Files concerning productions, performances and tours, works not done and forward planning

This material is held atBritten Pears Arts Archive

  • Reference
    • GB 1111 EOG/5
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1962-1981
  • Physical Description
    • about 120 files

Scope and Content

Administrative and correspondence files re productions, performances, tours, works not done and forward planning

A: The files concerning productions, performances and tours are mostly General Manger's files of correspondence and papers concerning planning and arrangement. These files may also include budgets, agreements and contracts, cast lists, schedules, draft and typescript programme notes and programmes, packing lists etc.

The files concerning commissioned works often also have correspondence concerning the commissioning, and with the composer and librettist.

Box 1

- Purcell: Dido and Aeneas 1962

- Britten: Albert Herring 1962

- Britten: Turn of the Screw, 1962, 1971-1972, including correspondence with Yolanda Sonnabend

- Britten: The Beggar’s Opera 1963

- Williamson: English Eccentrics, 1964

- Britten: Curlew River 1964

- Autumn Tour 1964: The Rape of Lucretia; Albert Herring; The Turn of the Screw, English Eccentrics, including correspondence with Britten re casting

Box 2

- Britten: Albert Herring, 1965

- Britten: Let’s Make an Opera 1965, 1973

- Handel: Acis and Galatea 1966

- Autumn Tour 1966: The Rape of Lucretia; Acis and Galatea, The Beggar’s Opera, including letter from Britten about the standard of Acis and Galatea at Aldeburgh and conductor James Loughran

- Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace and Curlew River 1966 (includes 2 versions of typescript article Britten’s Curlew River by Donald Mitchell)

Box 3

- Britten: Church Operas, 1967

- Britten: Church Operas, 1968

- Britten: Church Operas, 1968

- Birtwistle: Punch and Judy, 1966-1969, including letters from Anthony Besch and notes by Stephen Pruslin

Box 4

- Copies of letters sent to staff including schedules, cast lists, travel arrangements 1966-1970

- Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1967

- Canadian Tour 1967 (including typescript articles The English Opera Group by Anthony Gishford, Britten and his Operas by Noel Goodwin and The Beggar’s Opera by Colin Mason)

- Crosse: The Grace of Todd and Purgatory, 1967-1969, including letters from Crosse

- Walton: The Bear and Berkeley: Castaway 1967-1972, including correspondence with Peter Heyworth of the Observer and letter from Berkeley

- Sadler’s Wells Season 1967-1973

- Mozart: Idomeneo, 1968-1973 (including items about cuts to score as devised by Britten, alterations and revisions)

- Bury St. Edmunds August 1969, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Prodigal Son

Box 5

- Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1969-1972

- Britten: Noye’s Fludde 1969-1973 (including concerning BBC TV recording 1971)

- Britten: Church Operas, 1970

- Snape Opera Seasons 1970-1972

Box 6

-Church Operas Australian Tour 1970

Box 7

- Accommodation early 1970s

- Miscellaneous early 1970s

- Purcell: King Arthur, 1970-1974, in a new version by Colin Graham, including planning of performances at the 1972 Le Touquet Festival (which were cancelled) but also elsewhere and article 'King Arthur revised and revived' by Graham

- San Francisco Tour, 1971-1972

Box 8

- Aldeburgh 1971-1973, including Aldeburgh Festival accounts and chairman’s statements 1970-1972

- Balkans Tour plans: Bulgaria and Romania, 1971-1974 (did not go ahead)

- Gardener: The Visitors 1972, including correspondence with John Ormerod Greenwood, Anthony Besch and John Gardener and typescript libretto

- Sadler’s Wells Season 1973: The Turn of the Screw, Idomeneo, Iolanta (as Yolande)

- Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (as Yolande) and Sullivan: Trial by Jury 1973

Box 9

- Britten: Death in Venice 1973, including tours to Edinburgh, Brussels and Venice

- Britten: Death in Venice 1974, New York

- Britten: Death in Venice, Decca Recording, 1974

Box 10

- Britten: The Turn of the Screw, Geneva, 1973

- Britten: The Turn of the Screw, 1973

- Le Touquet, 1973-1974

- Purcell: Fairy Queen 1973-1974

- Musgrave: The Voice of Ariadne 1973-1974; including correspondence with Musgrave and typescript libretto

Box 11

- Office papers 1973-1974

- Miscellaneous – Richard Gregson 1974

- Viola Tunnard Memorial Service 1974 including letters from those invited and Order of Service

- Britten: The Rape of Lucretia 1974 concert performance

- Lecture Tour 1974

Box 12

- Sadler’s Wells, 1974

- Holst: The Wandering Scholar 1974 (recording)

- Holst: Savitri and The Wandering Scholar, 1974

- Holst: Savitri prom 1974

- Cheltenham Festival 1974 (Savitri, The Wandering Scholar, Dido and Aeneas)

Box 13

- Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (as Yolande) / Sullivan: Trial by Jury 1974

- Britten: Albert Herring 1974

- Aldeburgh Festival and Snape Maltings 1974, Yolande, Trial by Jury and Albert Herring

Box 14

- DALTA Tour 1974, including weekly returns, Yolande, Trial by Jury, Albert Herring and Rondine

- Puccini: La Rondine, 1974-1975

- Schedules and cast lists 1974

Box 15

- Henze: La Cubana, including prop and costume information, typescript notes by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, correspondence with Henze, 1974-1979

- Henze: La Cubana 1978 contracts and receipts

Box 16

-Minoru Miki: An Actor’s Revenge 1974-79: including correspondence with Miki, James Kirkup and musicians, draft scenario, typescript libretto, costume and prop lists, schedules, note on the conventions of the Kabuki Theatre by Colin Graham, notes from the composer, press release by Colin Graham etc.

Box 17

-Britten: Death in Venice 1975

Box 18

- Edinburgh Festival 1975 The Voice of Ariadne

- General manager’s file of papers including address list, cast lists, repertory lists, rehearsal lists, 1975-1976

- Rehearsal, orchestral and technical schedules, 1976-1977 including Flanders Festival Sep 1977

Box 19

- Oliver: Tom Jones, 1976, including technical scenario, set, costume and prop information, Oliver’s typescript notes on character and plot, cast breakdown, correspondence with Oliver, Novello and Company and Christopher Morley Associates

- Weill: The Threepenny Opera, 1976, including running order, prop information, libretto and alterations to Metheun text

Box 20

- Britten: The Turn of the Screw, 1976, including set photos and plan, prop details, correspondence with Yolanda Sonnabend.

- Purcell: The Fairy Queen 1976-1977

- Rossini: Cinderella, 1976-1978, including set, prop and costume details

Box 21

- Mozart: La Finta Giardiniera, 1976-1979, including correspondence with Graham Vick, prop and lighting information, correspondence with and typescript notes and dialogue by Edmund Tracey

- Mozart: La Finta Giardiniera 1976, 1979 (typescript dialogue by Edmund Tracey 1976 with changes by Tom Hawkes 1979)

- Purcell: Fairy Queen 1977

- Flanders Festival 1977

Box 22

- Britten: Death in Venice Snape 1978 and Glasgow 1979

- Britten: Death in Venice 1978

- Brussels 1978

- Schwetzingen 1978 Paul Bunyan

Box 23

- Britten: Paul Bunyan, general and Scottish Tour, 1978

- Florence 1978 including report on the company’s visit

- Conrad Susa: Transformations, 1978, including press reviews, text of 3 poems from the book of Anne Sexton

Box 24

- Britten: Church Operas 1978-1979

- Old Vic Season 1979

- Tours, France 1979

Box 25

-Minoru Miki: An Actor’s Revenge 1979, including props information and stage plans, typescript note by Colin Graham on the conventions of the Kabuki Theatre

-Miki: An Actor’s Revenge, 1979-1981, including correspondence with and notes by Miki, budgets, information on props, press reviews

-Miki: An Actor’s Revenge 1981 proposed tour of Hong Kong (see also box 30)

Box 26

- Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1980

- Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1980

- Britten: The Prodigal Son 1981

- Britten: The Prodigal Son, finance, 1981

Box 27

- Henze: children’s opera Pollicino at the Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre in Dec 1980, 1979-1981, including scenery and running plots (also includes papers concerning performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’s opera Cinderella, Dec 1980-Jan 1981, at the same theatre.)

- Henze: children’s opera Pollicino: notes in English with notes by Henze in Italian, Oct 1979, and libretto in Italian with English translation

B: Files concerning works not done

Box 27

- Correspondence with composers concerning possible works including Luciano Berio, Peter Maxwell Davies about Les Enfants du Paradis, Thea Musgrave about Anna Karenina and Michael Tippett, 1974-1976

- Offenbach: Nana, 1974-1977, devised by Robert Muller, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and music arranged by Alexander Faris including correspondence and breakdown for costing

Box 28

- Weber: Oberon, 1975, including typescript of new version by Colin Graham, Synopsis and notes for revision by Graham, correspondence with John Warrack, Tony Harrison, Colin Davis and John Tooley

- John Dankworth: All About Alice – 1975-1977, including correspondence with Dankworth and Benny Green, typescript synopsis by Green, typescript libretto

- ‘Impossible works’ including Eugen Suchon’s Krutnava, Hans Kox’s Shylock, Claude Prey’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Gulliver, and others, correspondence, 1976-1980

- Roger Smalley: William Derrincourt, no date

C: Files concerning forward planning

Box 29

- Forward Planning for seasons 1972-73, correspondence, including about proposed Scandinavian Tour 1975

-Future Repertory: possible works 1974-1977 including correspondence with Gordon Crosse about Not to Disturb with libretto, suggested repertory for 1977-1978, correspondence and papers

- EMT Forward Planning for first season 1975 including An Introduction to the National Music Theatre by Colin Graham, 1974, provisional schedule of rehearsals and performances 1976 season, statement of policy 1975 and correspondence

- Future Repertory and provisional plans 1976-1977 including notes by Colin Graham and correspondence

- Future plans 1977-1979, including correspondence, reports, draft schedules, and ‘English National Opera: A project for the development and expansion of activities based on the Grand Theatre Leeds’ by Lord Harewood Managing Director 1976

Box 30

- 1979: 1980 future plans including Five-year plan 1980-1984, and correspondence

- Future 1979 – including The EMT and the future – a proposal by Colin Graham 17 Sep 1979

- Jeremy Parsons – 1979-1980 - correspondence and papers concerning future plans, 3 year plan 1981-84

- Future plans – finance 1980 – including Five-year plan 1980-1984 and budget and plans for Albert Herring 1981

- Proposed visit to Japan 1975, correspondence and papers 1971-1973 also typescript notes by Colin Graham including a history of the group

- Proposed visit to Japan and Hong Kong 1981, correspondence and papers 1979-1980 including correspondence with Minoru Miki and papers concerning An Actor’s Revenge (2 files, see also box 25)

Access Information

Open

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