First Visit to Glyndebourne

I visited Glyndebourne for the first time on Sunday  -- a very exciting event for me!

The festival’s education director kindly invited me to participate in one of their study days.   The topic was the opera Rinaldo by Handel (of Messiah fame).  I got to hear presentations by one of the world’s leading Handel scholars, a literary expert, one of the director-designers of the new production, and the repetiteur (a pianist-vocal coach who helps singers with expression and interpretation).   Very informative and fun to hear about the work from so many different perspectives.   Plus, we got to observe the repetiteur work with two of the apprentice singers. 

 

While we were in the education hall learning about Handel, the Sitzprobe (the first rehearsal that combines the singers and the orchestra) for Wagner’s Die Meistersinger was going on in the auditorium.  We could hear it during lunch and the tea breaks.  We could even hear it in the loo! (Translation: what polite Americans call the restroom). The strange juxtaposition brought home how much musical language changed between 1711 and 1868.

The setting of the opera house is as idyllic as it looks on their videos.  (I'll try to get better photos next time -- guess I was too excited.)

And yes, there really are sheep wandering at the edge of the picnic grounds! A moat prevents them from disturbing people’s picnics.

And in case you’re curious, I did not hike there but took a taxi.  (I still hope to walk to Glynde sometime though, and visit the pub.)