FULL The Immortal Hour (Boughton) Street 1996 Herincx Nagel Small Trist

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: The Immortal Hour   
• Composer: Boughton Rutland   
• Libretto: Boughton adapted his own libretto from the play of the same name by Fiona MacLeod, a pseudonym of writer William Sharp    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Strode Theatre, Street, England  
• Recorded: August 1996
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Raymund Herincx, Viola Nagel, Margaret Small, Simon Trist, Leslie Skidmore, Margaret Small, Robert Carter, Anthony Nott
• Conductor: Brendan Sadler  
• Orchestra: Festival Orchestra  
• Chorus: Festival Chorus  
• Stage Director: Chrys Henning  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Format: Unknown
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  
• Video Recording from: YouTube     FULL VIDEO
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

The Immortal Hour is a fairy tale or fairy opera, with a mood and theme similar to Dvořák’s Rusalkaand Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Magic and nature spirits play important roles in the storyline. The fairy people are not mischievous, childlike sprites, but are proud and powerful: immortal demigods who are feared by mortals and who can (and do) interfere with the lives of men and women. Alternatively, the progression of Etain into the mortal realm and her pursuit and redemption by Midir have similarities with the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.

In this work, Boughton combined Wagnerian approaches to musical themes and symbolism with a folk-like modal approach to the music itself, reflective of the Celtic origins of the tale, which is based on the Irish story Tochmarc Étaíne.

The Immortal Hour was first performed in Glastonbury on 26 August 1914, at the inaugural Glastonbury Festival which Boughton co-founded