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The Canadian Opera Company is born

Broadcast Date: Feb. 3, 1950

It is "an occasion which warrants a term little short of ‘momentous'," according to CBC Radio host John Kannawin, when the first Opera Festival opens in Toronto on a cold February night in 1950. In anticipation of the curtain rising on the first performance for the precursor of the Canadian Opera Company, Kannawin interviews a multitude of participants. In this excerpt from opening night, we hear from musical director and conductor Nicholas Goldschmidt , Winnipeg soprano Mary Morrison and CBC Radio's own producer for the event, Terence Gibbs.

The Canadian Opera Company is born

• The Opera Festival of 1950 was presented at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Completed in 1907, it seats 1,497 people.

• The Royal Conservatory of Music Opera School was founded in 1946, with Arnold Walter as musical director and Nicholas Goldschmidt as conductor. The Royal Conservatory Opera Company was formed three years later, principally using students from the school, and presented the first Opera Festival the following year, in 1950.

• In this report, Royal Conservatory of Music principal Ettore Mazzoleni says that earlier plans to form the company were thwarted by the Great Depression and by a world war, but, "this time I am determined that nothing will put an end to our plans for a permanent opera company short of an A-bomb or an H-bomb."

• The Opera Festival is referred to as a "full season" in the clip. The season consisted of three operas presented over eight days. The operas were: Mozart's Don Giovanni (sung in an English translation), Puccini's La Bohème and Verdi's Rigoletto.

• In this program, Dr. Arnold Walter, director of the Opera School, offers the opinion and hope that in the future not just some but all operas will be presented in the native language of the audience. The debate over whether operas are best performed in their original language, with all the delicate balance of language and music preserved, or translated so that the audience can easily follow along, is one that continues to this day. In 1982 the Canadian Opera Company introduced surtitles, the projection of translated opera libretti to a screen mounted above the stage. They are now widely used throughout the world.

 

The Canadian Opera Company is born

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC Radio Special

Broadcast Date: Feb. 3, 1950

Guest(s): Herman Geiger-Torel, Terence Gibbs, Nicholas Goldschmidt, Edmund Hockridge, Edward Johnson, June Kowalchuck, Gilles LaMontagne, Ettore Mazzoleni, Mary Morrison, Louise Roy, James Shields, Arnold Walter

Host: John Kannawin

Duration: 19:51

Last updated:
March 30, 2010