Item 61 - Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan

1 item

27 Cropthorne Court, Maida Vale, W.9. - Returning to Edinburgh on Monday; hopes everything will go well. Asks Trevelyan to write to Mona Benson advising her to carry on 'with a careful abstention from raising any debated issues with the Council of the E.O.C. [Edinburgh Opera Company]': the Company's long letter to Tovey of 15 December, which Trevelyan has seen, shows he has 'reached the limit of what they will on principle concede'. Tovey's letter was written to satisfy Mona Benson, and more emphatic than he himself thought wise. Talks about the Council's 'constitutional powers' and how these co-exist with their own contract. Thinks it unwise to object to them doing [Verdi's] "Trovatore" on the Saturday evening, taking whatever time they need to rehearse it, to their having three casts and retaining the right to decide which cast will appear on the first night. Thinks these points are likely to 'slide' in Tovey and Trevelyan's favour, but not if the Company are pressed: if they are they will make difficulties. The three casts 'already concerns only Phaedra & Ariadne, and is technically & practically reducible to two plus understudies', though the word 'understudy' must not be used. There will not be three of each male part, or the choruses, though Tovey is 'training everybody they choose to send'. The groups are already mixed between new cast and old, so there is no real question of precedence. There will be time to object to the "Trovatore" rehearsals later, when they find themselves behind.

Thinks it is good that Mona Benson should be 'very severe' with the individual performers. The new material seems generally 'far better than the old', and he himself feels 'incomparably safer with [his] 3 Ariadnes & Phaedras': feels sure that they should do as Harley begged him and Mona Benson, and carry on as the Company wants to see how it works before they protest. Thinks they should humour the Company over "Trovatore": the theatre must be used on Saturday night; the Company is altering its habits out of enthusiasm for "The Bride of Dionysus," and cannot 'afford to lose recruits who are frightened by [their] work'. Should waive the claim for none of their principals to sing in "Trovatore", which will do much less harm than Brady singing in [Puccini's] "La Bohême" last time. Sympathises with Mona Benson and Trevelyan on all these points, but past experience of Edinburgh suggests it is better to let them pass for the moment. Is currently only concerned about Mona Benson 'getting panicky': she must feel she has their support. Hopes Trevelyan is having a good time; sendd his love to anyone who knows him well enough.