The overwhelming success of the Hamburg State Opera’s visit acted as major spur to Comdt. Bill O’Kelly, Dr Larchet and the other DGOS committee members and strengthened their resolve to expand the operatic frontiers. They learned at this time from their good friend at the Italian Legation in Dublin, First Secretary Prince Luigi di Giovanni, that the Italian government’s cultural ministry was providing a special subvention to impresarios and agents to cover the fees of Italian artists engaged abroad. It amounted to a package deal, as it were, with, say, the DGOS hiring an impresario in Rome or Milan to work for it. He compiled the package, submitted the cost to the society, with the impresario paying the artists from his government subvention. Comdt. O’Kelly was quick to recognise the scheme’s merits and in the middle of 1950, accompanied by his vice chairman Michael Dinnigan, he travelled to Rome armed with names and addresses of likely agents. They were fortunate to be introduced to Cardenio Botti who ran an agency at Via Novembre in partnership with a colleague, Renata Gaede, called O.P.E.R.A. and supplied not only singers, producers, conductors and designers but also organised festivals, recitals, concerts, operatic tours, ballet performances and auditions. Comdt. O’Kelly was told that Botti had a reputation for integrity and honesty and was most careful about the artists he took on and the events he was prepared to organise. From the start, O’Kelly and the shrewd Signor Botti hit it off well together and the DGOS chairman would say later that he was the kind of man with whom he could do business, so that before he and Dinnigan left Rome they were confident a deal could be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. Cardenio Botti was scarcely the type of individual one would readily expect to be an impresario. For one thing, he was an outstanding musician, at once gifted and versatile. He completed his studies at the St. Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome and went on to compose as well as conduct operas and symphonies He also revealed a natural flair as an organiser and manager of cultural events and before long was appointed director of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and later of the Carlo Felice in Genoa. In time, he would become director of the organisation for the co-ordination of great Italian Opera Houses.
A studious man, he was of a serious disposition and had made it quite clear to both O’Kelly and Dinnigan what he expected of the Dublin Grand Opera Society. He had also indicated to them that he saw no particular difficulty in negotiating a subvention provided his own terms were met by the society. Back in Dublin, O’Kelly found that the committee was enthusiastic about the plan, particularly so Dr Larchet, who was a strong advocate of Italian opera, believing it was tailor-made for the Irish operatic temperament. He saw it also as an opportunity for opera lovers to hear perhaps some of the finest voices in Italy on their own doorstep. In subsequent visits to Rome, Comdt. O’Kelly and Michael Dinnigan occasionally met the young Irish soprano Veronica Dunne who had been studying there since 1946 and being fluent in Italian, she sometimes acted as their interpreter. She also introduced them to singers and their teachers and people in operatic circles. ‘I met Maestro Botti with them and came to the conclusion that he wouldn’t send trash over to Dublin because his reputation was at stake. What he would do was bring over tradition and good singers, conductors, directors and designers. He knew his job and had been trained in Milan with one of the leading agents there. Afterwards he decided to set up his own agency in Rome and was doing extremely well. As far as the DGOS was concerned, Botti was the right person in the right place and the society was bound to benefit from his experience.’ It was expected the society would be able to avail of the subvention scheme from the 1951 spring season onwards and the committee was anxious to call the season a festival of Italian opera. Although Maestro Botti would compile the package, Comdt. O’Kelly let it be known that he would travel to Rome or Milan to audition singers. Dr Larchet attributed the society’s artistic progress to two factors, the availability of the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra as well as the Gaiety Theatre; but there was now a third factor – the hard-working, amateur chorus – that tended to worry him. With the signing of the Italian ‘package deal’ there would be a bigger onus thrown on each chorister, especially in respect of learning languages, and he hoped it would be able to cope. As always, he was reassured by the chairman’s optimism and to Dr Larchet himself the chorus had coped well in recent years learning operas in Italian, German as well as English. Yet he knew it was asking a lot of them. True to his word, Comdt. O’Kelly engaged Veronica Dunne to sing in the spring season of 1950 as Micaela in “Carmen”. It would be her operatic debut and she was in good company. Two outstanding tenors, Frans Vroons and Kenneth Neate were alternating in the role of Don Jose, with Patricia Black in the title role, and Bruce Dargaval once more as Escarnillo. ‘I was quite excited about my debut with the society,’ recalls Miss Dunne, ‘for I knew most of my family and friends would be present in the Gaiety. Although I had been studying in Rome for four years, I had kept in regular touch with home and the musical scene in Dublin. I was hoping that too much wasn’t expected of me – I was still in the learning stage as an opera singer.’ The young soprano need not have worried. The critics apparently saw a lot of potential in her performance and an intelligent summing up was made by Joseph O’Neill in the Irish Independent ‘One of the satisfying things about this presentation of Carmen was the performance of Veronica Dunne, a young Dublin singer in the part of Micaela. She sang her music splendidly, and the rich quality of her voice was heard to great advantage. There is a fine resonant tone in her singing, and her first appearance in grand opera has been a considerable success.’ Conductor Vilem Tausky remembered her debut when I talked to him later about that ’50 season. ‘I suspected at the time she was a little nervous,’ he said, ‘but she showed secure musicianship and I had no need to help her or anything like that. I knew she was only beginning her career and I must say I was impressed by her soprano voice. It was sweet-toned and well placed. The audience was very generous to her in their applause and that is a big help for any young Micaela. I had little doubt she would go on to make a successful career for herself.’ It was one of the conductor’s happiest seasons in Dublin; his close friend Otakar Kraus was singing Germont in “Traviata” and Marcello in “Boheme” and after performances they sometimes dined together with friends in city restaurants. They had plenty to talk about, chiefly their days together in Brno in Moravia and their admiration for Janacek’s music. They were by now settled in London where Kraus was making a big name for himself in opera. Veronica Dunne, meanwhile, was quite happy with her DGOS debut and felt she hadn’t disappointed either her family or her friends. In Italy, she was studying roles such as Butterfly, Mimi (“Boheme”), Norina (“Don Pasquale”) and others and hoped she would be given the opportunity some day to sing them in Dublin. Rome was proving a real education for her. She attended performances of “Boheme” with Magda Olivero as Mimi and made notes of the diva’s stage movements and expressions; and on another occasion she was thrilled to hear Tito Schipa in Massenet’s “Werther” and afterwards as he signed her autograph he enquired what she was doing in Rome and she told him she was a student. He had superb vocal technique, graceful and effortless, and when she asked him how long it would take to master vocal technique like that, he smiled as he said, ‘My dear girl, I am over sixty and I am still learning. Every day I learn more and more. You must keep at it.’ Having come from post-war austerity in Ireland, she found little relief in the even worse austerity of Italy where poverty was rampant and food scarce. She did not complain as it would be a reason for her father to tell her to return home and she did not want that. She felt insulated staying in a convent in Rome where she was carefully protected by Irish priests, especially Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a kindly man, who had gained an international reputation for his courage during the war. He was to become known as the Pimpernel of the Vatican for his skilful efforts in concealing Allied POWs from the Nazis. Veronica Dunne was blessed with a ready Dublin wit and used to joke that it was probably a wise thing for her to be hidden away in the convent. As she said, ‘Can you imagine how easy it was for all those green Irish girls in Rome to get into trouble surrounded by all those sultry-looking young virile Romans? I mean, I thought you had to have an operation to have a baby.’ She was fortunate in her choice of singing teacher, for the elderly Contessa Calcagni enjoyed an illustrious reputation and she had no shortage of very talented pupils. The soprano’s lessons began at 8 o’clock in the morning and at 11 o’clock she was handed over to a repetiteur who carefully took her over operatic roles. Sometimes in the evenings she was able to attend performances and on one occasion attended the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, in the Argentina Theatre. The tenor was Gigli, the soprano Maria Caniglia and the mezzo, Ebe Stignani. She had a habit of getting famous singers’ autographs and when Gigli recognised her Irish brogue, he smiled and said, ‘Ah, La Sheridan. What a wonderful singer and what a marvellous Butterfly. I can hear her beautiful voice.’ Signorina Stignani reminded the tenor that she had once heard Sheridan as Butterfly at the San Carlo Naples and that it was an unforgettable experience. To Veronica Dunne meeting celebrities like Gigli, Caniglia and others and seeing their artistry at close hand, was all part of her musical education. ‘ I loved the atmosphere around them and I secretly longed to be part of it. But I was realist enough to know that you had to work awfully hard and have a bit of luck to get even half way up the ladder. I had read about their careers and the sacrifices they had to make for their art and I had no illusions. I was in no hurry to leave Rome until I believed the time was right. I was aware also that there were very few opportunities for young singers like me back in Ireland, so study suited me for the time being. I loved everything about Rome, its culture and its people and their deep love of music. I was not afraid of hard work, nor would I give in to distractions.’ It would be nearly another two years before she sang with the DGOS, but that didn’t worry her. Looking back, she says, ‘I had no objection to the Italians taking over the spring season with Maestro Botti’s package. I knew I would be part of it very soon. I was delighted with the prospect, for I had trained in the Italian tradition and I always considered it a positive move on the part of the society to link up with Italy. I saw a new tradition begin in Dublin with Italian opera being almost entirely sung in the vernacular and many Irish opera lovers I know welcomed that.’ It pleased her that a new era was about to begin and she felt that Irish singers like herself would benefit. ‘We would be working with new conductors, directors and chorus masters and so a challenge was being created and a new atmosphere. As I said, I was happy about developments and Bill O’Kelly knew that, and so did Maestro Botti.’
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 