DER ROSENKAVALIER – STRAUSS
Presented on Dec 1, 3, 5, 9 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Winter Season
Lois McDonall / Kay Griffel[Dec 5, 9] – Feldmarschallin
Helga Anjervo – Octavian
Rolf Polke – Ochs
Niculina Mirea Curta – Sophie
Peter McBrien – Faninal
Terry Reid – Marianne
Brendan Cavanagh – Valzacchi
Joan Davies – Annina
Franco Bonanome – Singer
James O’Neill – Notary
Napoleone Annovazzi – Conductor
Tom Hawkes – Producer
IL TROVATORE – VERDI
Presented on Dec 2, 4, 6, 11 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Winter Season
Ciro Pirotta / Renato Francesconi[Dec 2] – Manrico
Milla Andrew – Leonora
Salvatore Sassu – Di Luna
Wally Salio – Azucena
Seán Mitten – Ferrando
Albert Rosen – Conductor
Rocco Spataro – Producer
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN – OFFENBACH
Presented on Dec 8, 10, 12, 13 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Winter Season
Franco Bonanome – Hoffmann
Niculina Mirea Curta – Olympia
Nicole Lorange – Giulietta / Antonia
Joshua Hecht – Coppélius / Miracle / Lindorf / Dapertutto
Mary Sheridan – Nicklausse
Patrick Ring – Spalanzani / Pitichinaccio
Seán Mitten – Crespel / Schlemil
Brendan Cavanagh – Cochenille / Frantz
Ruth Maher – Mother
Napoleone Annovazzi – Conductor
Tom Hawkes – Producer
Tom Hawkes had clearly made an excellent impression on Colonel O’Kelly as he was invited back to Dublin to direct “Der Rosenkavalier” and “The Tales of Hoffmann” for the winter season, with both operas to be conducted by Maestro Annovazzi. “Rosenkavalier” appealed to him enormously, although in retrospect he felt he hadn’t had enough time to do it full justice. ‘It requires style and elegance and that takes time to get right. Nevertheless, I enjoyed tackling it for the first time and its music is in parts sublime.’ Patrick Murray was the designer. A native of Cork, he was trained in the local School of Art and also studied music. It was the late 1950s and one morning he got a ‘phone call from Joan Denise Moriarty to see her at her ballet studio. She was staging “The Sleeping Beauty” and gave him a list of props she wanted designed. He brought them back to her in record time. She looked at him and said, “I’m going to be your patron. I asked you to do something, you did not delay, and they’re beautiful.” My mistake was that I designed them too well,’ Murray quips today. ‘And I kept designing for her for years and years. Joan was a wonderful lady and very inspiring to work with.’ Early in 1975, he had designed “Swan Lake” for her, and Colonel O’Kelly happened to see it and later contacted the young designer. ‘We talked for a while, Murray recalls, ‘and I said I heard he was tricky to deal with and he laughed. He wanted me to design “Der Rosenkavalier” and when I asked about the budget available, he shrugged and said, “Don’t mind the costs.” He agreed that the stage sets could be built at the Opera House, Cork. We had struck up a good working relationship and I trusted him.’ He had designed “Faust” and “Trovatore” for Cork’s new opera house after it opened in the mid-sixties. When conductor Nicky Braithwaite saw his set for “Trovatore”, he said to him, ‘It’s very modern and resembles something we’re doing at the Bayreuth Festival. Can I have your design?’ Murray was taken by surprise but agreed he could take it away with him. ‘Next thing that happened was, Nicky sent it off to Friedelind Wagner, one of the family in charge there, and she offered me a travelling scholarship. But how was I going to get there? I hardly knew where the place was in Germany.’ But Cork rallied round their gifted young designer. International concert pianist Charles Lynch gave him a ‘crash course’ in Wagner’s famous “Ring” and the local School of Art awarded him a scholarship. He was soon on his way to the renowned festival town where he would study design for six ‘months, as well as attending the performances of Wagner’s works in the Festspielhaus. As one of eight scholarship students, he was the only one to have designed for both ballet and opera. After some months, he got a telegram from the Wexford Festival. ‘Dr Tom Walsh, the festival director, had heard about my work and wanted me to come to Wexford to help out in that year 1966 with the productions of “Lucrezia Borgia” and “Fra Diavolo”, whose sets were being designed by Reginald Woolley. Seemingly, he had fallen off a ladder and was indisposed. Dr Walsh was sufficiently impressed to invite me back there the following year to design Gounod’s “Romeo & Juliet”.’ He found the Bayreuth experience invaluable and had to make a decision either to stay in Germany or return to Ireland; he chose the latter course. ‘Although I had got offers from Hamburg, I felt in honour bound to work in Ireland.’ Tom Hawkes says that Murray did lovely sets for “Rosenkavalier”. ‘I found him to be very musical and his sets reflected his musicality. I felt though he was somewhat restricted by the small budget available to him.’ Colonel O’Kelly was so pleased that he invited Murray to return the following year to design “Faust”. Hawkes felt that Annovazzi was engaging talented singers and tenor Franco Bonanome’s performance in both “Hoffmann” and “Rosenkavalier” was commendable and for an Italian his French was very good in “Hoffmann”. For Monica Condron, the hard-working singer-secretary, the season was not without its problems. She recalled that on the day of the dress rehearsal of “Rosenkavalier” Kay Griffel who was to have sung the Marschallin, became ill and was told by her doctor not to sing for at least three days. Since the first performance on the following evening was also gala night something had to be done quickly to find a replacement. Eventually when they had almost given up, the English National Opera agreed to release Lois McDonnell. She proved a true artist. In spite of the fact that she only arrived off the plane at 5 o’clock, she was ready to go on stage at 7.30 leaving her scant time to walk through the production with the other artists whom she was meeting for the first time. In the circumstance, she gave a first-rate performance and soon forgot she was singing her part in English. To Ms Condron, the rest of the cast also did very well. Helga Anjervo repeated her success as Octavian – she had sung in the 1972 winter season; Niculina Mirea Curta was a newcomer to the part of Sophie but was very impressive while Peter McBrien scored a personal triumph as Sophie’s father, Faninal. A problem arose with that season’s “Trovatore”, when tenor Renato Francesconi, as Manrico, contracted a bad sore throat and had to be replaced at the second performance by Ciro Pirotta who had previously sung Samson in the Saint-Saens opera in the winter of ’74.
The social side, meanwhile, remained an integral part of the DGOS seasons, with the fund-raising events organised by the Ladies’ Committee a highlight. Some of the more enjoyable were still being held at “Dalguise”, the home of Mrs Margaret McDonnell and her husband Colm. Carmel McHale, a long-serving member of the Ladies’ Committee, recalled the recital in the house by the celebrated pianist Jacques Klein and how he had come to be there. Shortly before, he had performed at the RDS and afterwards Professor Anthony Hughes and his wife had entertained him at a party in their home – both men had studied in Vienna – and Carmel McHale got talking to the pianist. ‘He asked me about the Dublin Grand Opera Society and I said we were trying to raise funds and to my astonishment he offered to give a free recital to raise some money. Great, I thought to myself, but wondered if he would forget all about it by the next day. But instead he repeated his offer and I immediately got in touch with Margaret McDonnell and suggested the recital be held in her house. Margaret and her husband Colm agreed and it was given to an over-flow attendance of over one hundred friends and music lovers who contributed generously. It turned out to be one of our most memorable fund-raising events.’ There were other events such as the fashionable ball held in a large marquee in the grounds and, according to Carmel McHale, it was a magnificent occasion as friends made up parties and more than two hundred people were treated to a champagne reception. Having the ball under the big top made all the difference and the society benefited handsomely. And on other occasions the McDonnells ran a casino in the house and attracted people from judges to politicians to opera buffs. They played cards and roulette and other games with all the proceeds going to the society. Charlie Haughey was one of a small group who played cards at a table in a first floor room and was happy to hand over the winnings to fund-raisers. For years he was good to the society and as Minister for Finance was always sympathetic to approaches for assistance. ‘He nudged the Arts Council to give us grants against loss and in that way took us out of more than one crisis,’ said Donnie Potter. In addition, there were tennis tournaments held on the lawns and these according to Maire Hogan, a member of the Ladies’ Committee, not only raised money but forged new friendships. ‘Margaret and Colm McDonnell were marvellous the way they made their home available to fund-raising and it was something everyone appreciated.’ The sense of camaraderie in the society was tremendous. There was general satisfaction, for instance, when John Lovatt-Dolan received the Order of Merit from the Italian government for his services to the arts. He was the society’s advisor as well as an energetic worker on the management committee. He was the third member to receive such an honour, the others being Bill O’Kelly and John F MacInerney. Meanwhile, the post-opera suppers gaily continued with guest singers being among those invited to homes to share in true Irish hospitality and bonhomie. Paddy Fagan and his wife Anne, longtime patrons of the society, kept up the tradition at their home in Park Avenue and enjoyed listening to Italian artists rendering Neapolitan songs after their refreshments. ‘Opera-going wouldn’t have been the same without these get-togethers,’ Paddy Fagan said. ‘We always ensured the conversation was lively and needless to say the wit flowed. Of course visiting singers loved to be part of it all.’ To Dermot O’Kelly it was a tradition that had begun during the society’s Italian Festival of Opera seasons in the late fifties and had become accepted as a vital part of the social scene. There were others who frequented Nico’s hoping to combine their steaks with songs and arias sung by Italians and Romanian artists. It was generally held that the city’s dining places did a brisk business during the seasons. Singers and chorus members, on the other hand, usually had post-opera drinks in pubs near the Gaiety Theatre and by now Neary’s was a kind of unofficial opera club where Irish and Italian voices were heard above the clink of glasses. Arthur Guinness reigned supreme and was recognised as the patron saint of opera singers. This was indisputable.
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 