28.9.68
Dear Mum, got a lovely long
letter from you – incidentally as far as I know I’ve had all your letters; and
have meant to answer things in them,
but there’s always so much to tell you that by the time I’ve finished I’ve also
finished the aerogram. This time I will
give you some answers. The floods were all a lot south of London as
far as I know – I’ve hardly bought a paper since I’ve been here; for one thing
there are so many to choose from, and it saves those few pence a day. Re Kevin Rowlands: I’m a bit unsure how to
get hold of him really – I rather doubt that I’d get to see him at the stage
door of the theatre, the way things are here, and it’s a bit of a trip up to
the West End, unless I’m going that way, and when I am, I’m always in such a darn hurry to get somewhere that I don’t have
time to sidetrack. I’ll see if I can get
hold of a phone number at his home address tomorrow – Sunday – and if that
doesn’t work, I’ll just have to try ringing the theatre. When you see how busy I’ve been since the
course started, you’ll realise that I don’t even seem to have much time in the
day to ring anyone. [You get the impression I wasn’t keen to
follow up on Kevin Rowlands. I’d heard
about this man for some years – he was the only son of our direct neighbours
across the street at home – and he was his mother's pride and joy because
he’d ‘made’ it in London. He was a dancer, but I’d never met him at this point.]
I’ve meant to ring both Kathy Tither, who’s now back from Spain, and Max
Jarman, this week, but haven’t had the time.
[Max had toured with me in La
Bohėme, when the NZ Opera Company had produced a piano tour version of it that
travelled around both the North and South Islands. He was a young baritone and played the landlord, and any other odd part that needed filling in. He
obviously went on to have a reasonable career – see this ‘cuttings’ page and this bio]
Congratulate the H’s on Philip, I
don’t think I’ve even mentioned the poor kid yet! [My
uncle and aunt, Terry and Monica, had obviously had their fifth and last child/]
Very amused about Fred and the
Blackbird; I’m glad too that she’s such good company for you. It’s a bit like
the radio here – they’re so informative
about everything (the 3rd [Radio
3] programme plays serious music most of the day, except for the odd play)
and they explain all sorts of interesting points, and I quite feel as though
it’s someone talking to me
particularly all the time!
Tell Kingsley sometime that the
rent is £5 a week between us; but his
fares may cost him another pound going to and from the Guildhall each week, and
food is sometimes surprisingly expensive; meat, eg, is fantastic, and yet other
things are so cheap that you wonder if they've charged you for everything! [Kingsley was to be my flatmate, and hadn’t
arrived at this point. As I anticipated,
when he did arrive, he found the cost and the travel from Plaistow too much and didn’t stay
long.] The meals at the Opera C. are
filling enough and I only need to have a reasonably cheap snack when I get
home. [For the life of me I can’t visualise where the cafeteria was, or what
it looked like, at the Opera Centre.] I imagine that they have a cafeteria
at the Guildhall too. We have to put a 1/-
in the slot for electricity here, which is sometimes annoying because it always
seems to happen when I’m cooking, and shillings are very hard to get because
everyone wants them for the same reason.
At the moment I have a fair supply, however, and Mr M. down-stairs says
I only need to ask if I do run out as he keeps 10/- worth. Mrs M occasionally makes my bed only because
she happens to be trotting around with the sheets which she says she will
always do – she got quite a surprise when I did the first one! [I say
first one, but my
memory is of doing both sheets, in the bath, and having a great deal of trouble
trying to wring them out. She realised what I was doing when I tried to find
somewhere to hang them.] And she has offered to take our washing along to
the laundrette with hers as things get wetter. At the moment the weather is still quite reasonable, though it has
poured a few times. I did my washing
about 10.30 last night, and put it out and it was dry this morning. Nina suggested putting my underclothes
between hot water bottles to dry them, and this has worked well so far, and I
hang my shirts in the little sun-room sort of thing at the back of the house,
where they seem to air quite well. And
tell K[ingsley] there is a tea-pot!
To change the subject again, I haven’t
had any Tablets yet, but presume they’re coming by a slower post. [This
was the Catholic national magazine, produced in Dunedin. I eventually wrote
book reviews for its successor, Tui Motu.]
At the mo there is a big controversy about the 5d and 4d new mail
system, and it’s quite likely that if anything has still to come via the OVC it
is still being sorted, because apparently things are a bit chaotic. The 5d mail is stuff to be delivered the next
day, and the 4d is stuff that isn’t urgent, and they say that they are taking
the 4d mail right out of London to sort!
I took a bunch of flowers to
Mavis last week, only 2/6 but the thought is the main thing, and they won’t let
me pay for teas when we have them, so!
Now to continue the story. Up
until about Wednesday, I was still feeling as though perhaps I’d done the wrong
thing coming to the Centre, as I seemed to be putting my foot in it quite a lot
and saying things during classes that seemed to take the instructors aback a little,
but I think this was either my imagination or else I was still feeling my way
rather a lot. However all sorts of
people are very friendly, even though they don’t look as though they’re going
to be, and I’m now really enjoying it, (although I don’t think I’ve ever worked
so hard continuously before – what with the housework, etc) and looking forward
to it all. On Tuesday we had a whole
morning on Traviata; the 5 reps
playing through a section which was then commented on by Mr Rob[bertson]. James Robertson had been a well-known opera conductor in the UK as well as working
with the NZ Broadcasting Orchestra for a time before I met up with him.]
and played by him to show what could be done, or should be done; and the other
reps and stage managers (!) sang the
parts. Very musical s.m’s, ha ha. [This
wasn’t the favourite class of the stage management students, and I seem to
recall, as time went on, that they appeared less and less at these sessions.] Mr R’s comment, rather quietly to me – I was
the first pianist – was, ‘not exactly up to Royal Choral Society Standard yet, was
it?’ I don’t know if this was sarky or
not! [It would have been. He wasn’t
the friendliest of people, and we never quite seemed to hit it off. I think the
Opera Centre was something of a backward step, career-wise, for him, and he was
often frustrated with the students.] And later in the same lesson he asked if any of us were interested in
conducting, and I said I wasn’t worried about it, as his Personal Assistant, June
Megennis, had said there was more opportunity for coaches these days than
conductors. And once again I felt as
though I’d said the wrong thing. (When
he brought the subject again up yesterday I didn’t feel so bad, so as you can
see perhaps it was just me that first morning.) Anyway, none of the other reps seemed any better than me, or worse, so I
ceased to worry about it.
In the afternoon I was supposed
to have two coaching sessions, one on my own, and the other sitting in on a
session with a professional. rep. The singer had
gone home by mistake for the first session, so I did some work on my own, but
the other one was very interesting. We
spent nearly an hour discussing whether or not appoggiaturas (which is sort of
changing what’s written for the better) should be used in a piece of recit (the
guff that goes on before an aria) and it was quite fascinating. Then we had Italian, and unfortunately the
teacher isn’t a patch on the German lady, so we’ll just have to do most of the
work ourselves. The G. teacher works on
the individuals, which can be terrifying, but also very satisfactory, but the
I.T. just works on the class as a [handwritten]
whole, and one doesn’t learn
continued in the next letter.
[handwritten] and thank you for the postal notes.[typed] things properly,
particularly the pronunciation. Never
mind, no one is on their own, and the other students have talked about it with
me, and it’s great to see one’s own ideas agreed upon. This is what is marvellous about the place,
of course, it has the music school atmosphere plus the serious approach to
everything. [I had attended at least two Summer Music Schools in Dunedin before I
did any touring in NZ – I think. They were
held at John McGlashan College, and we slept in the dorms. At one of these I
played the piano in a movement from a Mozart Concerto, and in another I
conducted a one-act opera: Down in the Valley, by Kurt Weill. This was addition to doing lots of
accompanying, and even having one of my own compositions performed by a small
ensemble. There were plenty of serious people at these, but we also had an
enormous amount of fun.] Not
entirely serious of course – one of the reps is a bit gloomy, and another seems
a trifle aloof, but generally we’ve got a sense of humour, and the singers with
a few exceptions are a pleasant enough crew.
Those that I’ve really met. On
Wed morning I had two singers, coaching, on my own, and then German again. This was a very satisfactory morning. In the afternoon we were divided up with the
singers who will be attending a master-performance-class with Ella Gerber, who
produced Porgy [and Bess] in NZ,
I think, and who will produce, in ten days, the first act of The Consul, by Menotti, The Telephone, a one-acter by the same,
and sections of an act of P & B.
She will sort of comment on American opera as she goes along which is
the whole idea, and then the three things will be performed somewhere for the
Friends of Covent Garden. I rehearsed
with two of the singers in The Telephone
- there are only 2 characters – and
it has now transpired that I will be playing the performance of it (only piano
perfs) with one of the other reps conducting.
[I had played for this opera back
in Dunedin at an earlier point.] We
sorted all this out yesterday afternoon when we went through the three setting
tempi with the singers, Mr R and the two ladies who are sort of senior
coaches. I think one is a Miss
Nash. [I got on very well with Miss Nash – she was very much more approachable
than Mr R!] This is quite exciting
really as it has to be up to performing standard in about three weeks time, and
we also have to know enough about the other two works in each case to be able
to play them at rehearsal if necessary.
And I’m not worried, so I must be enjoying myself!! Mad....
