Glyndebourne: The Untold History Page #6

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All saying that the times was

completely wrong and it was

beautiful and perfect and of course

he was right to stand up to them!

In 1958, John Christie passed

on the reins of the chairmanship

to his son George.

He'd been brought up with

this opera house,

so it was almost in his blood.

My dad took over at

the tender age of 23

and my grandfather died

when he was 28.

MUSIC:
L'incoronazione Di Poppea:

Pur Ti Miro, Pur Ti Stringo

My dad, he had a tough time

in the first decade or so.

The '60s were tough economically

and he had to grow Glyndebourne

from its rather homespun beginnings.

The next item I'd like to discuss

is the bookings for The Wild Things

at the National Theatre.

George was a businessman

and he worked for the banking

foundation and was more "in the

world", as it were, than his father.

But when George came, other

things were happening in any case.

I mean, the world was changing -

he was part of a changing world.

He was a real realist as far

as Glyndebourne's finances were

concerned. It was the beginning

of sponsorship in this country.

Initially, cigarette companies were

helping Glyndebourne exist, um...

And he had a lot of charm

and infectious enthusiasm

and was a very adept at raising

funds from the corporate world.

And then as he settled

into the role, as it were,

he started to flex his muscles

a little bit more - there were

alterations to the repertoire and

the way the seasons were structured.

We're going to move onto the next

item on the agenda - the 1983 tour.

His greatest achievement in his eyes

was the establishment

of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera

because he was really aware

that we needed to get these

productions out to a wider audience.

And if the thing doesn't work,

then my own particular livelihood

is at stake in quite some degree.

So, I'm very passionate

about the thing!

It may wear me down, but it's worth

being worn down by passion.

It was actually originally planned

in 1977 that in the 1980

season there would be

a Rosenkavalier.

I was luckily placed to be

the person

they wanted to direct it, but

I didn't want to go mad, you know.

You know, making it totally

Vienna 1900, Freud, Jung

and all that, you know, everybody

is a neurotic or a political

extremist - I didn't want

to do it like that.

Well, Felicity, of course,

everybody thinks of Felicity now

as a Marschallin - I never

thought of her as a Marschallin.

There she was, six feet tall,

slim as a rake...

I loved the character of Octavian.

I'd never played a boy on stage,

so that was quite a challenge,

because I tend to drift around

and obviously Octavian is much

more passionate

and like a young puppy, really.

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