OPERA
The Sadler's Wells Company
greatest disaster in the musicalworld caused by the war is the spersal of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company and the severance of hat remains of it from its own permanent theatre. The destruction Queen's H311, whatever sentimental pangs it might cause, was a stet of far less moment, for an orchestra can continue a coherent istence without a permanent home, even if it cannot find one lewhere. Without a theatre of its own an opera company loses virtue as did Antaeus when lifted off the ground. It has no ice in which to work consistently, to form and maintain a tradition d standard of performance, and to keep all the apparatus required en for a limited repertory of operas.
The paradox is that Sadler's Wells. Theatre has not been destroyed, is, so far as I am aware' unscathed. It is presumably considered be too far away in these days of early performances and curtailed wet.- Yet, when it reopened its doors after the first interdict upon eatrical performances was raised, the act of faith of a private nefactor proved to be justified, and the theatre did a roaring trade la the .raids put a stop to entertainment. Then, by a panic tision, the company was reduced to a mere nucleus and sent on d With a small orchestra and a minimum of scenery. It may ve seemed to be the wisest thing to do, but I cannot imagine that Was a course that would have commended itself to Miss Baylis. mehow, she would have contrived that, so long as theatres were mated to function it all, London should not be without a tmanent opera.
The result was that a company _which, during the past ten years, had built up a repertory ranging from Purcell and Gluck to Ethel Smyth and Vaughan Williams, including, besides the popular favourites, unusual works of great merit like Don Carlos and The Travelling Companion, dwindled to a touring company with a repertory of half a dozen truncated works produced in _a manner that suggested village-hall theatricals.
That bad period seems now to have come to an end. At least, the carefully prepared performance of The Magic Flute has style and, apart from the defects of lighting due to the old-fashioned apparatus available, efficiency. The standard of singing, too, has improved in conjunction with the general improvement in performance, and, by comparison with what may be heard elsewhere, is positively high. This production of Th3 Magtc Flute is, however, a rather exceptional affair. It was undertaken by Mr. Jooss- at Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Dent. I have not yet seen the other operas in the repertory, but it will be surprising if, under the circumstances, they attain anything like the same artistic level. For it is only when a company can work together and rehearse in its own per- manent theatre that a consistent standard can be achieved throughout its repertory. For this reason I hope that an act of faith (or the more concrete inducement of a cash grant) will be forthcoming to enable the company to return to its own home before the lessons of a decade are lost and chances of development utterly destroyed.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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