IN DEFENCE OF D'OYLY CARTE
SIR,—Your contributor Mr. Levin expresses himself mystified at the prolonged survival of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and adds a sneering comment to the effect that its members have a tendency to sing flat. The fact that the Company has had a dis- tinguished stage career of more than seventy years, both in Great Britain and, periodically, in North America, is due firstly to the uniquely brilliant works which Gilbert and Sullivan bequeathed to it, and
secondly to the very high standards of production and performance maintained by the Company.
Mr. Levin's criticism of the quality of the Com- pany's singing is one which it is very easy to make against any operatic group, especially when such criticism is unsupported by any concrete evidence or specific instance which can be checked or investigated. 1 have often been impressed by the very fine voices and excellent musicianship of the Company, both principals and chorus, and have felt that it has much to teach our other opera companies, which arc apparently unable to achieve as good musical or dramatic standards as their D'Oyly Carte rivals, despite the advantage, denied to the latter, of hand- some subsidies from the Arts Council.—Yours faith-
fully, G. BAXTER 74 Kingsfield Road, Watford, Harts
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