The comic opera of England
Glimpsing the state of the nation at Glyndebourne, just not as you might expect
You lug your wicker hamper across the stiletto-punctured lawn and bag a spot beside the ha-ha. You say “ha-ha” a lot because this is the only chance you get. Smoothing your frock or dinner jacket, you head inside for the opera—in this case, “L’elisir d’amore”, Donizetti’s comic delight of 1832—re-emerging at the long interval to picnic and covet your neighbour’s candelabra. Before the gong sounds for the second act, you stroll around the lily-pad-crowded lake, to a soundtrack of popping corks and the distant bleating of doomed lambs.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “England, the opera”
Culture June 3rd 2023
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- The comic opera of England
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