OPERA AT COVENT - GARDEN . I s To the Editor of. THE
SPECTATOR.]
SIR,--I should be glad if you would extend the courtesy of your columns to me to reply to the musical article in your issue of April 5th.
About this time of year it is the habit of the more ignorant members of the Press to write derogatory articles about Covent Garden Opera, suggesting .ttOrt it is purely a social function and-that the artistic value of the performances is negligible..- This may have been true years ago, but times- have changed and one does, not expect a journalist of the standing of Mr. Hussey...to< suffer either from ignorance or prejudice in these mattera41.-: •
The article referred to contains several mis-statements and distortions which should be corrected:s The statement that the public has decided to regard the Barber of Seville as Rossini's masterpiece will not bear a moment's examination ' for the very simple reason that. the public- has never been allowed to hear other comic operas of Rossini and choose which is a masterpiece and which is not.
With regard to the phrase " polyglot cast " this can be applied to Glyndebourne, Covent Garden; Vienna or any- where else which has not "Stupidly restricted the nationality of the artists appearing. - Will Mr. Hussey kindly provide me with alternatives to artists like Melchior, Leider, Lehmann, llethberg, Lily Pons ? And does he seriously suggest that he could hear• such a selection of-singers-anywhere else, or that thirty performances containing operas and casts announced by us is of no• interest to opera-goers ?, The suggestion contained in -the fourth paragraph of the - nrtiele -that the operas at Glyndebourne are rehearsed more-- thoroughly than those at -Covent Garden- is little short of - seaadatOUS: 'ME' Christie gives ample time for rehearsal.-of those operas Which he wishes to perform, and so do we. In length of time, of course, our rehearsals exceed Mr. Christie's, and the suggestion that nowadays operas are insufficiently rehearsed at Covent Garden is unwarranted- and damaging. -
It is high time that musical critics who desire to command respect amongst musicians should take the trouble to find out what is really going on under their noses. It is their business to lead musical opinion and not to follow behind it ; no:- should your critic attempt to pour cold water beforehand on Opera Seasons about the preparations for which he ap- parently knows nothing—the impudent Hussey !—Your.> (Managing Director, London and Provincial Opera Society, Ltd). .
Royal Opera House; Covent Garden, London, W.C.2. c• • [Mr. Hussey writes : To answer Mr. Tot'e's letter piint by point would take up space out of all proportion to the importance of the subject. I think readers of the offending article may safely be left to decide whether Mr. Toye has not been guilty'of more distortions than he accuses me of making. It was, perhaps, an error of taste on my part to mention Glyndebourne in the same breath as the august institution which Mr. Toye directs, but his evident anger should not have led him into reading into my words suggestions and impli- cations which were not intended. The paragraph about Glyndebourne referred solely to Mozart's operas, and I am quite prepared to believe that Mr. Toye's idea of what i adequate rehearsal for their production and my own would probably differ.]
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