Last March, BBC4 aired its programme In Their Own Words: 20th-Century Composers, which collected rare footage of such composers as Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland and Elisabeth Lutyens. The programme was a reminder of the respect in which Elisabeth — one of Edwin and Emily’s five children, who was born in London in 1906 — is held today, despite the challenging nature of her avant-garde music. Elisabeth was highly regarded by her peers, not least by Stravinsky, with whom she became friends. A photo in the 1986 biography of her, A Pilgrim Soul, shows them together. With her characteristic, rather barbed wit, Elisabeth described him — on seeing a photo of him before they met — as having ‘a face like a very piercing dachshund with glasses… and a squint’.

The lights dim, the organ strikes up, a ghostly voice rises towards the heavens as video images of brain scans and scientific calculations slowly swirl – the perfect cue for evolutionary biologist and professional atheist Richard Dawkins to make his operatic debut. Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a member of the aristocratic Bulwer-Lytton family, and the prominent English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Elisabeth was the elder sister of the writer Mary Lutyens [1] and aunt of the 4th Viscount Ridley and the politician Nicholas Ridley. Dawkins is an experienced lecturer, debater and public speaker, but has not appeared in a theatrical production since taking a leading role in Cecil Cook's comic operetta The Willow Pattern at the age of 13. On hearing of Malone's project, he said he was "a bit mystified, but intrigued". It was clear from the start he would not be taking a singing role, he continued – "I know my limitations" – but as an experienced reader of his own writings was confident in his abilities. "I do quite a lot of reading aloud."The quartet in Act one, “Mir ist so wunderbar” is noted for how well it conveys the intentions of each character as they sing in an elegantly-constructed canon. While Leonore, Rocco, Marzelline, and Jacquino are all experiencing disparate emotions, the expression of their inner worlds do not conflict with one another, but rather serve to highlight their beauty and display the unity of their intertwined predicaments within the prison. It’s showtime. Pizarro enters to kill Florestan , but before he can strike the blow, Fidelio jumps out and stands in front of her husband. Elisabeth set her sights on becoming a composer, aged nine. In 1922, she studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, finding 1920s Paris exciting and inspiring, then at the Royal College of Music in London under Harold Darke. While still at college, she had a setting of Keats’s poem To Sleep performed. Elisabeth disapproved of the ‘overblown sound’ of Gustav Mahler and similar composers, preferring to work with sparse textures. she was also fond of Claude Debussy. she first used a 12-note series (originally invented by Arnold Schoenberg) in Chamber Concert No 1 (1939). But she didn’t always limit herself to it and sometimes used a self-created, 14-note technique. In the following Aria O wär’ ich schon mit dir vereint (Oh, If I was already united with you) she explains that she’s instead madly in love with the new boy who’s arrived at the Prison to work as a handyman, Fidelio. So, Don Fernando has arrived and salvation is at hand. The prisoners come out into the square in front of the castle. There are townspeople, Jaquino , Marcellina , and Pizarro. The liberated prisoners sing Heil sei dem Tag! Heil sei der Stunde (Praise this day, praise this moment…).

The ending of the dungeon scene leaves something to desire. This is the turning point of the opera, where the killer becomes the prey. And it’s also where Leonore’s disguise is revealed and explained. But the quartet between the four main characters is quite a bit of shouting and not much can be understood from the words. It’s also extremely difficult, especially for the soprano, which could make it even more screamy. But work didn’t rule her life: she and Clark frequently threw parties at their flat. Elisabeth was gregarious, liked a drink, smoked heavily and cut a flamboyant figure — she usually painted her nails red or green. They sing a duet. Wir müssen gleich zu Werke schreiten. (Let’s start right away…) Fidelio is anxious to beginn. Jaquino and Marcellina enter, quarreling. Jaguino is jealous of Fidelio , but when Rocco enters, Fidelio suggests that he should let out the prisoners into the sunlight for an hour, just as he’s promised to do many times before… Rocco is reluctant but agreesLutyens was involved in the Theosophical Movement. From 1911 the young Jiddu Krishnamurti was living in the Lutyens' London house as a friend of Elisabeth and her sisters. At the age of nine she began to aspire to be a composer. In 1922, Lutyens pursued her musical education in Paris at the École Normale de Musique, which had been established a few years previously, living with the young theosophical composer Marcelle de Manziarly, who had been trained by Nadia Boulanger. During her months in Paris Lutyens showed first signs of depression that later led to several mental breakdowns. [2]

Former EastEnders actor who won the eighth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and the twelfth series of Dancing on Ice a b c d e Dalton, James. "Lutyens, (Agnes) Elisabeth (1906–1983), composer", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 8 September 2020 (subscription or UK public library membership required) And Suddenly It's Evening, for tenor and 11 Instruments, Op. 66 (1965) – text by Salvatore Quasimodominutes of wrapping up the story. Florestan is freed, Fidelio/Leonore unchains him. Pizarro is arrested. And a big ensemble at the end. Ludwig van Beethoven is not a particularly good vocal composer. Somebody may object to that, but having sung Fidelio and many other vocal compositions by the Maestro, I can definitely say that his incredible knowledge of symphonic and instrumental music, didn’t carry over to his composing for the human voice. The setting isn’t very historically interesting as Beethoven anyway just wanted to write about freedom in general and personal freedom in particular. He was very enthusiastic about the French revolution (… and of Napoleon until the French general declared himself Emperor in 1804.). The idea of individual freedom for everybody, justice, and the struggle for equality and brotherhood between men was a constant companion of the composer’s. Beethoven was very enthusiastic though and had his friend Stephan von Breuning rewrite the original libretto by Joseph Sonnleithner. He also cut it down to two acts, from the original three (… Which meant that the characters of Marcellina and Jaquino became chopped off. They start out as a regular soubrette-couple, but almost disappears completely after the first scenes.) The new version was premiered on March 29, 1806 . From this version, we have the Ouverture (Leonore nr.3), which is sometimes inserted in the second Act. (It’s a 15 minutes symphony-like creation with all the dramatic characteristisìcs of Beethoven’s orchestra style… Maybe just a bit too much to open a rather short opera with.).