The Glyndebourne Émigrés

In its first years of existence, in the 1930s, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival set out to internationalize English opera culture, by both attracting international artists and leading proponents of a new concept of opera production and by giving émigrés the chance to further hone skills developed in Central Europe on British soil. The festival, founded by John Christie and his wife Audrey, opened its doors in 1934. The first five years of productions were marked by the collaboration of Artistic Directors, Fritz Busch and Carl Ebert, and the festival’s General Manager, Rudolph Bing, all of whom had emigrated from Nazi Germany in 1933. Beyond these architects of the festival, Glyndebourne employed the talents of many other émigrés, including the young conductor Hans Oppenheim, singers Irene Eisinger and Ina Souez, and répétiteur Jani Strasser.

Many of these individuals had left Germany in or prior to 1933, and each contributed substantially to the achievements of the festival during its formative years. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, the festival’s production team succeeded in establishing a reputation for Glyndebourne as a site for internationally renowned opera production, with an approach markedly different from the production style British audiences had experienced up to that point. This collection explores the development of modern British opera production in the 1930s via the frameworks of mobility, migration, and aesthetics.