Opera Scotland

Trojans 1972Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Trojans

The 1969 production was given a welcome revival for the 1972 Festival, still performed in English (though a few people objected to the Festival mounting opera in any language than the original). Janet Baker returned for the three Edinburgh performances. Just as impressive was the fact that Cassandra was sung by Helga Dernesch. She had restudied the Marschallin in English in 1971 (when Baker had sung her only Octavians). She now learned a new role in English (though she did later sing it in French at the Vienna State Opera), and her gleaming soprano was in excellent form. With Ronald Dowd having returned to live in Australia, the problem of casting Aeneas was solved by the regular guest singer Gregory Dempsey, another Australian long resident in London. Aeneas was a heavier role than he usually sang, and stretched him to the limits of his voice, though he sang and acted effectively. Among the smaller roles, Gordon Sandison made his company debut at a prestigious occasion. For these performances, the Royal Hunt and Storm and other dance sequences were effectively rechoreographed by Scottish Ballet director Peter Darrell.

The 1969 run had only involved performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh, but this time, after the trio of Festival performances, three more were given, in Glasgow, the now accepted touring date in Newcastle, and a novelty, in the company's first visit to Leeds (this being several years before Opera North would be established at the Grand). For these performances, Janet Baker and Helga Dernesch dropped out. This was Sarah Walker's first visit to Scottish Opera, but she had already received high praise for her performance of Dido with the Chelsea Opera Group. Margaret Kingsley had made a great impression as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre a few months before. One strange omission in the programme for the tour is any mention of the Ballet company or choreographer. Does this mean that ballets were not performed on tour? That would have been very strange, at least in Glasgow, which was, after all, the home of Scottish Ballet.