Glyndebourne Festival Opera: history and repertoire, 1934–51

Last updated March 08, 2025

This is a list of the operas performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera during the music directorship (1934-1951) of Fritz Busch. Operas performed at venues other than Glyndebourne by Glyndebourne forces are also included, as are operas performed at Glyndebourne by other companies.

Year	Opera^[1]	Composer	Conductor	Director	Designer^[2]
1934	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson/Ann Litherland
1934	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson/Ann Litherland
1935	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Hans Oppenheim	Revival of 1934 production
1935	Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson/Ann Litherland
1935	The Magic Flute	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson
1935	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1936	Don Giovanni	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson/Hein Heckroth
1936	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1936	Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1935 production
1936	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1936	The Magic Flute	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Hans Oppenheim	Revival of 1935 production
1937	Don Giovanni	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1936 production
1937	Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1935 production
1937	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1937	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1937	The Magic Flute	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1935 production
1938	Macbeth	Verdi	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Caspar Neher
1938	Don Giovanni	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Alberto Erede	Revival of 1936 production
1938	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1938	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Alberto Erede	Revival of 1934 production
1938	Don Pasquale	Donizetti	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Hamish Wilson/Kenneth Green
1939	Don Giovanni	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Alberto Erede	Revival of 1936 production
1939	Don Pasquale	Donizetti	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1938 production
1939	Macbeth	Verdi	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1938 production
1939	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1934 production
1939	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch/Alberto Erede	Revival of 1934 production
1940	The Beggar's Opera ^[3]	Pepusch		John Gielgud	Motley
1941/5	No Festival - theatre closed during World War II
1946	The Rape of Lucretia ^[4]	Britten		Eric Crozier	John Piper
1947	Orfeo ed Euridice	Gluck	Fritz Stiedry	Carl Ebert	Joseph Carl
1947	Albert Herring ^[5]	Britten	Benjamin Britten/Ivan Clayton	Frederick Ashton	John Piper
1947	Macbeth^[6]	Verdi	Berthold Goldschmidt	Revival of 1938 production
1947	The Marriage of Figaro^[7]	Mozart	Walter Susskind/Renato Cellini	Revival of 1934 production
1948	Don Giovanni^[7]	Mozart	Rafael Kubelik	Revival of 1936 production
1948	Così fan tutte^[7]	Mozart	Vittorio Gui	Carl Ebert	Rolf Gérard
1949	Un ballo in maschera ^[7]	Verdi	Vittorio Gui/Hans Oppenheim	Carl Ebert	Caspar Neher
1949	Così fan tutte^[7]	Mozart	Vittorio Gui/Hans Oppenheim	Revival of 1948 production
1950	Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Rolf Gérard
1950	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch	Revival of 1948 production
1950	The Marriage of Figaro^[7]	Mozart	Ferenc Fricsay	Carl Ebert	Rolf Gérard
1950	Ariadne auf Naxos ^[7]^[8]	Strauss	Thomas Beecham	Carl Ebert	Oliver Messel
1951	Idomeneo	Mozart	Fritz Busch/John Pritchard	Carl Ebert	Oliver Messel
1951	The Marriage of Figaro	Mozart	Fritz Busch/John Pritchard	Revival of 1950 production
1951	Così fan tutte	Mozart	Fritz Busch/John Pritchard	Revival of 1948 production
1951	Don Giovanni	Mozart	Fritz Busch/John Pritchard	Carl Ebert	John Piper
1951	La forza del destino ^[7]	Verdi	Fritz Busch	Carl Ebert	Leslie Hurry
1951	Don Giovanni^[7]	Mozart	Fritz Busch/John Pritchard

Sources

Norwich, John Julius (1985). Fifty Years of Glyndebourne. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-02310-1.

References

↑ Titles in Bold are new productions. Opera titles are those used in Wikipedia and not necessarily those used by Glyndebourne.
↑ Where two designers are credited, the first-named designed the set and the second designed the costumes
↑ This production, arranged from Pepusch and John Gay's original by Frederic Austin, was not performed at Glyndebourne, instead first touring to Brighton, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and then appearing at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for 126 performances between 16 January and 25 May.
↑ This opera was performed at Glyndebourne and on tour by a number of singers from Sadler's Wells Opera Company, many of whom later formed the nucleus of Britten's English Opera Group. The performance on 12 July was the world premiere of the opera.
↑ Performed at Glyndebourne by the English Opera Group. The performance on 20 June 1947, was the world premiere of the opera.
↑ Performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival.
↑ 1912 version, preceded by a performance of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

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[1] Titles in Bold are new productions. Opera titles are those used in Wikipedia and not necessarily those used by Glyndebourne.

[2] Where two designers are credited, the first-named designed the set and the second designed the costumes

[3] This production, arranged from Pepusch and John Gay's original by Frederic Austin, was not performed at Glyndebourne, instead first touring to Brighton, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and then appearing at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for 126 performances between 16 January and 25 May.

[4] This opera was performed at Glyndebourne and on tour by a number of singers from Sadler's Wells Opera Company, many of whom later formed the nucleus of Britten's English Opera Group. The performance on 12 July was the world premiere of the opera.

[5] Performed at Glyndebourne by the English Opera Group. The performance on 20 June 1947, was the world premiere of the opera.

[6] Performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival.

[Edin-7] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival.

[8] 1912 version, preceded by a performance of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

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Glyndebourne Festival Opera: history and repertoire, 1934–51

Contents

Sources

See also

References