| Contents |
Come into the garden, awed: the place of the Royal Opera House on the map of England -- Drinks at the bar, 6.45 (1945 European time): England at war's end: how Maynard Keynes put culture ahead of our daily bread -- Enter the leader (1946-47): a shopkeeper as chief executive, a bomb-shelter for chairman and a dynamo in charge of the ballet -- Overture and beginners (1947-51): tuning up with crabby Rankl, blooming Fonteyn and the dangerously young Peter Brook -- First act, forbidden acts (1951-59): The gay traumas of David Webster and Benjamin Britten; the blinding aura of Maria Callas -- Short interval: Champagne, Canapes and nature calls (1959-60): Earls in ermine, coups in Panama and a blood-stained frock -- Act two, enter the Jew (1961-70): Georg Solti and Arnold Goodman awaken English racism and a Tatar adds sauce to the ballet -- The long interval: propping up the crush bar (1971-87): 'The management of decline' as practised in the cabinet office and Covent Garden -- Act three, on a spree (1987-96): Jeremy Isaacs presides as television turns Covent Garden into soap opera and closure looms -- Act four, where's the door? (January to August 1997): The brief, enigmatic reign of Genista McIntosh -- Coming up for Eyre (September 1997 to November 1998): an official investigation, a parliamentary tribunal, and two more chief executives come and go -- And so to bed (December 1998 to December 1999): Michael Kaiser settles the panic and reopens the house. |
| Abstract |
From 1732 until World War II, London's privately owned and operated Royal Opera House (ROH) at Covent Garden was reflective of the country it served--the rich and noble enjoyed performances in the luxury of the theatre and concert hall while the rest of the classes viewed the shows from the dimly lit top gallery. In 1945, with Britain in financial crisis, its cities in ruins, and its citizens living on strict food and fuel rations, Covent Garden was reborn as a public company after the economist Maynard Keynes called for state money to support an Arts Council and Royal Opera House, under his own chairmanship, that would resurrect the nation's fortunes and spirit through the preservation of English culture and performing arts. From that point on, says Norman Lebrecht, the ROH, with its Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies, purported to conduct this postwar national mission while attaching itself to the social elite, creating a recipe for disaster that finally exploded half a century later when the world-class Covent Garden was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. In this history, Lebrecht explains the astonishing failure of an institution that was designed to define a nation. Four chief executives came and went in eighteen months, and the off-stage dramas, catastrophes, misadventures, and infighting became comic fodder for the press and Parliament. Lebrecht's illuminating account of the rise, decline, and fall of the ROH during the second half of the twentieth century is situated within the broader context of upheavals and changes in English cultural life that have eroded the very notion of "Englishness" and transformed the country from heroic poverty to heartless wealth. With unprecedented access to private archives and key players, Lebrecht recounts an intriguing tale of special relationships between arts councils, hidden public cash, corruption, anti-Semitism, and campaigns against homosexuals. He also provides colorful details about the many celebrated performers and personalities, including Maria Callas, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Georg Solti, and Kiri te Kanawa, who helped shape Covent Garden's storied traditions. Lebrecht concludes by offering thoughts on what the future holds for this notable institution, arguing that Covent Garden should be privatized along the same lines as the Metropolitan Opera. |
