Identity area
Reference code
TRER/7/67
Title
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
Date(s)
- 9 July 1936 (Creation)
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Item
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1 item
Context area
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Repository
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Content and structure area
Scope and content
Hotel des Iles Britanniques, Aix-les-Bains. - Thanks Trevelyan for his rewording [of the Cretan chorus in Act II of "The Bride of Dionysus": see 7/65]; there is no need for him to improve the new Satyr lines [in Act III]. Has just 'got at a pianoforte & thumped through' the second part of Act III, and is delighted with the changes: the length is reduced, and Dionysus is 'altogether more natural & supernatural'. Wonders if the line 'O Semele my mother' should be cut. The new 'ballet' in Ariadne's finale does all he wanted; 'the choreography can be as "stylised" as [they] please' and he is not suggesting 'a realistic football bully', but thinks that the interactions between the maenads and Satyrs will work well.