The Royal Opera Season of 1925: A Centennial Look Back
by Philip Harrison

It had been decided to put on a summer season of international opera at Covent Garden in 1924. This had been the first time since the Great War that high ranking operatic stars had come to Covent Garden for a season of opera. Two Ring cycles, a first British staging of the revised Ariadne auf Naxos and the original Alfred Roller production of Der Rosenkavalier had wowed Londoners in the German repertory. There was Italian opera too. Frida Leider, Friedrich Schorr and a young Lauritz Melchior had been part of that Ring. What about the cast for Ariadne though? Lotte Lehmann in the title role, Elisabeth Schumann as the Composer and Maria Ivogün singing her iconic Zerbinetta. The original sets and the sheer overall perfection of the five performances of Rosenkavalier took the highest plaudits however in the glowing reviews that followed. An aside: When Covent Garden hired Lehmann for the role of the Marschallin, they assumed she knew it, she didn’t! Lehmann had sung both Octavian and Sophie but never the Marschallin. Fearing her admission of the truth might scupper the whole thing, she said nothing and got to work learning the role quick smart.

The following year Lieutenant-Colonel Eustace Blois as Director of the London Opera Syndicate and Elizabeth Courtauld, the overseer of Covent Garden at the time went for an eight-week season of splendid variety and breadth. Performances were strictly Monday to Friday so there were forty shows in all. The first night was on 18^th May 1925 and the season was split exactly in two with four weeks of German opera first and four of Italian thereafter.

The Germans
A four-week season of seven operas were all conducted by Bruno Walter and his assistant Robert Heger. Being on holiday as I write this little article, I do not have access to some books I own that may contain further details on dates and casting, but I have been able to dig up the following details from sources like Opera magazine and ROH collections:

Walter and/or Heger would have been in the pit for Lohengrin and Walküre too, I am 99% sure but I haven’t been able to confirm. The singers are arranged in the normal listing in order of voice category: sopranos, mezzos, tenors, baritones, basses. If like me, you enjoy complementing your reading with listening to these artists in the roles they sang; the easiest way to do that is on YouTube. Although the standard quality is only 128 kbps this is often perfectly acceptable for recordings of this vintage. Why not start with this little selection:

Der Rosenkavalier: This cast under Bruno Walter is perhaps the greatest ever assembled. I would have given everything to have heard them 100 years ago on the Covent Garden stage. HMV recorded substantial highlights in Vienna in 1933 with Robert Heger. Over 26 sides you can sample Lehmann, Schumann and Mayr in their sublime portrayals. Olszewska sings Octavian.

Remembering Schorr: In the German part of the season audiences heard the great bass-baritone as Wotan, Hans Sachs, Kurwenal and Orestes. HMV made some wonderful electrics. His Flieder monologue on a black label HMV D1351 is one of my favourites of his records.

The Italians
The week beginning 15^th June was Ascot week. Covent Garden embarked on the second half of its season of international opera:

Both Giordano operas would have seemed very unfamiliar to London audiences. The performance of Lucia marked the last time it would be heard for many years. What stands out to me are the three soprano celebrities of the gramophone that were showcased in live performance. Dal Monte from La Scala, Jeritza from Vienna and New York’s Metropolitan and Rethberg, who having started in Dresden was by then being feted at the Met. The veteran conductor Mugnone (1858-1941) is an interesting character too. Definitely one of the Italian old school, he had previously conducted seasons at Covent Garden twenty years before, in the days of the old legends. Even earlier he had directed the world premieres in Rome of Cavalleria Rusticana in 1890 and one of his assignments in this season: Tosca in 1900.

Listening to five sopranos from 1925:

As well as the three singers I just mentioned, one can also listen to Sheridan and Norena quite easily in the roles they sang at Covent Garden that summer. Margaret Sheridan actually recorded a complete Madama Butterfly on 32 sides for HMV with La Scala forces under Carlo Sabajno issued in 1931. I think at the time many would secretly have wished Galli-Curci could have been tempted to sing Lucia and/or Rosina (she would never sing at Covent Garden alas) but Dal Monte in these roles offers sparkles aplenty. Jeritza is one of those artists that contemporaries found more satisfying live than on shellac. Her records did not sell well in Britain and are harder to find (easy on YouTube however). Eidé Norena’s “caro nome” on HMV DB 4892 made principally for the French market is exquisite. Try to hear it in the Prima Voce transfer if you can.

There were some criticisms of the mise-en-scène in some of the stagings it is true. The London operatic stage could not compete with the best in Europe in that department, but what eight weeks those must have been. Stalls seats were priced at £1 5s, you could get an unreserved gallery seat for just 3 shillings and there were 600 of those available each night.

As I sit here on holiday I am thinking about how those nights must have been a century ago. The following year they did it all again. There were two extras though: development in electrical recording meant some portions of the odd performance could be recorded by then and there was a very special farewell gala from a very special singer to boot. Maybe next year I will look back on it.

Philip Harrison