbey foundfourd ittt equalequsl toto thethe best .." YorkYorE Hgm.t' onon the tlrc fencetence Of" t1lltfll he be has has ha.c1had tImettme forfor S\ a Ham." H. T. consideredconstdered judgment.JudgmeDt. T. One thingtJrlng may mey bebe asserted asscrted withwtth some some degreeclegrec Ofof confidence, contldcnc€, that"that " KoangaIloangS ••" .CURTAII\,' improvesimproveE onoD aa secondlrccotrd hearing.hearing. OneOne realisesreallaec 'CURTAIN,' BUT NOTI\OT betterbetter thethc coherence cohereDce ofof thetho music,mu81c, howhow well well .FIJ\IS' thetlrc climaxes cltmares areare contrived.contrlved, aa quartetquartet oror ~FINIS ' quintetqulnt€t ofol voicesvolces leadingleadtng upup toto a a !Ine(lne andand ImpressIvelmpresElve ensemble.ensemblc. TheThe voicesvolces are are generallygenerally wellwell handled, handled. andand opportunities opportunltles SirSirT. T. BeechanlBeechamandand Nextl{ext forfor dramatic dramettc expressionexprecslon areare notnot neglected. neglected. TheTbc Introductionlntroductton ofof melodiesmelodles whichwhlch oneone suspectssuspects maymay bebe adaptationsadaptatlons ofof slave slave songssongE LeedsLeedsOperaOpera SeaSOllSeason -or-or otherwiseotherTrlse goodgood imitations-isimltatlon!-irs veryvery SirStr ThomasThooar Beecha.mBeechamwas was inln aa happybappy andand effective.effecttve, andaud adds BddB aa characteristicchsract€rtstlc charmchgrm, jocularlocular moodmood on.or Saturdaygaturday nightntght whenwhen the tbc tot6 thetbc music.Druslc. TheThe Introduction tntroductloq toto ActAct Ill. IU. !lna.lItncl C\\rtaingrrnaln telltcll onon thethc op~ra. operar .." Koanga."Koang8." seem..seemr toto bebe an8n interpolationbtcrpolatlon andand isls inlu a e toto endend thetJreCOvent @vcnt Garden ClardcnOpera Opera Company'sCompany'r ratherrather lighter Ughtcr moodmood thanthaD itslts context,context, but but weekwect atat thetbe LeedIlrcdt GrandGrand Theatre.Tbeatre. TheTbe 2727 KOANGA ON TOUR: LEEDS prtnctpal.rprlncipals had takgntak~n scvcralseveral curtalDscurtains betorobetore gtrSir TlronasThomas Jolucttjoined hanclshands wlth them on the stage, audand tJaeU1e lncreagedincre~ epplauseapplause waltWM a Did Leeds Deserve clear tndtcstlonindlcation tbatthat tbethe sudtenceaudlence hodhBd been waltlngwait1ng fortor hlm-him. His Rebuke? IIeHe sotd&a1d trehe tradhad becabeen glveugtven to understand tbstthat tbcthe vtsttvtatt ofot the conpaDycompany to Leeds ttti;sthta weeliweel.: lradhad not beenoeen unsuccessful.unsuccessful, and behe tras"'as Ircppyhappy to be able to hold out hopes ot theqtllen1 returnlngreturning to the Grand Tlreatre,Theatre. althouglralthough ..' Itit would probsblyprobably be tain wbatwhat our gr&nd-grand­ SIR THOMAS fathers used to !emr,term. '"" the sweet by-end-by,"by-and-by," but they would come bactsback lfit oulyonly f6rtOr tbethe BEECHAM'S pleasure olor playlDgplaylng "''In llr thtsthis beautlfulbeautiful theatre-ouetheatre-one ofot the !tnestttnest outside the OPERA PROTEST Metropolts."Metropolis." ThlsThis led StrSlr Thomas to revert to hlshis speech ot of WednesdayWedn~ay ntghtnight when he con­cou- trasted the theatre thoatro withwlth some or of thetbe less, lesc, SUitablesultablo butldtngBbuildings In ln Whichwhlclr he had con­con- Views of Well-known ducted.duc@d. .. " WhereverWherover I go," he said, eaid, .." my Music-Lovers rema.rl;srem&rlis generallygcnerally find their tlreir way intntoto the Press.Pres6, buibut I l'\ave lrsve never yet boen correctly reported. (Laughter.) I waawas reported rEported the th€ "It is customary in well-conducted otllel'other daydoy as having bavlng comparedcompar€d otllerotlrsr butld-bUild­ theatres to wait until the music is IngsIlgs to aquariums aquarlums andaDd swImmingswlmmlng baths,baths. I never·never mentloned menttoned such things."thlngs," he added, finished before applauding. " 'dog withwlth a.a smUesmlle on hlsbts l1ps,llp8, .." I said eatcl • dog This remark was made by Sir kennels.'k€nnels."'" SUllStllt Inln ae humorous frame'frarne' orof mind,miud, SirStr Thomas Beecham to the audience Thomas said the tlre only fly in ln the ointmentolntment wa.swas thatthst he had to almost crav/Icravrl on his at the performanceperfbrmance of "Der hands and knees to reach his place inln the Freischutz" by the Covent Garden orchestra. .." II have lreve bumped bump€d my head violently,"vlolently," he said,sald, "and" and believebelleve me, that i8 ls Company in Leeds last night. not the best preparationpreparatlon for conducting conducttng an And, apparently his rebuke has opera." (Laughter.) He thanked the aUdience audience and othersotlrers Who who had effect, for prominent Leeds hadhsd supported the company during the music-lovers were unanimous to­to- week.week, aud atter efter paying a tributetrlbute to the orchestra.orcbestra, he be saidseld he badbed another organisa­ organlea. day in upholding his action. tiontlon or small communitycotrtLrc,untty to thanktbank Intn thethr Sir Thomas's words, of course, namenam€ otof the compo.ny. compony, uamely, that mysterious,Eysterloug, eluslve, almost untr~eable, untrqpeable, go­go- were addressed to a too enthus­ enthus- aheadalread concern the Imperial LeagueLergue of Opera iastic number of listeners. Until -a-e very powerfulpowertul organisationorgautsatlon in i:r Leeds­Lceds- withoutwlthout which whlch thefbe company would probably halfway through the last act they notuot havehs,ve been able to come. He thankedtlr8nked had been model of restraint. that organisation organts8tlon forlor the support givenglven to had been a model thetbc operas,operar, and warned them thattbat on the Then, as the chorus left the stageto company'scoEpany's next nert visitvtsit to Leeds grea.tergreoter support mir;llt mlglrt be reqUiredrequired from tllenlilreur and the last haunting bars of the also fromfiom the pUblicpubllc generally,g€nerally, as it was bridesmaid's music, there was a 110pedlroped thatthrt they tbey would stay forfor morernore than tltan one week. wild burst of applause. For thctlrc time ttme being hehc h3.c1 lrs,

''COMING "COMING UP TO SCRATCH"SCRATCII'' "I"I entirely agree with Sir InIn stentorian tones Sir Thomas Thomas. I was so much irritated by silenced the crowded house. And in thethe outburst of applausethatthat after thethe next moment thethe proverbial pin thethe performance I tooktook thethe troubletrouble might have been dropping.dropping toto looklook up thethe fullfull score and see But he forgave everyone at the what was going on inin thethe orchestra close inin a characteristic speech. during the the interruption.interruption...." . . . " "Leeds, I see, isis coming up to "I thinkthink the the rebuke was well scratch,scratchr"It he remarked, glancing deserved. I feel that the people round at the vast audience.audience, "In fact, I shall have toto reconsider were delighted with thethe perform­perform- whether or not to conduct ance, and a little carried away.away. They did not seem to realise the another Festival here - if I'm difference between grand opera and asked.asked."It GilbertGlbert and Sullivan, in which Here are the views of a number everyone bursts into applause after of Leeds people present at the every song, and everything is sung performanceperformance...... two or three times over. .. ." ."

"Sir Thomas was quite right in YorkshireYorlrshire Evening News making some comment, but it 21 November 1935 [edited] might have been more kindly addressed.addressed.. ."

*******?t KOANGAKOANGA: z PERFORMANCES AFTER BEECHAM

TheTlne 1946 concert perfoflnanceperformance of Koanga conducted by Richard Austin in the Delius Festival was only of Act III and the Epilogue, and it was 1958 before it was heard again, in a broadcast by Stanford Robinson. On that occasion the conductor contributed the following article to Music and Musicians.

29 KOANGA: 1958 BBC BROADCAST A DELIUS OPERA ON THE AIR by Stanford Robinson Music andMusicians February 1958 On February 1I and 2 thethe BBC is broadcasting a special studio production of Delius's opera Koanga,Koango, not seen on the stage in London since Sir Thomas Beecham conducted it at Covent Garden 23 years ago. BBC conductor Stanford Robinson, responsible for c many broadcast operas, writes about the work. Although Delius wrote Koanga between 1895 and 1897, when he was in his early thirties, and it was first produced as long ago as 1904 in Gennany,Germany, London did not see it on the stage until 313l years later. The reason was that the whole score and all the orchestral parts were lost after the GennanGerman perfonnance,performance, and it was not until a long time afterwards that they were found. Delius wrote six operas - lrmelin,Irmelin, The Magic Fountain, Koanga, A Village Romeo and Juliet, Margot la Rouge and Fennimore and Gerda. Only four have been perfonned,performed, three of them in Gennany.Germany. The Music Was Lost Koanga, in a GennanGerman translation by Delius himself, was frrst frst produced at the Municipal Opera House in Elberfeld on 30 March 1904. For a long time afterwards nobody took much interest in the work, until Sir Thomas Beecham, that indefatigable propagandist for the music of Delius, decided to stage it in London. A search for the music proved fruitless, even Delius himself not knowing at the time where it might be found, although he was certain that it returned to London. Eventually it was musicologist Patrick Hadley, now Professor of Music at Cambridge, who discovered both the full score and the orchestral parts in the archives of a London publishing house. And so, 40 years after Delius had begun writing it, Koanga came at last to the London stage. The original libretto was by CF C F Keary, based on George Washington Cable's novel The Grandissimes. But the English words in the vocal score printed in 1935 were revised by Sir Thomas Beecham and Edward Agate, andild when I was comparing recently the vocal and orchestral scores, I found that the new text was completely different from the old except in meaning. Our broadcasts, however, will use this revised text. 30 KOANGA: 1958 BBC BROADCAST

Plantation SettingSefting The story takes place on a Southern plantation in Louisiana,Louisiana a setting which Delius knew well, for he had lived there for many years. His Bradford parents had decided on a commercial career for him, but he objected to this, and when he was 20 he left home and established himself as an orange-planter in Florida,Florida where he stayed for several years. The plot is basically simple, and so is ideal for radio presentation. It tells of an African chief,chiel Koanga, Koang4 who has been captured and sold as a slave on the plantation of Don JoseJosd Martinez. He meets and falls in love with a fellow-slave, the octoroon girl PalmYfa,Palmyra with whom Don Jose is also in love. The efforts of the two lovers to escape, their invocation of ancient Negro black magic to help them, and their eventual doom in the jungle of tropical Louisiana, Louisian4 form the basis of the dramatic but simple tale. Ideally, four of the seven principal roles, and all the chorus, should be sung by coloured artists, who would bring to the opera the individual timbre of voice and that delightful blend of passion and simple natural spontaneity which made Gershwin's PorgyPorgt and Bess such a wonderful experience. No Coloured Choir But alas, here in England there has not emerged from our coloured population a coloured choir which I could call on to sing the sad music of the slaves on the plantation, the happy and excited music of the guests at Koanga'sKoanga s wedding, and the dramatic scoring of the Voodoo rites in the deep forest. Fortunately, however, I was able to obtain two excellent coloured artists for the principal roles of Koanga and PalmYfa.Palmyra. Koanga will be sung by the distinguished six-footer baritone Lawrence Winters, who has starred with the New York City Opera and the Hamburg Opera. Winters spent his childhood in the American South, in Carolina,Carolin4 and struggled hard for musical education and opportunity before winning recognition on the air and when Stokowski engaged him to sing in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He appeared in rn PorgyPorgt and Bess, which he has recorded for Columbia in America,America and during his army service he played in the GI musical, Call me mister. He made 313l KOANGA: 1958 BBC BROADCAST

his operatic debut as Amonasro in AidaAido for the New York City Opera,Oper4 later singing in 1I Pagliacci, Rigoletto, Carmen, La Traviata, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg andand Turandot. Palmyra will be sung by Leonara Lafayette, whom I fustfrst saw as Madam Butterfly in Dublin a few years ago - she has sung at Covent Garden as well, and in 1953 arrived in London with onlyonly 75 minutes to spare before the rise of the curtain, to sing as Aida at short notice under Sir John Barbirolli. She has also sung at all the principal Continental opera houses. Opera singers well-known from appearances at Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells will have the other principal roles. Ronald Lewis will sing as the plantation-owner Don Jose Jos6 Martinez, Clotilda his wife will be Monica Sinclair, Robert Thomas from Sadler's Wells will be Simon Perez, Martinez's overseer, and Stanley Clarkson will sing Rangwan, the Voodoo priest. Clarkson will also sing the role of Uncle Joe, an old Negro slave. The opera is in three acts, with a prologue and an epilogue. Lively'Hotch-Potch'Lively 'Hotch-Potchf There are to be two broadcasts - on Saturday 1I February at 8, and on the following dayday at 5, both in the Third Programme. Arthur Hutchings, in his biography of Delius, says 'Koanga'Koanga is a hotch-potch, but a lively one; it would please the general public or the radio listener as much as does drama of the Chu Chin Chow kind,kind. and it is a pity it is not broadcast again.again.' I

[This article is reproduced by kind permission of Stanford Robinson's widow, Miss Lorely Dyer.]Dyer.l

KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIEREPREMTTNE Another 12 years were to elapse before Koanga was heard again. This time it was the American premiere,premidre, in Washington. Its staging was fortuitous.forhritous. As the October 1970 WashingtonlTashington Post reported: lA'A disagreement with composer Virgil Thomson over the staging of hi~his opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" has led the Opera Society of Washington to cancel plans for December performances here. Instead,lnstead, the Society will give the U.S. premierepremidre of "Koanga" by

Frederick Delius.Delius.'I 32 KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIERE PREMITRE

OPERA SOCIETY SOCTETYOF WASHINGTON FOURTEENTH SEASON AMERICAN PREMIEREPREMTNNN KOANGA by Frederick Delius December 18,18,20,21 20,21 19701970 Libretto by CFC F Keary - revised by Sir Thomas Beecham Opera inin three acts, inin Englishwith Prologue and Epilogue

The Cast Uncle Joe, conjureman Edward Pierson* Isaiah Luny**Lurrv** Palmyra,Palmyr4 a mulatto, half-sister to Clotilda Claudia Lindsey Simon Perez, Don Jose'sJos6'soverseer William McDonald Don JoseJos6Martinez, Marfinez, a planter William RoyRov Koanga,Koang4 an African prince and voodoo priest EugeneEugerreHolmes* Edward Pierson** Clotilda,Clotilda wife to Don JoseJos6 Joyce Gerber Rangwan, a voodoo high priest Edward Pierson* Michael Malovic** Conductor and Chorus Master Paul Callaway Director Frank Corsaro Scenery and Film Designer Ronald Chase LightingLiehting Designer NanannePorcher Costume Designer JJosephoseph Bella The Opera Society Orchestra and Chorus * December 18l8 & 20 ** December 21

[All the reviews of the American premiere were reprinted in the Delius Society Newsletter, numbers 30 and 3l31 (see the listing on page 7 of Delius Society Journal 113, the frstflIst part of this Koanga survey). A selestionselection of those reviews reappea$reappears below.lbelow.]

33 KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIEREPRENNdNN OPERA: NEGLECTEDNEGLE,CTED'KOANGA''KOANGA' OF FREDERICK DELIUS

Work, written inin 1897 Corsaro uses Slides Deals with Negro for capital staging Any nomination for the most unplayed opera of the lastlast hundred 'Koanga' , years would have to include include 'Koanga' by the British composer Frederick Delius. It It was composed in 1897, had a few performances, and promptly submerged. Even the effortseffots of Sir Thomas BeechatnBeecham could not keep it alive. ItIt has remained for the Opera Society of Washington to revive the work, which it did last night at the Lisner Auditorium. To the best of anybody's knowledge, it was the first staged performance in the United States of any Delius opera. 'Koanga' As it turned out, 'Koanga' had several things going for it. Its libretto deals with slavery, racism and revolt. ItIt probably is the first opera to deal with the Negro~Negro; nor has it had many successors. The 'Koanga' subject matter of 'Koanga' has, of course, peculiar relevance today. Another thing going for it was its rhapsodic music. And there was the unusualunrrsualproduction by Frank Corsarc. Delius, who lived in Florida for a while, had ample opportunityopporfunity to learn something about the situation of the black man. He took the idea of his libretto from the novel by GW G W Cable. The action concerns a slave who is goaded into rebellion, casts a voodoo spell over the plantation and fmallyfinally kills the overseer who lusts after his beloved. He is captured, flayed to death, and his wife kills herself For its day, this was strongstong stuff. Musically the opera illustrates Delius's fantasy-like manner of 'Koanga' composition. 'Koanga' sounds like a long rhapsody, full of the composer's slippery, voluptuous chromaticisms. Wagner played a part, and that is strangesfrange for Delius was very successful in avoiding Wagner in his orchesfralorchestral music. The ensemble at the end of Act 1 'Meistersinger' recalls the 'Meistersinger' Quintet, and sequencestoward the end of 'Gdtterdiimmerung'. the opera suggest 'Gotterdammerung'. There are also sections that 'Pell6as look forward to Debussy's'Pelleas et Mdlisande'.Melisande'. A good deal of the 'Koanga' vocal line in 'Koanga' is declamatory, with the orchestracarrying the melodic bwden.burden. 34 KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIERE

But there are set pieces too, some of them, including the choruses, are gorgeous. Delius also worked Negro and Creole melodies into the score, and these can especially be heard in the Calinda dances (the only 'Koanga' relatively well-known part of the opera). 'Koanga' does have some dull spots, but there are also moments of melodic inspiration, and the orchestral sequence leading to the epilogue is Delius at his poetic and 'Koanga' heartbreaking best. If 'Koanga' is a flawed opera, it is an interesting and frequently beautiful one. The Opera Society of Washington can be proud of its accomplishment. It appears that the director, Frank Corsaro,Corsato, is a Delius admirer, and he approached 'Koanga''Koanga with special love. Most of the staging is accomplished with projections. Mr Corsaro sent a photographer to Louisiana, and has used many slides with startling effect. Using a front scrim, with slides coalescing to fill the entire stage, the director and his lighting designer, Nananne Porcher, have achieved brilliant results. The imaginative use of projections through three scrim gave an extraordinaryexfraordinary illusion of depth. This was by far the most brilliant use of projections ever seen on the American operatic stage. With the scrim up, the staging was more routine. There still remain technical problems to be solved. But this production points the way to an opera of the future that will make orthodox staging obsolete. The cast last night was superb. Black singers of course took leading roles, and the two most important were Eugene Holmes as Koanga and Claudia Lindsey as Palmyra. Mr Holmes did not have an easy role. The voice part, for baritone, lies verYvery high, and the action calls for an intense and athletic-looking athleticJooking actor. In allatl respects Mr Holmes was superb. He had the bearing, the dignity, the body and a voice of commanding depth and timbre. Miss Lindsey was a perfect foil, a sweet-voiced soprano who blended beautifully with the baritone. In other leading roles were William McDonald as Simon Perez, Will Roy as Don JoseJosd Martinez and Joyce Gerber as Clotilda. All were professionals in the best sense of the word. Paul Callaway conducted, with real flair for the colour and pliancy of the score (though the orchestraorchesffa is not of top calibre, and there were out-of-tune patches in the strings).

35 KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIERE

At the end, 'Koanga' received an ovation. The audience loved what it had heard, and the tribute was as much for the music as for the participants. The Opera Society of Washington may have stumbled into treasure. Delius composed six operas; and 'A Village 'Koanga'. Romeo and Juliet' is even a better work than 'Koanga'. Dare we Delius lovers hope?* Harold C Schonberg The New York Times, 20 December 1970 (reprinted inrn Delius Society Newsletter No 30) * The same production team and conductor gave the American premiere of A Village Romeo and Juliet in Washington in April 1972t972

THANKTIIANK YOU, VIRGIL! What a splendid Christmas Chrisfinas present American composer Virgil Thomson gave the Washington Opera Society when he refused to give the necessary approval for its proposed production of his opera 'Four Saints in Three Acts'. If he hadn't said no, the Opera Society would not have come up with Frederick Delius' 'Koanga' and thereby made musical history. 'Four Saints ... . .' would undoubtedly have been interesting and possibly entertaining, but by giving the American premierepremidre of ;;Koanga;Koanga; - and such a splendid one both in performance and production - the Opera Society has again achieved the praise and prestige it gained with the thE world premiere of Ginastera's 'Bomarzo''Bomarzd on May 19 1967. Not that 'Koanga' (the fmalfinal performance is tonight at 7.30 at Lisner Auditorium) is in a class with 'Bomarw'.'Bomarzb'. The latter is a unifiedunifi ed creative accomplishment. 'Koanga', on the other hand, got its strength from the director Frank Corsaro's contemporary staging - photographic projections on front and rear scrims to develop just the sort of atmosphereafrnosphere'Koanga' needs to gjvegive it some life. The exceptionally fmefine film in colour and black and white was the work of scenery designer Ronald Chase who got a strongsffong assist from lighting designer Nananne Porcher.

36 KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIERE

There were a few boos when Corsaro came on stage on the 'Koanga' opening night to take a bow with the cast but 'Koanga' would have been a static bore without this sort of staging. Musically, Delius' lyricism was handsomely sustained by conductor Paul Callaway and the orchestra which was, I think, the largest ever used in Lisner by the Opera Society. And Claudia Lindsey scored a real triumph inrn the role of Plamyra, Plam)rya the mulattomulaffo slave on an old new Orleans plantation whose love for Koanga comes to a tragic end.md. Eugene Holmes (the role will be sungsuqg by Edward Pierson tonight) was powerful both vocally and in presence as Koanga,Koang4 and there were reasonably good assists from William McDonald, Will Roy and Joyce Gerber in the other principal roles.roles.TheThe Opera Society sounded fme,fine, and Joseph Bella's costumes were outstanding. Milton Berliner The Washington Daily News,News,2l21 December 1970 (reprinted in Delius Society Newsletter No 30)

A TIMELY BUT NEGLECTED OPERA Frederick Delius' almost forgotten Negro opera "Koanga' is a sort of 'Tristan and I~olde'lEolde' in blackface, born of a pre-Civil War American plantation novel, the British composer's personal experience in the South and the European musical milieu at the turn of the 20th century. For the American premiere - and first performanceperfonnance of the work since Sir Thomas Beecham'sBeecharn's1935 revival in England - a further incongruity was added - mulitplane projected settings by a most gifted designer and photographer, Ronald Chase. The production introduced last Friday, was performed by the Opera Society of Washington in George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. If for no other reason than the neglected abilities of its composer and the timelessness of its civil rights subject,subject it deserves a place in the operatic annals of America. Producers who are willing to spend time and energyorergy necessary to bring deserving works back to life are as important to music as those willing to gamble on entirely new works. 37 •

KOANGAKOANGA:: THE AMERICAN PREMIEREPREMITRE

But 'Koanga''Koanga should be heard and seen for itself as well as its history. The lavender-scented strains of Delius' orchestration ­ revised by Sir Thomas Beecham - fit the aristocratic South of George Washington Cable's 'The Grandissimes' as tho matched by an unexpectedly subtle hand. Tonal shades and colours may change less subtly, it is true. 'Koanga' is more Gauguin than Sisley. Banjo pizzicato and Wagnerian modulations are strange companions, even viewed from the musical distances which separate us far from the gay nineties. Like the novelist whose work provided him with the plot, Delius and his librettist, CFC F Keaty,Keary. were struggling with the facts of slave life. The heroine, Palmyra,Palmyr4 is a mulatto whose white streak interferes with her marriage to another slave. Koanga is an African prince and voodoo priest newly brought to bondage. His independent spirit rekindles the flames of racial pride in the girl. Her beauty causes him to accept his enslavement. An overseer, appropriately named Sunon,Simon, kidnaps the girl on their wedding day. Infuriated,Infrriated, Koanga flees, uttering a voodoo curse. After killing the overseer, he is hunted down and whipped to death, whereupon Palmyra stabs herselfherself. So much for the plot of the first Negro opera.opsra. It is Mr Chase's visual design which makes all this acceptable and for the most part enjoyable. There is no scenery and only minimal props. Semi-transparent theatrical scriInscrirn takes the place of the customatycustomary drops ands flats. On them, from all sides as well as front and back, are projected a continually changing series of photographs, carefully scaled and balanced to produce the effect of perspective and ligtItingliglting direction. At times, the stage resembles a tableau vivant of the period. There is minilnalminirnal on stage movement and the iInportantimportant chorus is placed offstage and heard thru loudspeakers. At other times, one gets the impression of a black and white stereopticon fantasy, lightly tinted with watercolour. And in the fmalfinal scene, the yellows and whites arearea swarm as a Turner painting. This fluid visual surrounding is far more effective than any possible combination of painted sets. Even when motion pictures spoil the rhythm and pace, they keep our minds off of the incongruities presented by the gushied [sic] up work songs, voodoo dances, and heldentenor arioso. Both Edward Pierson and Claudia Lindsey, the principal singers, coped remarkably well with theu'their' 383E KOANGAKOANGA:: CAMDEN FESTIVAL FESTWAL 1972 roles. Mr Pierson looks better than he sings, but the part is murderously high for a supposed baritone. Miss Lindsey sings better than she lTIOVeS,rnoves, but that, too, is hardly serious, considering the lack of character development in what remains essentially a fantasy rather than a life experience. Paul Callaway, roles. Mr Piersonlooks better than he sings,sings.but the part is the conductor and chorus master, extracted the last bit of sunshine and juice from the score of cotton fields and citrus groves. Thomas Willis Chicago Tribune,Tribune,2l 21 December 1970 (reprinted in Delius Society Newsletter No 30)

KOANGA AT THE 19721972 CAMDENCAMDEI\ FESTIVAL Koanga returned to the English stage, 37 years after Beecham's production, for three performances as part of the 1972 Camden Festival, an interpretationinterpretafion under Charles Groves that was subsequently committed to disc (EMI SLS974). Excellent Singing in Delius's 'Koanga' Chance encounters with Eastern music have influenced Western composers at an earlier date than is sometimes assumed. With the young Delius it was a stay at his father's Florida plantation that gave rise to the operaopera'Koanga'.'Koanga'. It was presented by the Delius Trust in association with the Camden Festival at Sadler's Wells Theatre last night. With the scene set in the 18thl8th century, the theme of slavery is of course dealt with decently, though social protest hardly plays a more crucial role here than, say, inin'Figaro'. 'Figaro'. Nor, presumably, would a composer today select for his hero the captive Prince from Cable's novel who, without giving a thought to collective resistance, refuses to share the lot of his fellow Africans and, moreover, temporarily prevails over his Christian oppressors with the help of Voodoo witchcraft. What fascinated Delius was the prospect of utilising the Creole songs he learned from the emancipated slaves. But it must be said that in the light of our subsequent absorption of the Blues principle his treatmenttreafinent strikes one as rather foursquare.

39 KOANGA:KOANGA : CAMDEI\CAMDEN FESTMLFESTIVAL 1972 In fact the period's characteristic quest for exoticism is successfulonly during the black magic rituals that open the third act. This, otherwise is somewhatTristanesque, in confrastcontrast to the pure Englishry in most of this remarkably well sustainedscore. After the premiere in Germany in 1904, the opera was done by Beecham at Covent Garden rnin 1934 [sic], and revived two years ago in Washington with Claudia Lindsey and Eugene Holmes in the principal roles of PalmyraPalmYfa and Koanga. On this occasion, too, these excellent Negro singerscontributed much to the success of the production which included Gordon Wilcock's powerfully sung Overseer and Jean Allister's outstanding Clotilda. The London SYmphonySymphony Orchestra distinguished themselves under Charles Groves. Peter Stadlen Daily Telegraph, 18 May 1972 (reprinted in Delius Society Newsletter No 38)

KOANGA 'Koanga', composed 1896-97, waswtts frrst fnst performed in German translation in Elberfeld, 1904, with Clarence Whitehill in the title­title- role. Beecham conducted three performances at Covent Garden in 1935 (Oda Slobodskaya,Slobodskaya"John Brownlee); andan6 now there are three performances at Sadler's Wells Theatre as part of the Camden Carnden Festival. Interest in Delius's earlyeady opera was lately renewed by the extraordinary acclaim for the piece at its American premiere,premidre, in Washington two years ago. The Americans made us feel that all these years we have been neglecting something important. Not so, on the strength of what we saw and heard last night. 'A I went with hopes high. 'A Village Romeo and Juliet' and 'Fennimore'Fennimore and Gerda'Gerda had shown that Ernest Newman's conclusion afterafter'Koanga','Koanga', that Delius had littleliule talent for opera and a weak sense 'Don of theatre, might have been too hasty (after 'Don Carlos', had not Newman declared that Verdi was not really a dramatic composer?). All commentators agreed that KearY'sKeary's libretto was lamentable; but perhaps in the music we would fmdfind something of that ecstatic vision which Delius frrstfrst experienced when he heard Negro voices from the plantation, singing inin chorus. 40 KOANGAKOANGA:: CAMDEN FESTIVAL 1972 But, even after allowing for the fact that this as a weak, pretty 'Koanga' colourless perfonnance,performance, 'Koanga' seemed dull. The most attractiveatfractive mOlnentmornent was the familiar La Calinda,Calind4 especially effective in its solo and choral context. What should have been big dramatic moments, Koanga's curse or Palmyra's Liebenstod, the finales of Acts 2 andand 3, were musically undramatic. Delius's response to the characters and their situations is inadequate. Beecham says surprisingly little about 'Koanga' 'the 'Koanga' in his book on the composer, but he does remark on 'the absence of an underlying basis of emotional sincerity. The principal characters ...... have an odd reality that fails to command our complete sympathy and interest". The action is set on a Louisiana plantation in the late 18thlSth century. Koanga,Koang4 the new slave, is a prince and voodoo priest. His master gives him as bride the beautiful Palmyra,Palmyr4 a girls of his own tribe, hoping thereby to induce the proud chieftain to work. But Palmyra is also desired by the overseer, Perez;; and moreover she is half-sister to the master's wife, Donna Clotilda. La Calinda is part of the wedding celebrations, interruptedintemrpted when Perez abducts Palmyra. Koanga calls down his curse, and reinforces it in Act 3 with a voodoo ceremony deep in the forest. The plantation is stricken. Koanga returns just as Perez is on the point of molesting Palmyra,Palmyr4 and kills him; off-stage, he is killed himself; and then Palmyra,Palmyra singing over his body, kills herself. The whole is framed in a prologue and epilogue for a bevy of young Southern ladies, and Uncle Joe, who tells them the tale. Charles·Charles.Groves,Groves, with the LSO, directed a prosaic and totally undramatic account of the score that needs all the help it can get; none of the poise, the delicate placing, the rhythmic finesse, the exquisite play of colours, by which Delius's music is brought to life. Douglas Craig's production was clumsy, and the anonymous lighting was careless. The principals of the Washington perfonnance,performance, Claudia Lindsay and Eugene Holmes, repeated their roles here. Miss Lindsey's high notes carry, but the lower passages fade; there was little personality in her singing. Mr Holmes has a rather backward baritone, resonated to richness, effective when used as force, but inexpressive in mezza voice. Again, Agara little feeling of character or personality was projected. All in all, this 'Koanga' was a disappointment.disappoinfrnent.The opera could, of course, have been more persuasively presented. Judgment - as opposed

414l KOANGAKOANGA:: CAMDEN FESTIVALFESTML 1972lgiz to the impressions left by last night's performance - had better wait upon studying the recordingrecordit g which has been promised. And of course Camdencamden were right to put on a work which many people wanted to hear - even though not many of them may want to hear it again. Andrew Porter The FinancialFinanciql Times, 18 May 1972 (reprinted in thethe Delius Society Newsletter No 38)

CAST

Uncle Joe, an old slave ANTHONY RAFFELL Renee WENWENDYDY POLLOCK Helene CAROLlNECAROLINEKIMBALLKIM BALL Aurore NUALANUAIA WILLIS Olive AVRIL GRAY planters' daughters GRAY Jeanne ALlCEALICEHERBERT Marie ELSPETH MACK Hortense J JOAN NEWMAN-PRICENEWMAN.PRICE Paulette VIVIVIVIENEN HALLAM Don JoseJos6 Martinez, a planter POWELL HARRISON Simon Perez, Don Jose'sJos6'soverseer GORDON WILCOCK Koanga, an African Prince and Voodoo Priest EUGENE HOLMES Rangwan, a Voodoo Priest ... . ANTHONY RAFFELL Palmyra, a mulatto, half-sister to Clotilda, of the JaloffJalotf race ... CLAUDIACIAUDIAL1NDSEY LINDSEY Clotilda, wife to Don JoseJos6 Martinez JEAN ALLlSTER ALLISTER First negro .. DAVID HARRISON Second negro ROGER BRYSON Negro slaves, creole dancers, servants

The action takestakesplace on a plantation on the MississippiMississippiin Louisiana

42 KOANGAKOANGA:: LOUISIANA AND LEEDS KOANGA AT LOUISIANA LOUSIAI{A AND LEEDS No reviews were received of twotrrro perfonnancesperformances of Koanga at the Shreveport Civic Centre, Louisiana on 25 andand2727 April 1980, when the principals were Edward Pierson and Claudia Lindsey of the Washington production. The next and most recent staging of Koanga was by the Leeds Youth Opera. With perfonnancesperformancesin July 1994, this production was reviewed intnJournal Journal 115,ll5,pppp 12-13. LEEDS YOUTH OPERA

Musical Director - Michael Williamson : Artistic Director - Jonathan Clift

present

KOANGA Opera

by Frederick Delius

Original Libretto by C.F.Keary

Revised LibrettoLibreno by Douglas Craig and Andrew 'PagePage

by pennissionpermission of Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers Limited

with assistance from the Delius Trust Tnrst

Civic Theatre Leeds 6th - 9th July 1994

43 KOANGAKOANGA:: LEEDS YOUTH OPERA 19941994

The Cast

Wed/PriWod/ Fri Thur / SatSar

Renee Elinor Hamilton O1elseaChelsea Tinker ~eanne{eanne Zoe Hornby EnunaEmma ArnottAmott HeleneH6lene Lisa Inman EnunaEmma Turner Marie Heather GrahamCrraham Lucie Shaw Aurore Emily Holbrook-Treen CiaClaireire McKenna HortenseHorterise Clovissa McNeill Penny Cliff Olive Sarah Judd Luisa Graham Gmham Paulette Lucy Spink EnunaEmma Gilfillan Uncle Joe Alastair Watson Dan Potts

Koanga Julian Close Palmyra Sara Pickersgill Sarah Estill

Simon Perez GeoffPageGeoff Page Richard Mason Don Jose Martinez Dominic Higgins lainIain Stewart Clotilda CatherineC-atherineNuttgens Hannah Mason

Rangwan Benedict Mann Jay Waters A Slave Alex Nuttgens Richard Poppa

PippaPipa Barker Victoria DamesDabes Tom Lydoo Lydm SimOllSimm PickersgillPicke,tsgill Aimee BamettBamen JennyJcrny Harding AndrewADdrew Mara Lucia Tomasso JamesJamcsBarrand FrancesFranccs HemiDgwayHeobgway RobertRobcrt Marles David Treeo Viola BoumeBoune MarijkeMarijle HodgsooHodgso Emily MarshalIMarshall NatashaNarrsh, WarrWarT Graham Brook MaahewMaftew Jennerte-er DanielDeniel MorrisMcris RebeccaRebecra Wilkinsoo Wilkinsm JoseJce Bruce Jo Kibble ErikaFrila PickeringPickedng JoanneJoame Wood KatherineKafrerine Wood

ConductorConduc"tor Michael Williamson Director Jonathan Clift Set design and painting Ray Bradshaw Lighting designdesigr Peter Waddicor Ladies costumes designeddesigred and created by Jonathan Clift Perez' and Martinez' costumes Midland CostumeCosnrme

Prologue and Epilogue the veranda of a southernsouthem plantation Act I Don Martinez' plantation Act 2 Scene 1I A swamp Act 2 Scene 2 Don Martinez' plantation

There will be an intervalinrcrval of 20 minutes between actsacls

44 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgement is here made to the various newspapers whose reviews of Koanga have been quoted in this issue, in particular The New York Times, The Washington Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times as well as Leeds Youth Opera for the title page and cast list from its 1994 programme. The cover illustration of Solana Grove, Delius’s Florida home 1884-5, appears with acknowledgement to the Delius Association of Florida

CORRECTION Robert Threlfall has pointed out that the letter from Patrick Hadley, on p 25 of the first Koanga issue (Journal 113), was to William Randel and not to Christopher Palmer, and that footnote 14 should read: Randel, William: Music & Letters, April 1971, p,153

AN ‘ARM AND LEG’ FOOTNOTE As a humourous conclusion, our member Geoffrey Hoare remembers seeing Beecham’s production of Koanga at Birmingham, and how, every time John Brownlee raised his arms dramatically, white patches of flesh were revealed on his arms and legs where the make-up had not been applied!

THE DELIUS SOCIETY Enquiries concerning membership of the Delius Society should be made to the Treasurer, Derek Cox, at Mercers, 6 Mount Pleasant, Blockley, Glos. GL56 9BU (01386 700175). Information on Society events may be obtained from the Programme Secretary, Brian Radford, at 21 Cobthorne Drive, Allestree, Derby DE3 2SY (01332552019).