0:00:16 > 0:00:20Glyndebourne is a beautiful country house in the Sussex Downs
0:00:20 > 0:00:24where I live with my wife, the opera singer Danielle de Niese.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31What makes this place unique is that we also have a world-class
0:00:31 > 0:00:35opera house and everything that goes with it in the gardens.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It was founded by a passionate man - my grandfather, John Christie
0:00:40 > 0:00:45and his equally passionate wife, the opera singer Audrey Mildmay.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49He started the Glyndebourne tradition with a love story
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and it continues as one.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08The most unique thing about Glyndebourne is the idea that
0:01:08 > 0:01:12you have all the creative teams actually living in the house.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18It really creates this hive of information and people, when
0:01:18 > 0:01:21they live in close proximity,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24you tend to bump into each other, idea-wise.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27It's always been that way, ever since we started.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30There have been strange people living in this house
0:01:30 > 0:01:32ever since I can remember.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Conductors, designers, directors,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37assistants, repetiteurs
0:01:37 > 0:01:39and not singers.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Except me! Except Danni, of course!
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Oh, there's Mr John Christie.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49I'm very glad to welcome you.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52He was an extraordinary man in many ways.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56I mean, he was a captain in the First World War
0:01:56 > 0:02:00and even though he'd he lost an eye playing rackets at school,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03when he went for his medical, the doctor asked him
0:02:03 > 0:02:06to cover an eye, which he duly did to read out the letters,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09he then read out the letters and the doctor said,
0:02:09 > 0:02:10"And now for the other eye, please."
0:02:10 > 0:02:13As he simply went like that...
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Fooled the doctor
0:02:15 > 0:02:16and got through.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21He earned a Military Cross for his courage and bravery.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25He would boost the troops' morale by reading poetry to them
0:02:25 > 0:02:27in the trenches.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30During ceasefires, they would shoot partridges behind the line.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33He would get sauces flown out from Fortnum and Mason's and they
0:02:33 > 0:02:38would have slap-up meals in the trenches while they were waiting.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42So I think he was a bon viveur,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45but he was an inspiration to many around him.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50He was passionate about music
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and he was also mad about everything German,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58from the clothes to the wine, and he would go round in his lederhosen.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01He felt that England did not have
0:03:01 > 0:03:05the same culture that Germany offered.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09He loved cars and he had this wonderful old two-seater, open-topped sports car.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12As a very young man, he would make trips to
0:03:12 > 0:03:16the Wagner festival in Germany at a time that there were no
0:03:16 > 0:03:20car ferries going across the Channel and he hired a barge
0:03:20 > 0:03:24and a raft on which he'd put his car to tow him across the Channel,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27which took him quite a long time, I think.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Across Europe to get to Bayreuth
0:03:29 > 0:03:32to go and see Wagner, which he lapped up
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and was very inspired by.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Well, after the war, he went back to Eton as a master
0:03:40 > 0:03:43and then he inherited the estate at Glyndebourne,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46so at that point he gave up his schoolmastering career
0:03:46 > 0:03:50and he focuses attentions completely on Glyndebourne.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52One of the first things that he did
0:03:52 > 0:03:55was knock down a court and an old conservatory
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and started building this beautiful, long room and it was
0:03:58 > 0:04:00for his friend Dr Charles Harford Lloyd,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04who had been the organist at Eton and was retiring
0:04:04 > 0:04:05and John said to him,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08"You must move to Sussex," and of course Dr Lloyd replied,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11"Well, there are no good organs for me to play,"
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and John said, "Fine, I'll build you one."
0:04:13 > 0:04:15So he had this extraordinary room built,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19which was also to satisfy his own musical interests,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and he would put on scenes from operas
0:04:23 > 0:04:27and concerts in the organ room, invite his friends...
0:04:27 > 0:04:30He would act and star in some of them
0:04:30 > 0:04:34along with some of his friends, along with some professionals.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36And this is how he met my grandmother,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40who came down to sing the role of Blonde in Entfuhrung by Mozart.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43His usual am-dramers weren't available, but he was
0:04:43 > 0:04:47recommended the services of a young soprano from the Carl Rosa
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Opera Company called Audrey Mildmay who came with a tenor colleague.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54They came down, they were paid five guineas
0:04:54 > 0:04:56and they were given free board and lodgings.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01They came and took part in this absolutely hilarious amateur
0:05:01 > 0:05:02event in the Organ Room.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05The result of that was, of course, that John fell absolutely
0:05:05 > 0:05:09head over heels in love with his soprano, which, when you
0:05:09 > 0:05:12look at her, is not really surprising
0:05:12 > 0:05:14because she was absolutely gorgeous.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19He was at that time about 50, a confirmed bachelor.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Anyway, she arrived and he fell instantly in love with her,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29took her upstairs, I think, and showed her his bedroom and told
0:05:29 > 0:05:32her that this was where they would be sleeping when they were married!
0:05:32 > 0:05:35She thought that might be a proposal, but tried to ignore it.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36Indeed, she wrote a letter to him afterwards,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39saying, "Please, dear John, do not fall in love with me."
0:05:39 > 0:05:42But it was a bit late! He already had.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The story goes that he took her three times to Rosenkavalier,
0:05:46 > 0:05:47the Royal Opera house,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49and at each time
0:05:49 > 0:05:52the Silver Rose was presented by Octavian
0:05:52 > 0:05:56to Sophie, he proposed to her.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The first two occasions, she told him,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02"I just need a little bit more time."
0:06:02 > 0:06:07On the third occasion, he bought her a diamond-encrusted brooch
0:06:07 > 0:06:10and she simply couldn't refuse!
0:06:10 > 0:06:11And the rest is history.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15They were married in June and they went to Germany of course,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18to listen to opera - where else would they go?
0:07:20 > 0:07:22So they came back from their honeymoon,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25returned home to Glyndebourne after this wonderful
0:07:25 > 0:07:29trip around Europe and John came up with the idea of extending
0:07:29 > 0:07:33the Organ Room, effectively putting a stage across the end of the room.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35And she famously remarked, "For God's sake, John -
0:07:35 > 0:07:39"if you're going to spend all that money, do the thing properly."
0:07:39 > 0:07:40So he took her advice
0:07:40 > 0:07:45and built her a 300-seat barn in the Kitchen Garden of Glyndebourne.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49What they wanted to do was create the festival atmosphere
0:07:49 > 0:07:53that they had enjoyed in Europe in this country, to bring the standard
0:07:53 > 0:07:57of performance they'd been enjoying in Europe into this country.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58At that point,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02all idea of amateur performances was completely cast aside.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06He was very fortunate to secure two of Germany's top
0:08:06 > 0:08:11directors at that time in Carl Ebert and Fritz Busch.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16This was the period just before 1933 when political interference both from
0:08:16 > 0:08:20the left and right was increasingly becoming a problem in Germany.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24A lot of musicians were denounced in the Nazi press
0:08:24 > 0:08:25and one prominent musician
0:08:25 > 0:08:28was Fritz Busch, the general music director in Dresden.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Not Jewish, but the brother of Adolf Busch,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35who was a very famous violinist, who was an outspoken
0:08:35 > 0:08:39opponent of the Nazis and who actually left Germany in 1929.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Fritz Busch was busy working in the opera house
0:08:43 > 0:08:48and stormtroopers came into the building while he was rehearsing
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and tried to prevent him from carrying on the rehearsal.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54He was forcibly removed from the opera house.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Adolf Busch, Fritz's brother
0:08:56 > 0:09:00and leader of the Busch Quartet, was stranded in Eastbourne after
0:09:00 > 0:09:03a concert and conversation turned to Glyndebourne over dinner
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and the fact that Captain Christie had built this opera house
0:09:06 > 0:09:10in the middle of the countryside and he was looking for a conductor.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Adolf said, "Well, you could speak to my brother, Fritz."
0:09:13 > 0:09:18Christie and Busch finally met in the January of 1934 in Amsterdam
0:09:18 > 0:09:23and it was a strange meeting by all accounts.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Fritz expounded at great length about his beliefs
0:09:26 > 0:09:30in music, in singing, in what he wanted to achieve,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35in not wanting to use big names, wanting to seek out new talents
0:09:35 > 0:09:40and so on, and apparently John sat there, seemed to be asleep.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42So Fritz believed.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Then he got up and went, "Yes, that was very interesting - thank you."
0:09:46 > 0:09:48And left.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And Fritz was left apparently thinking, "Well,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53"I don't think anything is going to come of that," and of course
0:09:53 > 0:09:58a week or so later, got the letter saying, "Right - let's start."
0:09:58 > 0:10:00NEWSREEL: Here, members of the cast
0:10:00 > 0:10:02were discussing the score for the night's performance.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04The music, too, was under the direction of
0:10:04 > 0:10:07one of the original team - Dr Fritz Busch.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12His influence was so very civilised and humane.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15As a German,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17he had the discipline
0:10:17 > 0:10:19and the absolute method.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21When Busch arrived at Glyndebourne,
0:10:21 > 0:10:22the tables were set out
0:10:22 > 0:10:27and polished, his ruler and his red pencils and even his red ink,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32which, to my horror - he used to write on musical scores in red ink
0:10:32 > 0:10:34to show that it was for all time.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38Fritz Busch suggested this whole notion of having a producer,
0:10:38 > 0:10:39which was completely alien
0:10:39 > 0:10:43because there was no such role in the British opera world at the time.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Fritz Busch had worked with Carl Ebert in Berlin
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and so he contacted Carl.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54Carl Ebert was one of the leading figures in 1920s German theatre.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58He was not Jewish, but since he was to the left,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02he was regarded as a persona non grata
0:11:02 > 0:11:07and when the opera house he was in... the director of was the opera house
0:11:07 > 0:11:10that Goebbels took control of as the Gauleiter of Berlin,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12so he was basically removed.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Carl Ebert thought the idea was completely mad, but came over
0:11:17 > 0:11:21anyway to meet with John Christie and had a look at the theatre,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25discovered there was no fly tower, so all the scenery changes
0:11:25 > 0:11:29involved pulling everything out onto the grass outside the theatre,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33but realised that what they were going to get out of this,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37because they sat down the three men and talked about the budget,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39they talked about what their principles were
0:11:39 > 0:11:39and what they wanted to achieve and they realised
0:11:40 > 0:11:41and what they wanted to achieve and they realised
0:11:41 > 0:11:44they were going to get the rehearsal period they needed,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48the concentration, the devotion to producing the best
0:11:48 > 0:11:51possible opera and they both signed up for it.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55This man's idea was a real new one.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00He said, "I would like to give my country, in this specific
0:12:00 > 0:12:08"kind of art, the kind of perfection which is unknown up to these days."
0:12:08 > 0:12:15And he said, "I want to give my country something on my expenses."
0:12:15 > 0:12:18That made me really quiet - I shut my mouth and said, "Well,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22"if somebody really wants to sacrifice
0:12:22 > 0:12:25"quite a fortune for this reason,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28"then I have to contribute with all my strength,"
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and so did my friend Fritz Busch, too.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35And they revolutionised opera in this country.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41And introduced a lot more drama into opera.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Before that, the singers hadn't needed to act
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and there was no demand for that.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Ebert and Busch brought dramatic intensity into the operas.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57The most important thing, of course, is to improvise the words.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Really feel that it's the first time she is dictating a letter,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05she had only generally in mind what she wanted to say,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08so let's have it again - come on.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10SHE SINGS
0:13:10 > 0:13:13All the visions are coming from outside,
0:13:13 > 0:13:19I'm nearly haunted by visions to see how people move, what
0:13:19 > 0:13:21kind of facial expression they have,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23what kind of gestures they have.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25I rush up and down, I make the gestures,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27I time carefully the steps,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30how to go in, how to go out.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39The position of the singers must be to see the conductor.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Our singers have to be together,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43they can see that they belong to each other.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49He was in himself a natural actor,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53so he could show very clearly to the artists what he wanted.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03He always had great respect for the musical requirements
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and Busch made sure he did. They'd speak in German together.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08Carl was as good as gold.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Like all producers,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13he'd try and get away with it,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16but Busch was very firm about it.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Is it possible if I say we can come in a little earlier to
0:14:19 > 0:14:23establish the mood before we actually start singing?
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Excellent idea. And suddenly going with your cue.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Before the war, this wasn't really an operatic country.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32When we had opera, it was brought in to the Royal Opera House,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Covent Garden, very short seasons.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37There was a wonderful small company, the Carl Rosa,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40which went around the "provinces",
0:14:40 > 0:14:43but there wasn't an operatic tradition.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It was Glyndebourne really with the tutelage,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50with the direction of Carl Ebert and Fritz Busch.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Glyndebourne created truly professional opera in this country.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54This was Ebert's creation.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Carl Ebert and Fritz Busch basically set the tone for everything that
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Glyndebourne was to become, which was not the best that we can do,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08but the best that can be done anywhere, and that was John
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and Audrey's motto for Glyndebourne.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Out of the initial meeting between Fritz Busch
0:15:13 > 0:15:15and John Christie in Amsterdam,
0:15:15 > 0:15:22they confirmed a two-week season to start on 28 May 1934, with six
0:15:22 > 0:15:24performances of Le Nozze di Figaro
0:15:24 > 0:15:26and six performances of Cosi Fan Tutte.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Rudolf Bing was contacted - he had worked with both Busch
0:15:33 > 0:15:34and Ebert previously.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39He was asked to hunt out the European continental singers
0:15:39 > 0:15:41while Busch himself came over to this country
0:15:41 > 0:15:46and auditioned all of the British singers, including Audrey Mildmay.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49There was no assumption that because she was the boss's wife,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51she was automatically going to get a role.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55She had to go through the same process as everyone else.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20And that's how it all began, in 1934, and she sang
0:16:20 > 0:16:26the role of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro on May 28, 1934.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39The first night was sold out, pretty much, which, considering they were
0:16:39 > 0:16:44charging ?2 a seat, which was a lot of money in anyone's terms -
0:16:44 > 0:16:48almost overnight they achieved exactly what they had set out to do.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52They had timed their performance so that people had an hour
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and a half interval in the middle, they could have their dinner,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59stroll in the gardens, look at the views, soak up the atmosphere
0:16:59 > 0:17:04and enjoy absolute international class opera.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And the critics of the time, they went away absolutely
0:17:08 > 0:17:10bemused by what they had seen.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14But they all, to a man, appreciated that they had seen something
0:17:14 > 0:17:19completely new and different and special.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23The second night...which was the first night, of course,
0:17:23 > 0:17:24only seven people came.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29So the opera house itself sat just over 300, it was very,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33very empty and then the reviews really hit the streets
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and after that, it was sold out every single night.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47So after a repertoire that was Mozart-based,
0:17:47 > 0:17:511938 saw the introduction of Don Pasquale and Macbeth
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and then in 1940, they planned a repertoire that would have included
0:17:54 > 0:18:00Carmen, but of course war broke out and so everything was abandoned.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Glyndebourne itself was made over as an evacuee home for
0:18:04 > 0:18:07one-to-five-year-olds from the East End of London.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Immediately after the war, there were lots of plans,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15John trying to find a way of getting things started again, but obviously
0:18:15 > 0:18:18not having the money because the whole economic climate had changed.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Having started with Mozart at Glyndebourne, it was inevitable
0:18:22 > 0:18:25that they weren't just going to stick with that one composer.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28As different music directors and different artistic directors
0:18:28 > 0:18:31came through the organisation, they all brought their own passions.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35In 1959, Carl Ebert said he wanted to do a production
0:18:35 > 0:18:39of Der Rosenkavalier as his farewell gesture to Glyndebourne for the
0:18:39 > 0:18:4325th anniversary and he would then retire at the end of that season.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45The atmosphere was very excited here
0:18:45 > 0:18:48because they were doing their first Der Rosenkavalier with
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Regine Crespin as the Marschallin and a Swedish soprano I adored,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Elizabeth Soderstrom, was singing Octavian.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57It was a wonderful production.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00A young man called John Cox was Professor Ebert's assistant - he's
0:19:00 > 0:19:03now head of everything in the opera world, he's a very grand figure.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06That was my first season here.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08I always think of it as the Silver Opera
0:19:08 > 0:19:10because I think of
0:19:10 > 0:19:15the silver anniversary of Glyndebourne on that year.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18I filmed them going round the set, planning, talking to the
0:19:18 > 0:19:20designers, talking to costume makers and so on and so forth.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24The atmosphere was just as it is now, very excited!
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Opera is a wonderful art when it's all put together,
0:19:27 > 0:19:32all the different parts of the total staging, the costumes,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34the design of the singing, the orchestra.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40It was his last season as artistic director.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42I was in complete awe of him,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46he had such an incredible reputation
0:19:46 > 0:19:51and there was some absurd moment when Carl Ebert turned to me
0:19:51 > 0:19:53and put a tricorn on my head.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55I don't know whether he knew who I was at the time,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57because I was a very mere assistant!
0:19:57 > 0:20:01It was received remarkably well by the bulk of the critics,
0:20:01 > 0:20:07but the Times critic wrote a rather caustic review which
0:20:07 > 0:20:11so incensed John Christie that he wrote to every single
0:20:11 > 0:20:16member of the audience and asked them to write to the Times.
0:20:16 > 0:20:17Which they did!
0:20:17 > 0:20:19All saying that the times was completely wrong and it was
0:20:19 > 0:20:24beautiful and perfect and of course he was right to stand up to them!
0:20:24 > 0:20:29In 1958, John Christie passed on the reins of the chairmanship
0:20:29 > 0:20:30to his son George.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32He'd been brought up with this opera house,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35so it was almost in his blood.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38My dad took over at the tender age of 23
0:20:38 > 0:20:41and my grandfather died when he was 28.
0:20:41 > 0:20:47MUSIC: L'incoronazione Di Poppea: Pur Ti Miro, Pur Ti Stringo
0:20:53 > 0:20:58My dad, he had a tough time in the first decade or so.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The '60s were tough economically
0:21:01 > 0:21:07and he had to grow Glyndebourne from its rather homespun beginnings.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12The next item I'd like to discuss is the bookings for The Wild Things
0:21:12 > 0:21:13at the National Theatre.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17George was a businessman and he worked for the banking
0:21:17 > 0:21:22foundation and was more "in the world", as it were, than his father.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25But when George came, other things were happening in any case.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28I mean, the world was changing - he was part of a changing world.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32He was a real realist as far as Glyndebourne's finances were
0:21:32 > 0:21:36concerned. It was the beginning of sponsorship in this country.
0:21:36 > 0:21:43Initially, cigarette companies were helping Glyndebourne exist, um...
0:21:43 > 0:21:48And he had a lot of charm and infectious enthusiasm
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and was a very adept at raising funds from the corporate world.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55And then as he settled into the role, as it were,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58he started to flex his muscles a little bit more - there were
0:21:58 > 0:22:02alterations to the repertoire and the way the seasons were structured.
0:22:02 > 0:22:08We're going to move onto the next item on the agenda - the 1983 tour.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12His greatest achievement in his eyes was the establishment
0:22:12 > 0:22:15of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera because he was really aware
0:22:15 > 0:22:20that we needed to get these productions out to a wider audience.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23And if the thing doesn't work,
0:22:23 > 0:22:28then my own particular livelihood is at stake in quite some degree.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32So, I'm very passionate about the thing!
0:22:32 > 0:22:36It may wear me down, but it's worth being worn down by passion.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40It was actually originally planned in 1977 that in the 1980
0:22:40 > 0:22:42season there would be a Rosenkavalier.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45I was luckily placed to be the person
0:22:45 > 0:22:51they wanted to direct it, but I didn't want to go mad, you know.
0:22:51 > 0:22:57You know, making it totally Vienna 1900, Freud, Jung
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and all that, you know, everybody is a neurotic or a political
0:23:01 > 0:23:05extremist - I didn't want to do it like that.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Well, Felicity, of course, everybody thinks of Felicity now
0:23:07 > 0:23:12as a Marschallin - I never thought of her as a Marschallin.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15There she was, six feet tall, slim as a rake...
0:23:15 > 0:23:17I loved the character of Octavian.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20I'd never played a boy on stage,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23so that was quite a challenge,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26because I tend to drift around and obviously Octavian is much
0:23:26 > 0:23:30more passionate and like a young puppy, really.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I always see it in terms of shapes because the phrases are
0:23:37 > 0:23:40so beautiful and so...
0:23:40 > 0:23:43I don't know, so bendy!
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Not a very musical word, but it's...
0:23:47 > 0:23:49sensuous and...
0:23:49 > 0:23:51lilting and...
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I don't know - it gives one a lot of opportunities.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59MUSIC AND BIRDSONG
0:24:01 > 0:24:05The '80s was a golden decade for Glyndebourne with Peter Hall
0:24:05 > 0:24:09as the artistic director and Bernard Haitink as the music director.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13At that stage, Glyndebourne was an 830-seat opera house -
0:24:13 > 0:24:16it had grown over the years to that size.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20But it was too small for the ever-increasing demand
0:24:20 > 0:24:22from the audiences.
0:24:22 > 0:24:29It was a cramped, hot, not-great-acoustically auditorium,
0:24:29 > 0:24:30creaking at the seams.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Slowly, within the ages, it dawned on him that he was going to
0:24:34 > 0:24:38have to knock down the dear old theatre and build a bigger one.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42By having a bigger auditorium, and more seats to sell,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45the box office potential is enhanced
0:24:45 > 0:24:47and box office potential is
0:24:47 > 0:24:52what's going to secure Glyndebourne's long-term existence.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56And so in the late '80s, he set about fundraising.
0:24:56 > 0:25:02The project was ?34 million. Not an insubstantial amount at that time.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06But it also... He got his timing pretty perfect.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08It was the height of the boom in the late '80s
0:25:08 > 0:25:12and he took every single corporate member around a model
0:25:12 > 0:25:17in the house here and enthused them with his vision for the new theatre.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And he managed to raise 75% of the funds from our corporate members
0:25:21 > 0:25:25in return for a 20-year membership.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And we had a closing gala to close the curtain on the old theatre
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and we managed to raise about ?1 million that night.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The bulldozers came in in August 1992
0:25:34 > 0:25:37and knocked down the old theatre.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42We still had about ?6 million to raise. It was a nervous moment.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45We raised the money in a boom economy,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48but we were very fortunate then in building the theatre in a slump.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50It's reckoned, generally speaking,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53that we built a 50 million pounder for 34 million.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57He knew there was going to be uproar amongst all the old,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00traditional audience members, and there was.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02He received a lot of letters about it
0:26:02 > 0:26:05when he finally did take the plunge
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and decide to go for it.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11But it was absolutely the right thing to do.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16The building was built on time and on budget.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19We won all sorts of awards for the architecture, the brickwork,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22the concrete work, the woodwork.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25And we only missed one season, 1993.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30We opened on May 28, 1994 with another new production
0:26:30 > 0:26:32of The Marriage of Figaro,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35exactly 60 years after the first night in 1934.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Opera enthusiasts flocked to Glyndebourne in Sussex
0:26:38 > 0:26:41this evening for the gala opening of the new opera house.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45CORKS POP
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Champagne, opera and a picnic on the lawn between the acts.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Glyndebourne has been part of the English social scene
0:26:51 > 0:26:54for 60 years, perhaps the world's most exclusive opera house.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Tonight, the rich and famous, but mostly the rich,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59came to christen the new opera house.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03You paid for this new theatre and for this...
0:27:04 > 0:27:09..Glyndebourne and the whole world of opera has a huge debt...
0:27:11 > 0:27:13..of monumental proportions owing to you.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17What he did was to take his father's dream and turn it into a much
0:27:17 > 0:27:19bigger dream, which is called New Glyndebourne.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21He had the intelligence,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24the drive to force a new opera house into existence where it would
0:27:24 > 0:27:27have been easy to say, "We'll just go on improving the old one."
0:27:27 > 0:27:29People don't want to lose the old one, but this new house is
0:27:29 > 0:27:32a totally different level of sound,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34technical quality from the old one.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38That's George's achievement - he's going to leave behind a great opera house.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42And now I think they've probably all forgotten about the old theatre
0:27:42 > 0:27:44and we're now 20 years into this new theatre
0:27:44 > 0:27:46and it is holding up extremely well.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49I think we first put Rosenkavalier into the planning
0:27:49 > 0:27:50about four years ago.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54There'd been a little bit of a dearth of Strauss at Glyndebourne,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58so we scheduled a new production of Ariadne, which appeared last year,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00and Rosenkavalier in 2014.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05It's lovely for me, because actually I saw the last production of Rosenkavalier -
0:28:05 > 0:28:07amazingly, I managed to get a dress rehearsal ticket
0:28:07 > 0:28:09when I suppose I was in my 20s.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14I remember seeing that and those amazing costumes by Erte.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And it's wonderful now to see this piece with a very different
0:28:18 > 0:28:21but equally brilliant creative team behind it.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25One of the things that's special about this production is the three
0:28:25 > 0:28:29leading characters in it - the Marschallin, Octavian and Sophie,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32all those three singers are singing their roles for the first time.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36And that makes it a very special experience, not only for us,
0:28:36 > 0:28:37but all of them.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41I think Glyndebourne has always been about encouraging young artists.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43It's never been particularly about having established
0:28:43 > 0:28:45international stars.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48I hope it will give singers their first opportunities here,
0:28:48 > 0:28:50at whatever stage it is in their career.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Singers like Anna Rajah are at a different stage of their career.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01She is a tremendously talented young artist and I hope will return
0:29:01 > 0:29:04to Glyndebourne in a principal role in the future.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11I live in digs, places that Glyndebourne organised near Lewes.
0:29:12 > 0:29:13The bus is really close,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17so every morning it's two minutes for the bus and I'm here.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20This is my first professional job, which I'm thrilled about.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I remember being at music college and people talking about,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25"Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne."
0:29:25 > 0:29:29I really wanted to see this place and be part of it.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32So when my agent told me that I had an audition with them,
0:29:32 > 0:29:34I was absolutely thrilled.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38So we'll have choristers this summer who are having their first
0:29:38 > 0:29:41professional engagement, but we'll have other,
0:29:41 > 0:29:44more established singers, singing roles for the first time.
0:29:49 > 0:29:50I travel from London by train.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55And then I get met at Lewes station by a lovely minibus which
0:29:55 > 0:29:58takes me into the countryside.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04That takes me to work, so it's a pretty nice commute, I have to say.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Kate Royal is almost a classic Glyndebourne story.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14She came out of the Guildhall just over ten years ago,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18she sang in our chorus in 2003.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22She understudied Pamina in the Magic Flute the next year.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Glyndebourne was my first professional job.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29I went to join the Glyndebourne chorus, which is something that a lot of the singers do,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32and I was given an understudy, which was Pamina, and I got to
0:30:32 > 0:30:35go on and perform the role twice,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38so that was jumping in at the deep end.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And some critics were in that night and it just, from then on,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44I had a career!
0:30:44 > 0:30:46She's had a trajectory at Glyndebourne which has gone
0:30:46 > 0:30:50right from starting in the chorus to this wonderful role
0:30:50 > 0:30:53in Rosenkavalier, which she's singing for the first time at Glyndebourne.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59Tara is an extremely special performer and we've known Tara
0:30:59 > 0:31:02since 2010, when she came here to sing the small
0:31:02 > 0:31:04role of the Sandman in Hansel and Gretel.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Since that time, she's had a huge career and is now
0:31:07 > 0:31:09one of the most exciting young
0:31:09 > 0:31:12mezzo sopranos in international opera.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15I stay in Lewes.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18It's a gift to be able to walk from your little house
0:31:18 > 0:31:22across the Downs and down to Glyndebourne!
0:31:22 > 0:31:24You can take a walk like this every morning.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27You're out here in the air, there's the animals, I mean,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30when we started at rehearsals here, it was lambing season.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32It was the most incredible thing to see every morning.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39So you're not only waking up the body,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41but you're waking up your senses.
0:31:41 > 0:31:42It's fab.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45I mean, I had no idea...
0:31:45 > 0:31:48You know, if you think about it, there is no other opera house
0:31:48 > 0:31:50like this. It's really like a little dream.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55I remember first seeing the sign "Glyndebourne"
0:31:55 > 0:31:59and thinking to myself, "Wow, I can't believe I'm actually here!"
0:31:59 > 0:32:03MUSIC: "Also Sprach Zarathustra" from Don Juan Op.20 by Richard Strauss
0:32:38 > 0:32:40I started on this one about three years ago.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46I was directing something in New York and I spent the first three weeks
0:32:46 > 0:32:47that I was there
0:32:47 > 0:32:50on finalising the design for this.
0:32:50 > 0:32:51Um...
0:32:51 > 0:32:53But the designer, Paul Steinberg,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55had come to London a few times.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00I'd wanted some sort of set
0:33:00 > 0:33:06that did actually express the wealth of anachronism that's in this.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09There's 19th-century Strauss waltzes in it.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13I love the three different societies it moves through.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Palace aristocracy...
0:33:18 > 0:33:20bourgeois life...
0:33:20 > 0:33:21new money.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25And lowlife.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31This is a very olfactory piece, as well, Der Rosenkavalier.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34There's lots of stuff about smell in it.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36But we tried when we designed it
0:33:36 > 0:33:38to feel that each set provoked
0:33:38 > 0:33:39a sense of smell.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42I mean, we don't pump smells out into the audience or anything
0:33:42 > 0:33:44scary like that.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48First act's like... That's a very exclusive smell.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Very luxurious smell.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Second act is Faninal's Palace.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57That could smell of new chair or new car.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Or kind of the smell you might have in a room where
0:34:02 > 0:34:04the air conditioning is on too cold.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06And the third act,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08sort of... that's a bad smell. That's...
0:34:08 > 0:34:10er...
0:34:12 > 0:34:14mouldy carpet...
0:34:14 > 0:34:17I won't say... What was the other?
0:34:17 > 0:34:18Oh, ha!
0:34:18 > 0:34:21You can't say that on television in a documentary
0:34:21 > 0:34:22about Der Rosenkavalier!
0:34:22 > 0:34:24That the third act should smell of urine!
0:34:29 > 0:34:31Strauss, by the age of 29,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35was already the most famous composer in the world before he even
0:34:35 > 0:34:39started writing operas and also the most famous conductor in the world.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42His reputation was based on symphonic music, basically.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Symphonic poems, like Don Juan
0:34:45 > 0:34:51or Also Sprach Zarathustra, which everybody knows from 2001.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55It begins in C major with this very basic...
0:34:57 > 0:35:01..theme and C major to C minor.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04No black notes,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06then the introduction of black notes...
0:35:08 > 0:35:10And then...
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Absolutely magnificent.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17He wrote two successful operas,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Elektra and Salome, which really
0:35:20 > 0:35:25established Strauss's reputation as a first-rate opera composer.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Hofmannsthal is known principally as the librettist
0:35:27 > 0:35:29for six of Richard Strauss's operas.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32He wrote the play Elektra, which attracted Strauss's attention
0:35:32 > 0:35:36and then collaborated on five more dramas with Strauss.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38He was right at the heart of a creative movement
0:35:38 > 0:35:40of literary modernism in Vienna
0:35:40 > 0:35:43and very quickly became part of a group of young writers
0:35:43 > 0:35:45called Jung Wien - Young Vienna -
0:35:45 > 0:35:47who met in the Cafe Griensteidl
0:35:47 > 0:35:51and he rapidly became the dominant poet of his period.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55These dark and bloodthirsty two operas,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Salome and Elektra,
0:35:57 > 0:35:59were in a sense popular modernism.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05This was a kind of decadent, shocking modernism that was highly consumable.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Both Hofmannsthal and Strauss had ideas of wanting to do
0:36:08 > 0:36:13something comic, something lighter and by the time of Rosenkavalier,
0:36:13 > 0:36:18Hofmannsthal wanted to do something not so much a la mode, if you like.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20It's not exactly neoclassical, but he's wanting to look
0:36:20 > 0:36:25back to the 18th century, he's wanting to, as an Austrian,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28he's wanting to plug in a little bit to the Austrian Catholic
0:36:28 > 0:36:32sort of heritage, the cultural dramatic heritage.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34So they're going back to the Mozart operas
0:36:34 > 0:36:38and he's going back to French comedy, to Moliere.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42Artists like Hofmannsthal, and indeed to some extent, Strauss, who
0:36:42 > 0:36:47were members if you like of the high bourgeoisie, the lower aristocracy,
0:36:47 > 0:36:48they, part of them,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53longed for that world where everything was nicely ordered
0:36:53 > 0:36:57and everyone knew where they were and where they were in the class system.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00The premiere in Dresden was incredibly successful,
0:37:00 > 0:37:01so much so that
0:37:01 > 0:37:05they started putting on special Rosenkavalier trains to
0:37:05 > 0:37:08ply between I think it was Vienna and Dresden.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Everybody came to see it and then it came to London.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14It has been a smash hit ever since.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22Right from the start, Rosenkavalier was rejected by some
0:37:22 > 0:37:27audiences as Strauss stepping back, as a retreat from this exciting,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31colourful kind of modernism of Salome and Elektra.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35When it was first performed in Milan, it was actually
0:37:35 > 0:37:39leafleted at the Scala - they had leaflets, the Futurists
0:37:39 > 0:37:43leafleted the audience, as happens sometimes an Italian theatres.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47Basically denouncing Strauss for having denied,
0:37:47 > 0:37:52having absconded from the Modernist path
0:37:52 > 0:37:55and written this rather aggressive work that had waltzes,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58which they didn't believe were appropriate at La Scala.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00You didn't have waltzes in serious operas
0:38:00 > 0:38:02because that was associated with operetta.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Salome and Elektra are very advanced chromatically.
0:38:06 > 0:38:07Lots of nasty noises.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15There's a dissonant sound...
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Turns in Rosenkavalier to...
0:38:24 > 0:38:25So everybody thinks,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28"Ah, he wants to be popular, sentimental", but in fact,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Rosenkavalier in my view is even more sophisticated.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36It's longer and it's more symphonically cohesive.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40It's a little bit like a Mahler symphony in the sense that
0:38:40 > 0:38:43very disparate things - folk music,
0:38:43 > 0:38:48high art, symphonic things that come from Beethoven and everything
0:38:48 > 0:38:51in between - is brought together in a symphonic unity.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Strauss was interested in himself.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07He was interested in the promotion of his music
0:39:07 > 0:39:13and when the Nazis came to power, he saw an opportunity for himself.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16Up to that point, although he was still ostensibly the most
0:39:16 > 0:39:17famous composer in Germany,
0:39:17 > 0:39:23he was, in a way, an old man and sort of seen as yesterday's musician.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25Remember, before the First World War,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27he was regarded as a great Modernist,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29but by the '20s, his music
0:39:29 > 0:39:31was seen as old-fashioned
0:39:31 > 0:39:35and he was disregarded by the younger generation of composers.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37So, he saw this opportunity
0:39:37 > 0:39:40when the Nazis came to power to actually occupy the centre stage
0:39:40 > 0:39:46once again and one way in which he hoped to occupy the centre stage
0:39:46 > 0:39:50was by assuming a position of responsibility for the rights
0:39:50 > 0:39:54of composers, something he had fought for all throughout his life.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56What I mean by rights for composers is that
0:39:56 > 0:39:58when works are performed,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02the composers get proper royalties for those works
0:40:02 > 0:40:07and so he was really agitating this and thought that
0:40:07 > 0:40:12if he would be sympathetic to the new regime, he would get his way.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18And he spoke very warmly about the new regime because he thought
0:40:18 > 0:40:21the new regime was really interested in music and he actually said to
0:40:21 > 0:40:25one friend, "Thank God we now are in a regime that's interested in music."
0:40:25 > 0:40:29And so all through the first years of the Nazi period, all his actions
0:40:29 > 0:40:33seem to be very much in support of the work the Nazis were doing.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36He was never a party member, but at least the beginning of this stage,
0:40:36 > 0:40:41he was very much demonstrating accommodation to the Nazis.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47TRANSLATION FROM GERMAN
0:40:54 > 0:40:56Do remember, also in '36,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00he conducted at the Olympic Games in the opening ceremony.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03He wrote a work called the Olympic Hymn, which he conducted.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Strauss put on an opera which was also premiered in Dresden -
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Die Schweigsame Frau,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15where the libretto was by the Jewish writer, Stefan Zweig.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18The problem with the collaboration between
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Zweig and Strauss was that Strauss was not Jewish and Zweig was,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and when the opera was premiered in 1935,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Strauss insisted that Zweig's name
0:41:27 > 0:41:32appeared on the playbills, not just "comedy after Ben Jonson",
0:41:32 > 0:41:34but "comedy by Stefan Zweig".
0:41:34 > 0:41:36That got him into trouble with the Nazis.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39I believe even Hitler was down on the list of attendees
0:41:39 > 0:41:43for the opening night and as soon as Strauss began to make a fuss,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45the Nazi bigwigs stayed away.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49It was illegal, actually, for an Aryan to collaborate with a Jew.
0:41:49 > 0:41:54They wanted to just remove his name from the playbill and when Strauss
0:41:54 > 0:41:58found this out, he threatened to pull the plug on the whole thing.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02And the irony is that Strauss wrote a letter to Zweig
0:42:02 > 0:42:03saying that he was fed up of his job
0:42:03 > 0:42:05as president of the Reichsmusikkammer.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09He was only play-acting and all he was interested in was good art
0:42:09 > 0:42:10and preserving good art,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13and the letter was intercepted by the Gestapo
0:42:13 > 0:42:14and sent directly to Hitler.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16Then he was made to resign, so ironically,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19although he was a representative of the German Government in '36,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23he'd fallen out with the hierarchy, but they were
0:42:23 > 0:42:26able to use him as a kind of puppet for their own propaganda.
0:42:33 > 0:42:34The end of the Second World War,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38when the Americans came into Germany and Strauss was in his villa
0:42:38 > 0:42:42and he came out and he saw the American soldiers,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46he immediately introduced himself to the American soldiers.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51He said, "I am Richard Strauss, the composer of Der Rosenkavalier."
0:42:51 > 0:42:56He said that because he knew it was his most popular opera.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10I think the key to Rosenkavalier is in the three central characters.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12First of all there's the Marschallin
0:43:12 > 0:43:13who we see right at the beginning
0:43:13 > 0:43:15of the opera enjoying a night of
0:43:15 > 0:43:18passion with her lover, Octavian.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And she's somebody who is very much aware of the passing of time
0:43:21 > 0:43:24and aware of the fact that Octavian will at some point become
0:43:24 > 0:43:28bored with her and move on, and indeed, in Richard's production,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31there's the sense that she too might become bored with him.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Octavian himself is a very interesting role that Strauss has
0:43:36 > 0:43:38created. Very much in a Mozart manner,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41he has created it as a trouser role. It's actually...
0:43:41 > 0:43:43The character is a man,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47but played by a woman and confusingly during the course of the opera,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50the man, Octavian himself, dresses up as a woman,
0:43:50 > 0:43:55so there's all sorts of confusion and pandemonium that results from that.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58The third character is the rather sad character of Sophie,
0:43:58 > 0:44:04who is just the pawn in Baron Ochs' plans to marry into money.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12And she is the person who almost inevitably at the end
0:44:12 > 0:44:16of the opera falls in love with Octavian and the two of them finish
0:44:16 > 0:44:19the opera together, leaving the Marschallin back on her own again.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29It tends to move chronologically
0:44:29 > 0:44:31between the 18th century of
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Maria Theresa to the period
0:44:34 > 0:44:36when it was written, which is
0:44:36 > 0:44:381910 to 1912 in Vienna.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Well, I had read Zweig's The World Of Yesterday and the first third
0:44:44 > 0:44:46is about people who lived in Vienna,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50actually just before the Rosenkavalier was written.
0:44:50 > 0:44:56You get a very strong idea of all those men being voracious readers,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59voracious consumers of theatre, all intensely
0:44:59 > 0:45:02hothouse plants, particularly the young Hofmannsthal,
0:45:02 > 0:45:04who they all idolised.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11There were some films I've found - pornography - in this period.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16And was amazed how playful
0:45:16 > 0:45:20and innocent the situations were in these films.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26They were nearly all about class, always about masters with maids.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32And it's written in the age of burgeoning psychoanalysis.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36So, yes, it's a can of worms!
0:45:37 > 0:45:42Richard wanted Kate to appear naked, so there's a Spanx under there
0:45:42 > 0:45:44and a bra under there and then,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48cos she's put seams in as if it's a garment rather than just a bodysuit.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Because it's all about the skin tone and the different textures,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53so it's not REAL real,
0:45:53 > 0:45:55but it looks it from the stage,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57but you're not quite sure what you're looking at.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17The role of the Marschallin is one of those iconic
0:46:17 > 0:46:20roles for the soprano voice.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25And, in all honesty, it took me a long time to say yes
0:46:25 > 0:46:28and to decide that it was something I felt that I could take on.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34She's a very bright and confident
0:46:34 > 0:46:37and lively woman who just happens
0:46:37 > 0:46:39to be in this marriage
0:46:39 > 0:46:44that has forced her into this cage, really.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47She is a princess, as well.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49In the Austrian way, she has all sorts of different titles,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52she's the field marshal's wife and she's a princess.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57So she's part of the nobility and she's married of course into
0:46:57 > 0:47:01ancestral wealth and estates and she has a beautiful house and lots of
0:47:01 > 0:47:05servants and people come to her with petitions and all the rest of it.
0:47:05 > 0:47:11So she's at the centre of a social whirl which she is to some extent
0:47:11 > 0:47:15being slightly subversive of in her own lifestyle.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Well, she is the most interesting character and she does have...
0:47:18 > 0:47:20She's a Christian,
0:47:20 > 0:47:24but her Christianity is not beleaguered by guilt.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27And she sees sex as part of nature
0:47:27 > 0:47:30and she sees it as a very glorious thing.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36Very well aware of her position in society,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40she knows that she cannot step outside of the boundaries.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43I think it's her escape, you know, having an affair
0:47:43 > 0:47:47and we know that it's not just been him, there's been many before.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49There'll probably be more after.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52But it's her escape and her way of
0:47:52 > 0:47:55expressing herself, being free and
0:47:55 > 0:47:59just allowing herself some freedom
0:47:59 > 0:48:02in an otherwise very strict society.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12Octavian is absolutely obsessed with her, she's so lush and exciting.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18This is a young guy who is really experiencing life,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22he's absolutely obsessed with the Marschallin.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27She's introduced him to life as a man,
0:48:27 > 0:48:29so to speak, life in the bedroom.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31And this is overwhelmingly exciting.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38The role of Octavian was always intended to be cross cast,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41so sung as a soprano played by a woman.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46That means that from the perspective of the audience,
0:48:46 > 0:48:48what you see is a woman pretending
0:48:48 > 0:48:51to be a man, pretending to be a woman.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04So I spend, let's say, at least 80% of my opera time as a boy.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12It's almost the inverse of the scene in Life Of Brian
0:49:12 > 0:49:13where you've got the stoning scene
0:49:13 > 0:49:18and you've got men pretending to be women pretending to be men.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21But, unlike in Life Of Brian, where it's always quite clear
0:49:21 > 0:49:24that they are men putting on a falsetto,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26in the opera,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29it's always clear that it is a woman because she's singing as a soprano.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Let me tell you, to play a little boy is so much fun!
0:49:39 > 0:49:43You can get so dirty, it's all really loose in your body,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47none of this where ladies have to sit upright and keep their knees
0:49:47 > 0:49:51together and have great posture - none of that nonsense!
0:49:51 > 0:49:56Hofmannsthal certainly was interested in androgyny.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04In, if you like, erotically charged same-sex relationships.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09And that certainly is then present in Rosenkavalier.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Indeed, one can read the opening to the first act
0:50:12 > 0:50:14as a sort of lesbian love scene.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18It's a sort of safe way of looking at homoeroticism.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23It's a slightly titillating
0:50:23 > 0:50:28and licentious way of looking at female homoeroticism I think, yes.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38The starting point is very often our music director
0:50:38 > 0:50:41and what they want to do.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44This summer, we have a new music director, Robin Ticciati,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and he has chosen an opera by Strauss.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50I am a continuation.
0:50:50 > 0:50:51I am joining a train.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57The history of the place is huge and carries with it an incredibly
0:50:57 > 0:51:01deep artistic belief and philosophy
0:51:01 > 0:51:03and so I want to join that.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12We are in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne where there have
0:51:12 > 0:51:15been many rehearsals with singers and pianists
0:51:15 > 0:51:18to set up an opera,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20the beginnings of the opera process.
0:51:20 > 0:51:21And...um...
0:51:23 > 0:51:28I'm often asked what the conductor does before the orchestra comes
0:51:28 > 0:51:30in an opera process.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35For me, these four weeks, five weeks of just singers, director
0:51:35 > 0:51:41and pianist is a way of setting up the opera and the scene.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46I thought we would start in the middle of Act Two, Baron Ochs.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49Baron Ochs has just found Octavian
0:51:49 > 0:51:50and Sophie together.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57And we're left with this noise at 133.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Just five bars of orchestra.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21And there's a mixture of trombones, tuba, basset horns,
0:52:21 > 0:52:26clarinets and you can hear that all immediately in the piano
0:52:26 > 0:52:29and the whole thing about setting up a relationship
0:52:29 > 0:52:34with the pianist in the room, it's about creating an energy whereby
0:52:34 > 0:52:39the singers can imagine their character, imagine
0:52:39 > 0:52:44the feeling of the pit, but four weeks before the orchestra arrive.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47I mean, even in this third bar, the tuba appears -
0:52:47 > 0:52:52tell me about the tuba. You spend years preparing the score.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54It's a great sound, isn't it?
0:52:54 > 0:52:56It's very dark...
0:52:59 > 0:53:00And it all melds into...
0:53:00 > 0:53:02a strong legato to...
0:53:04 > 0:53:06..this extreme chord.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08With the timpani.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13So you're always thinking orchestrally. Yes.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17The first time we did that, we played it through and then
0:53:17 > 0:53:20when we were in the scene, I remember just sharing with Duncan
0:53:20 > 0:53:24a little more of the tuba line and Richard said, "Ah!"
0:53:24 > 0:53:27"That's the moment where just Octavian and Sophie
0:53:27 > 0:53:30"could just melt back into the atmosphere
0:53:30 > 0:53:34"and really feel the presence of Ochs on the scene."
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Let's just play it once again with that.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58And so it's the idea of creating a palette, orchestral palette,
0:53:58 > 0:54:03where the singers feel completely in the world of Der Rosenkavalier.
0:54:10 > 0:54:11But the first kiss, you know,
0:54:11 > 0:54:16Sophie never kissed anyone before in our production and we were
0:54:16 > 0:54:21really experimenting about the places where there would be stillness.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23If you play just before two before 116...
0:54:29 > 0:54:31Just that chord.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Just on this... Or whatever chord it is, that's the beautiful
0:54:34 > 0:54:39thing about music, no-one has to know, but anyone can feel that.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I think the beautiful thing about Glyndebourne
0:55:02 > 0:55:06is the fact that it never apologises for the rehearsal length.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08This is what we do here.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12It gives you an opportunity
0:55:12 > 0:55:15to go to the heart of a piece of music.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25I was very happy to make my debut here because I knew
0:55:25 > 0:55:30we would have a lot of time and, for this role, we need...
0:55:30 > 0:55:33For this opera, we need a lot of time.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38Every opera and every important thing that we do in our life
0:55:38 > 0:55:44must be done with a lot of work and determination
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and this is the case with Rosenkavalier, with the rehearsal.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Every detail was worked very hard.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55SHE SINGS AN EXCERPT
0:56:07 > 0:56:11The role of Sophie, it's never a disappointment
0:56:11 > 0:56:12when you get a perfect Sophie after
0:56:12 > 0:56:14a perfect Marschallin in Act One.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17With a good Sophie, you should, really,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19more or less forget about the Marschallin
0:56:19 > 0:56:21until she comes back in Act Three.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Sophie is her father's daughter, there's a sort of feistiness,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27there's a row between father and daughter in the second act.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38She backs down at the last minute
0:56:38 > 0:56:41when she sees that it's affecting his health.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43But she has spirit, she has feistiness.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Sophie is a very young girl,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53she's 15.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55She's innocent,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58she is very clever
0:56:58 > 0:57:00and, um...
0:57:00 > 0:57:04she is looking forward to be married, which is OK.
0:57:10 > 0:57:11Strauss is, um...
0:57:14 > 0:57:19..a master in putting the music in the right place.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24I think the role of Sophie is written in a certain way
0:57:24 > 0:57:27that it makes Sophie very young.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41Strauss uses the orchestra and the various sections and instruments
0:57:41 > 0:57:45as vocalists, every inch as much of the singers -
0:57:45 > 0:57:47they play an equal part.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55First of all, the way Strauss composed operas,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58he would read the libretto and when he was reading the libretto
0:57:58 > 0:58:02he would put in little scraps of
0:58:02 > 0:58:04melody in the side of the column, so...
0:58:07 > 0:58:11At the Presentation of the Rose, in Act Two,
0:58:11 > 0:58:12he would think of that, or...
0:58:14 > 0:58:15Something like that.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19That is to say he has little bit of themes like this...
0:58:19 > 0:58:24And so forth, which he then puts on a sort of conveyor belt
0:58:24 > 0:58:25of symphonic continuity,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29but for that, he has to go to the beginning
0:58:29 > 0:58:31and then compose through logically.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34I suppose the cue for orchestral illustration
0:58:34 > 0:58:36of human emotions really for Strauss
0:58:36 > 0:58:40comes particularly from Wagner and the use of the orchestra
0:58:40 > 0:58:42and of course the leitmotifs.
0:58:47 > 0:58:52I mean, for the Marschallin, you have this extremely short motif,
0:58:52 > 0:58:55you first hear it in the passage where the lower strings are sighing.
0:58:55 > 0:58:58And... # Dee-da-dum... #
0:58:58 > 0:59:01They're sighing away there, but it's the solo wind,
0:59:01 > 0:59:05you've got the oboe and then the clarinet and then the flute going...
0:59:05 > 0:59:08# Da da-dee dum
0:59:08 > 0:59:09# Da da-dee dum... #
0:59:09 > 0:59:13And that motif goes through 100 manifestations
0:59:13 > 0:59:16of the Marschallin's countless changing moods.
0:59:25 > 0:59:29Strauss knew immediately the importance of the linking,
0:59:29 > 0:59:32of how motifs would link material in these operas.
0:59:32 > 0:59:37Of course he uses that knowledge with his knowledge of Wagner to actually
0:59:37 > 0:59:41understand how the motovic material works in Rosenkavalier.
0:59:57 > 1:00:01When they're indicating a character, when they're indicating a mood,
1:00:01 > 1:00:04it's understanding those small, important moments
1:00:04 > 1:00:05within the score as well,
1:00:05 > 1:00:09whilst managing to take that whole global approach.
1:00:09 > 1:00:12Actually, the orchestra is the storyteller.
1:00:12 > 1:00:14The orchestra tells everything.
1:00:22 > 1:00:27You don't know your character yet? No. OK, so...
1:00:27 > 1:00:28This is you.
1:00:32 > 1:00:34A lot of people think Glyndebourne is just about singers
1:00:34 > 1:00:37and people working on the stage.
1:00:37 > 1:00:39I'm just going to raise it up and down...
1:00:39 > 1:00:42But we're very lucky here that we're able to attract
1:00:42 > 1:00:45some exceptional craftspeople to come and work here at Glyndebourne.
1:00:46 > 1:00:49We have amazing props makers,
1:00:49 > 1:00:52costume makers, stage crew,
1:00:52 > 1:00:56people of all kinds of skills and crafts.
1:00:56 > 1:00:58And in a way I think we add something extra
1:00:58 > 1:01:01to the whole community of Sussex by bringing these very wonderful
1:01:01 > 1:01:03specialists into the community here.
1:01:03 > 1:01:06Often they start here commuting from London, then they love Sussex
1:01:06 > 1:01:08and they come down here and stay.
1:01:10 > 1:01:14We have 150 full-time posts here at Glyndebourne.
1:01:14 > 1:01:18But that expands to well over 500 in the summer.
1:01:22 > 1:01:26It's like a real... craft industry here,
1:01:26 > 1:01:29cos everybody's so good at it and so wants to do it.
1:01:29 > 1:01:34It's quite unusual to find such a level of skill.
1:01:34 > 1:01:37The dye shop, the men's tailoring department, you know,
1:01:37 > 1:01:42there's not one single element which doesn't work.
1:01:42 > 1:01:45Richard Jones was really keen
1:01:45 > 1:01:48that we didn't end up with a very 18th century
1:01:48 > 1:01:50kind of look for everything.
1:01:50 > 1:01:54Really high wigs or all those sort of drapes.
1:01:54 > 1:02:01And also to try and allow the performers to still be themselves.
1:02:01 > 1:02:05This is a smaller cut of the fleur-de-lis print
1:02:05 > 1:02:10we did for the servants, which was basically a copy of the set,
1:02:10 > 1:02:12but Nicky added fleur-de-lis that she'd found online
1:02:12 > 1:02:15and we went to a traditional printers, locally.
1:02:15 > 1:02:17So you've got random images of fleur-de-lis on top of
1:02:17 > 1:02:21Paul Steinberg's design of the set, which then...
1:02:21 > 1:02:25Jenny did the orange - we had an orange velvet fleur-de-lis here
1:02:25 > 1:02:28and lots of different trims and tassels all in orange,
1:02:28 > 1:02:31which upstairs magicked into fabulous costumes.
1:02:31 > 1:02:33THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:02:42 > 1:02:47I was thinking about the fact that you have so many people on stage,
1:02:47 > 1:02:49but she still has to stand out.
1:02:49 > 1:02:53And I had found a reference for something that was very inspiring -
1:02:53 > 1:02:54this is a fashion photograph -
1:02:54 > 1:02:57and it was really inspiring because it was incredibly white
1:02:57 > 1:03:02and the 18th century is associated with white skin, white wigs.
1:03:02 > 1:03:06And I also wanted to really zap the colour up against the white,
1:03:06 > 1:03:09so it was like a really extreme contrast.
1:03:09 > 1:03:13And in the end I found these 19th century seed packets
1:03:13 > 1:03:15that we then took to the printers.
1:03:17 > 1:03:20You know, it's really toxic colour onstage, which is absolutely spot-on.
1:03:20 > 1:03:22THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:03:33 > 1:03:38'It's just a lovely chance to, not to try and modernise Rosenkavalier,
1:03:38 > 1:03:39'because that's impossible.
1:03:46 > 1:03:48'The difficulty is with a role like that,
1:03:48 > 1:03:51'it's fixed in people's minds as to what they expect.'
1:03:54 > 1:03:58Some of the greatest singers have sung her and my job, I guess,
1:03:58 > 1:04:00is to try to...
1:04:00 > 1:04:02acknowledge that and be aware of it
1:04:02 > 1:04:06but also to steer the audience in a new direction.
1:04:16 > 1:04:20She's very strong and I think that perhaps in a lot of past productions
1:04:20 > 1:04:23that hasn't come across so well
1:04:23 > 1:04:27and she's become a bit of a victim of her own circumstance
1:04:27 > 1:04:32and I really wanted to try and bring more positivity to her, really.
1:04:32 > 1:04:36I think there can be an expectation that the Marschallin should be
1:04:36 > 1:04:40played, by the actress, as someone who goes on to a sort of
1:04:40 > 1:04:43default setting of... depression and dignity.
1:04:43 > 1:04:45And I've...
1:04:46 > 1:04:49..tried to work against that slightly.
1:04:59 > 1:05:04'It was an interesting process trying to find what drives her.'
1:05:07 > 1:05:10'She's very well aware of her position in society.
1:05:10 > 1:05:14'She knows that she cannot step outside of the boundaries,'
1:05:14 > 1:05:18so she's coming to terms with that in the piece,
1:05:18 > 1:05:23coming to terms with her role and how she can fulfil that
1:05:23 > 1:05:27but still be happy, still be a happy human being.
1:05:27 > 1:05:30And she is not an old woman. She's still beautiful, she's still young.
1:05:30 > 1:05:33But she is feeling the ageing process
1:05:33 > 1:05:38and the specific situation with Octavian being a younger lover,
1:05:38 > 1:05:41and later, Sophie the girl he falls in love with,
1:05:41 > 1:05:46leads her to reflect on the larger issues of time and impermanence.
1:05:49 > 1:05:52Marschallin is Hofmannsthal's mouthpiece for this sense of -
1:05:52 > 1:05:54das Gleitende, he called it -
1:05:54 > 1:05:56where everything is in flux.
1:05:59 > 1:06:02The Marschallin is a middle-aged woman
1:06:02 > 1:06:04having an affair with a young man of 17.
1:06:10 > 1:06:14'And effectively trying to stop the clocks by doing it.'
1:06:27 > 1:06:31'The libretto is shot through with endless references
1:06:31 > 1:06:35'to the present, the past, the future.'
1:06:38 > 1:06:41When she talks to Octavian, she says,
1:06:41 > 1:06:47"It's going to be heute oder morgen - today or tomorrow."
1:06:55 > 1:06:59Time is such an important part of...
1:06:59 > 1:07:02Well, the Marschallin talks about it and talks about
1:07:02 > 1:07:04sometimes she gets up and stops all the clocks.
1:07:04 > 1:07:07She can't believe how time...
1:07:07 > 1:07:10You're in it and then all of a sudden it just slips away
1:07:10 > 1:07:12through your fingers and...
1:07:12 > 1:07:16Like sand running through a timer, you know?
1:07:16 > 1:07:21The text is so, so wonderful, the Hofmannsthal text.
1:07:21 > 1:07:24Absolutely extraordinary. And I think...
1:07:24 > 1:07:27Strauss' music is glorious
1:07:27 > 1:07:31but the text is so...relevant to everybody, really.
1:07:31 > 1:07:36I think everyone can identify with the Marschallin, who says,
1:07:36 > 1:07:40"How can it be that...
1:07:40 > 1:07:44"that I was the young girl and I shall be the old woman,
1:07:44 > 1:07:46"and I'm still the same?"
1:07:46 > 1:07:47Oh.
1:07:47 > 1:07:52Gets me every time when I say that because it's obvious,
1:07:52 > 1:07:56absolutely obvious, but so true. And you don't...
1:07:56 > 1:07:57You don't realise it.
1:07:57 > 1:08:00I think when you're young you think you're going to grow up
1:08:00 > 1:08:03or you're going to grow old, but inside you're just the same,
1:08:03 > 1:08:04it's just everybody else...
1:08:04 > 1:08:05SHE LAUGHS
1:08:08 > 1:08:09REPORTER: After rehearsal,
1:08:09 > 1:08:13the cast could relax in the lovely grounds, which are as much a part
1:08:13 > 1:08:17of a Glyndebourne festival as the performances themselves.
1:08:17 > 1:08:21We live in an artistic commune here, really.
1:08:21 > 1:08:24I mean, the house is filled with people
1:08:24 > 1:08:27who are involved with the operas.
1:08:27 > 1:08:30That's not something you see in every opera house.
1:08:30 > 1:08:35I think that really promotes a very high level of creativity.
1:08:35 > 1:08:37Cos when you're happy you can create.
1:08:40 > 1:08:43When I first came here, people asked me, "Where are you working?"
1:08:43 > 1:08:47And I'd say, and they'd say "Where's that? What does it do? Really?"
1:08:47 > 1:08:50"Sussex? An opera company? No, you're kidding."
1:08:55 > 1:08:58When I think of what I learned down here - learned to drive,
1:08:58 > 1:09:01I learned to swim.
1:09:01 > 1:09:04All kinds of things. You were here and that was it.
1:09:10 > 1:09:14Great parties, amazing parties. Especially with the chorus.
1:09:14 > 1:09:17But... It was a life. It was a way of life.
1:09:21 > 1:09:23I enjoyed very much this opera house.
1:09:25 > 1:09:30What is very beautiful after the rehearsing - the rehearsal -
1:09:30 > 1:09:32you can go out and see the sheep...
1:09:34 > 1:09:38..beautiful nature... It's just wonderful.
1:09:38 > 1:09:40It's like a little piece of heaven.
1:09:40 > 1:09:43Got these wonderful gardens to walk in, there's fresh air,
1:09:43 > 1:09:45you've time to let your head relax.
1:09:50 > 1:09:54You have countryside and you have the sheep.
1:09:54 > 1:09:56I remember when I first came to Glyndebourne,
1:09:56 > 1:09:59the first thing I remember were the sheep in the fields.
1:09:59 > 1:10:03It's a bit like planet opera and that can become quite oppressive.
1:10:03 > 1:10:06It's a little opera bubble, you know? And it's wonderful.
1:10:06 > 1:10:10You know, if you were in London it's a little different.
1:10:10 > 1:10:12You might be working in the morning
1:10:12 > 1:10:15and a bit in the afternoon
1:10:15 > 1:10:20and then you're somewhere else, in a different world, in a sense.
1:10:20 > 1:10:24Well, when you're living at Glyndebourne, this doesn't happen.
1:10:24 > 1:10:28I mean, I live in South London and you can sort of long for
1:10:28 > 1:10:31the trains to draw in at the junction on Vauxhall
1:10:31 > 1:10:33just so that you can smell the streets.
1:10:33 > 1:10:36It's very peaceful but then when you go inside to Glyndebourne, you're
1:10:36 > 1:10:40working with the music and I just think it's really nice to have both.
1:10:40 > 1:10:43You can want to run away, yeah.
1:10:46 > 1:10:50REPORTER: By the croquet lawn, Mr Harvey, the head gardener, trims
1:10:50 > 1:10:55the flowers in the white border he's designed for this year's display.
1:11:10 > 1:11:13'People always think this idea of presenting a silver rose
1:11:13 > 1:11:14'to the daughter's nobility
1:11:14 > 1:11:16'is a long-established Viennese tradition.'
1:11:16 > 1:11:19Hofmannsthal made it up.
1:11:19 > 1:11:25He based it on the papal tradition of the church, the Pope,
1:11:25 > 1:11:28presenting a golden rose to the daughters of the nobility.
1:11:28 > 1:11:31And, of course, when Octavian arrives, Strauss gives him
1:11:31 > 1:11:34a great operatic set piece,
1:11:34 > 1:11:37which we sit back and think, "This is wonderful."
1:11:37 > 1:11:40But, of course, as Adorno, the great Marxist critic said,
1:11:40 > 1:11:43"What is the offer? It's merely a fake rose."
1:11:43 > 1:11:47It's not a real one at all, it's a silver rose, it's a fake.
1:11:51 > 1:11:54And, of course, it is an incredibly poetic idea.
1:11:54 > 1:11:57I mean, people are manufacturing silver roses for people
1:11:57 > 1:12:00who love Rosenkavalier, you know, because it's such a beautiful thing.
1:12:12 > 1:12:15'One of the things I love most is the presentation of the rose because'
1:12:15 > 1:12:18Richard has done this extraordinary thing of slightly refocusing
1:12:18 > 1:12:21that particular scene, so the moment and the beginning
1:12:21 > 1:12:25when Sophie and Octavian usually fall in love with each other,
1:12:25 > 1:12:28when they're stammering and stuttering their lines out,
1:12:28 > 1:12:31actually becomes a little piece of artifice of the sort of ceremony
1:12:31 > 1:12:33they're going through,
1:12:33 > 1:12:35where they actually had to be prompted to say those lines.
1:12:35 > 1:12:38But then when they really do fall in love,
1:12:38 > 1:12:41the choreography of this moment where the two of them are just rocking
1:12:41 > 1:12:46gently from side to side, I think, is just so beautiful and so touching.
1:12:56 > 1:13:00'The presentation of the rose is Octavian's key,
1:13:00 > 1:13:03'which is F-sharp major.'
1:13:09 > 1:13:12And G-major, which is Sophie's key
1:13:12 > 1:13:14Coming together...
1:13:18 > 1:13:21F-major. And so forth.
1:13:26 > 1:13:30Sophie and he are perfectly aware that it's an artificial rose -
1:13:30 > 1:13:35it's been made, as the music is being made.
1:13:35 > 1:13:37The point is that there has to be,
1:13:37 > 1:13:41though, an emotional unity between all the characters.
1:13:41 > 1:13:45And Hofmannsthal, when he wrote this marvellous,
1:13:45 > 1:13:48short summary of Rosenkavalier,
1:13:48 > 1:13:52he comes up with a phrase at the end - "Eintracht der Lebendigen,"
1:13:52 > 1:13:56the unity of everybody living.
1:13:56 > 1:14:01Octavian is the glue between Ochs and the Countess, for example,
1:14:01 > 1:14:04and he comes together with Sophie,
1:14:04 > 1:14:07and all of the characters on the stage,
1:14:07 > 1:14:11right down to the serving maids and so forth -
1:14:11 > 1:14:14they are together in this wonderful unity.
1:14:16 > 1:14:19'Everybody...
1:14:19 > 1:14:23'depends on each other to have any kind of future.'
1:14:24 > 1:14:28In any kind of good existence, we all must depend on each other.
1:14:28 > 1:14:30And Richard's made that exceptionally clear.
1:14:30 > 1:14:35Yeah, it's a very delicate, lovely piece but, actually, is quite heavy
1:14:35 > 1:14:39and quite strong and probably could cause someone some kind of anguish.
1:14:49 > 1:14:53'Rosenkavalier is the opening production of the 2014 season
1:14:53 > 1:14:56'and it's just one of six productions and 76 performances
1:14:56 > 1:14:58'we're doing at Glyndebourne this summer.'
1:14:58 > 1:15:02REPORTER: At Victoria Station in the middle of the afternoon it is unusual
1:15:02 > 1:15:04to see one's fellow travellers in evening dress.
1:15:04 > 1:15:07But the train for Glyndebourne leaves at 3:45,
1:15:07 > 1:15:09so as to be in time for the evening performance.
1:15:13 > 1:15:17John Christie wanted people to dress in evening dress
1:15:17 > 1:15:20to respect the artists. He said, "The artists have made an effort
1:15:20 > 1:15:23"and we as audience members should make an effort."
1:15:26 > 1:15:28Mother's coming by car.
1:15:28 > 1:15:30Mm. Father told me.
1:15:30 > 1:15:34The first night of the season is the reopening of the theatre
1:15:34 > 1:15:37that has been closed for several months.
1:15:37 > 1:15:39So there's a huge amount of preparation that is needed
1:15:39 > 1:15:42just to start the festival off again each year.
1:15:42 > 1:15:44I suppose we're one of those organisations where we want
1:15:44 > 1:15:46everything to appear very smooth
1:15:46 > 1:15:48and there's a lot of paddling that goes on underneath.
1:15:48 > 1:15:51So first night's completely nerve-racking for everybody here,
1:15:51 > 1:15:53not just the artists on the stage,
1:15:53 > 1:15:56but actually let's not forget the people working front of house.
1:15:56 > 1:16:01I will be over there and when I give clearance to the stage manager
1:16:01 > 1:16:05to say we're ready, I will cue the doors to close on that side.
1:16:05 > 1:16:08So you all just need to keep an eye on those doors.
1:16:08 > 1:16:12And as soon as that one closes, everybody just follow suit.
1:16:12 > 1:16:14OK? Great.
1:16:14 > 1:16:17And is there anything anybody wants to ask me, tell me? Say?
1:16:17 > 1:16:20MAN: We haven't had any payslips for the last week.
1:16:20 > 1:16:23No payslips for last week? OK. We were paid...
1:16:23 > 1:16:26You were paid, that's the main thing.
1:16:26 > 1:16:27REPORTER: Outside the station,
1:16:27 > 1:16:30a number of coaches stand by to take the London audience
1:16:30 > 1:16:34to the Sussex opera house, in time for the evening performance.
1:16:36 > 1:16:39Follow that bus. Glyndebourne? Right, sir.
1:16:55 > 1:16:57It's incredibly important that people come here
1:16:57 > 1:17:00and have a great experience when they arrive here.
1:17:00 > 1:17:04And Jules is one of those remarkable people who cares
1:17:04 > 1:17:10passionately about how people feel when they're here and has
1:17:10 > 1:17:13extraordinary levels of customer service, which we're very proud of.
1:17:15 > 1:17:17The audience come off the train, get onto the bus,
1:17:17 > 1:17:20and they get brought up to Glyndebourne
1:17:20 > 1:17:23and at the end of the evening they're taken back to Lewes Station.
1:17:23 > 1:17:28This is our coach park and it's also for chauffeurs.
1:17:35 > 1:17:37You can walk wherever you want to
1:17:37 > 1:17:40and you can bring whatever you want to for a picnic.
1:17:40 > 1:17:43We see lots of people here with very lavish picnics. You can come here
1:17:43 > 1:17:46with your sandwiches from Marks Spencer if you want to.
1:17:46 > 1:17:48And I've done that myself in the past before I worked here
1:17:48 > 1:17:53and it's a very easy way and relaxed way of spending the interval.
1:17:53 > 1:17:54And indeed, if you have a simple picnic,
1:17:54 > 1:17:57you've got even more time to walk around the grounds.
1:17:57 > 1:18:01It's a perfect Glyndebourne day - hot and sunny.
1:18:03 > 1:18:06A lot of our audience go to the restaurants
1:18:06 > 1:18:09but some people bring their own picnics.
1:18:11 > 1:18:16And people have their favourite spots as well, so they try and get here
1:18:16 > 1:18:20as early as they can to grab their favourite place.
1:18:23 > 1:18:26The shows start quite early, so it's very light,
1:18:26 > 1:18:29it's sunny outside and the audiences are there,
1:18:29 > 1:18:32you can hear the audience having their picnic
1:18:32 > 1:18:34and doing all of that stuff.
1:18:34 > 1:18:36So it is quite hard to focus.
1:18:36 > 1:18:39What I'm interested in is value for money.
1:18:39 > 1:18:42I've been here once before and that was six years ago.
1:18:42 > 1:18:45I've been saving up to come back again and tonight's the night.
1:18:45 > 1:18:48Look, the first thing to say is that opera is a very expensive art form,
1:18:48 > 1:18:51wherever it's put on, Glyndebourne or anywhere else.
1:18:51 > 1:18:53I think people often don't do the maths
1:18:53 > 1:18:57when they go to an opera performance and realise that, you know,
1:18:57 > 1:18:59take this Rosenkavalier, there are 70 people in the pit
1:18:59 > 1:19:02playing in the LPO, there's a chorus of 30,
1:19:02 > 1:19:05there's another 15-odd principals, there's probably six actors,
1:19:05 > 1:19:07and there's always people backstage.
1:19:07 > 1:19:11Did you want to go in today? Is it one or two? Just for me.
1:19:11 > 1:19:15Yes, I think I've got one for you.
1:19:15 > 1:19:17Being a conductor, you probably like to be over the pit.
1:19:20 > 1:19:25PA SYSTEM: Mr Ticciati, Mr Ticciati, this is your call.
1:19:25 > 1:19:28Thankfully, I'm not singing.
1:19:28 > 1:19:30BELL RINGS Ah, the bell.
1:19:30 > 1:19:33Now for your initiation. Perhaps we'll see you in the interval.
1:19:33 > 1:19:36BELL RINGS
1:19:36 > 1:19:37First bell.
1:19:39 > 1:19:41Blue circle, box G.
1:19:41 > 1:19:44Quickest way is just to go straight ahead there, up to the next level.
1:20:08 > 1:20:09OK.
1:20:11 > 1:20:15He's just gone...I mean, he'll be back in a second. OK. That's fine.
1:20:38 > 1:20:41INDISTINCT CHATTER
1:20:46 > 1:20:47You guys don't have a Swish Car, do you?
1:20:54 > 1:20:56Jules...
1:20:56 > 1:20:58I'm so sorry.
1:20:58 > 1:21:01INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER
1:21:11 > 1:21:13OK, all the doors are closed now.
1:21:15 > 1:21:18APPLAUSE
1:21:32 > 1:21:34OPERATIC MUSIC BEGINS
1:21:49 > 1:21:54A Broadway show doctor says, "Always put in an amazing 11 o'clock number."
1:21:54 > 1:21:59And, of course, it's got the best 11 o'clock number of all shows
1:21:59 > 1:22:01in the form of this trio between these three women.
1:22:01 > 1:22:03THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:22:10 > 1:22:12'Which is launched by the Marschallin'
1:22:12 > 1:22:16in this incredibly taxing opening phrase.
1:22:17 > 1:22:21It's just so iconic and everyone's waiting for that line.
1:22:38 > 1:22:41'It is one of the only moments where we just stand and sing.'
1:22:42 > 1:22:44SHE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:23:00 > 1:23:03'But then, of course, Sophie dovetails with her
1:23:03 > 1:23:04'and at times goes above her.'
1:23:09 > 1:23:13'Strauss just pulls it all together
1:23:13 > 1:23:18'and produces this extraordinary, affecting moment.'
1:23:18 > 1:23:21THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:23:24 > 1:23:27'And the way he blends the three voices together in that trio
1:23:27 > 1:23:29'is so beautiful.'
1:23:34 > 1:23:37'The female voices shamelessly consume you.'
1:23:42 > 1:23:45'And they're always rising phrases and climaxes'
1:23:45 > 1:23:48and it goes on and up and up.
1:23:48 > 1:23:52I'm not very articulate about describing music, I just...
1:23:52 > 1:23:56I just love it and it seems absolutely...
1:23:57 > 1:24:01..right and perfect to me for what he's describing.
1:24:01 > 1:24:03THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:24:08 > 1:24:11'The Marschallin is engaging in a soliloquy with us
1:24:11 > 1:24:13'of remembering things she said in the first act -'
1:24:13 > 1:24:15' "I've got to give up this boy,"
1:24:15 > 1:24:18' "He's got to go off with this beautiful girl and they're going to
1:24:18 > 1:24:21' "marry and I've got to realise that I'm getting older."
1:24:21 > 1:24:22'So, in a sense, it is through her eyes.'
1:24:22 > 1:24:26It is the farewell to an older world.
1:24:26 > 1:24:30And she realises that she has got to move into a new kind of life.
1:24:30 > 1:24:32THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:24:35 > 1:24:39'I had to really think carefully about how I was going to not allow
1:24:39 > 1:24:42'that to affect me and not allow yourself to get
1:24:42 > 1:24:44'too emotionally involved, personally involved.'
1:24:44 > 1:24:48And that's something which, as a singer,
1:24:48 > 1:24:51is crucial because if you let yourself go,
1:24:51 > 1:24:54emotionally, you can't sing, you know?
1:24:54 > 1:24:56And nobody wants to see a weeping soprano
1:24:56 > 1:24:59struggling their way through the trio of Rosenkavalier.
1:24:59 > 1:25:01THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:25:06 > 1:25:10'Strauss, he understood very well a woman's soul.
1:25:10 > 1:25:12The feeling of a young woman like Sophie.
1:25:15 > 1:25:18The feeling of an older woman like the Marschallin.
1:25:22 > 1:25:26'Octavian, he is in such a difficult position.'
1:25:26 > 1:25:29THEY SING IN GERMAN
1:25:29 > 1:25:31'He's not over the Marschallin but he has to let her go.
1:25:31 > 1:25:33'And he knows she's going to walk out that door,'
1:25:33 > 1:25:37he knows his heart will break, yet he knows that the possible
1:25:37 > 1:25:41love of his life is just standing on the other side of the room.
1:25:41 > 1:25:45So torn. And he sees that both the women are torn.
1:25:45 > 1:25:47He's hurt both of them.
1:25:47 > 1:25:49And he can't help both of them.
1:25:54 > 1:25:56And it's just this emotional roller coaster
1:25:56 > 1:26:00with the most incredible music.
1:26:00 > 1:26:03The most incredible music.
1:26:03 > 1:26:06SHE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:26:21 > 1:26:25'And it was the music that was played at Strauss' funeral.'
1:26:25 > 1:26:28Where all where all the sopranos fell out, one by one,
1:26:28 > 1:26:30cos they were all in tears.
1:26:41 > 1:26:45It's wonderfully appropriate this season is dedicated to George.
1:26:45 > 1:26:49Rosenkavalier, it was our 25th anniversary production,
1:26:49 > 1:26:51it's here in our 80th year.
1:26:51 > 1:26:54It was one of his favourite operas.
1:26:54 > 1:26:57He was listening to the music the night before he died.
1:27:01 > 1:27:04And I just think it's magical.
1:27:07 > 1:27:11I will miss him for his choice of repertoire, directors.
1:27:11 > 1:27:13He always had something to say about it.
1:27:13 > 1:27:15He knew more about opera than anyone I know.
1:27:15 > 1:27:18And I will miss him and his wisdom.
1:27:20 > 1:27:23APPLAUSE
1:27:28 > 1:27:32I hope in 80 years from now people will be looking back and saying,
1:27:32 > 1:27:34"It hasn't changed very much."
1:27:34 > 1:27:39Because although we innovate and we find new ways of doing things,
1:27:39 > 1:27:42the core of Glyndebourne has always been exactly the same.
1:27:42 > 1:27:44And I often think,
1:27:44 > 1:27:47"What would John Christie think now if he looked at Glyndebourne?"
1:27:47 > 1:27:48And I think he would say,
1:27:48 > 1:27:51"That's great, they're still doing fantastic work.
1:27:51 > 1:27:54"They're still giving their audiences an amazing experience.
1:27:54 > 1:27:56"They're still looking after young artists."
1:27:56 > 1:27:59Which was very important to him.
1:27:59 > 1:28:02But the thing I think he would be really surprised about would be
1:28:02 > 1:28:06the range and breadth of what we're doing.
1:28:06 > 1:28:09And I hope he would be absolutely thrilled we're reaching
1:28:09 > 1:28:14a vast audience that in 1934 he could never even have dreamt of.