I have been doing a little research on him and the opera
'The Alchemist'
Generally, other than mentioning it, there are no descriptions:
From The Gramophone (April 1929)
In 1918 he completed an opera, " The Alchemist," which he
showed to Sir Thomas Beecham, who promised to produce it at Covent Garden,
but went bankrupt instead. In 1921 the score was published in Germany and
excited so much interest that three opera houses were anxious to have the
premiere. Finally Wiesbaden was decided on, the libretto was translated into
German, everything was got ready— and the opera house was burnt down!
Ultimately it was produced at Essen in 1926, and also at Dortmund in
1927.
He is described as an occultist (see
Wikipedia)
The libretto of The Alchemist was
published in Germany as:
The Alchemist. Opera in three scenes. Mainz, [etc], B. Schott’s Söhne, c1924.
150p.
There are a few copies in the
USA (see Worldcat) and 1 in the UK at Birmingham
University.
Although much of his piano music is
available, either as collections or as single pieces on a compilation, I
cannot find any publicly available recordings of his larger works. A bit
like Gottschalk in this respect. The All Music Guide does not even mention
The Alchemist, although it praises
him:
English composer Cyril Scott was, at one time, widely credited
as the composer who brought British music into the twentieth century.
Although Scott is still worthy of this distinction, the long neglect to
which his music was subjected has placed the value of his contribution
beyond reach for most. With the dawn of the twenty-first century, it appears
that Scott is finally getting his just due, as his work is beginning to
emerge from the shadows of obscurity. The son of a Greek scholar, Scott was
sent to Frankfurt to study music withEngelbert Humperdinck at age 12. The young English musicians who were his
classmates there, Percy Grainger, Roger Quilter, Norman O'Neill, and Balfour Gardiner, are sometimes referred to as "The Frankfurt Group," though
throughout his life Scott remained close only to Grainger.
The bit of good news is that there is a
copy of the opera at the British Library Sound
Archive:
1. Alchemist/Scott
Lockhart,
James, 1930- (conductor)
It is part of the following BBC
programme/series:
Britannia
at the opera
BBC Radio 3
1995-11-10
LIST RECORDINGS: |
H6041/2 |
Broadcaster: |
BBC
Radio 3 1995-11-10 |
Broadcast title: |
Britannia at the opera |
Programme notes: |
Part
of "Fairest Isle" season |
Contents note: |
Cyril
Scott |
Format: |
tape
1 VHS cassette stereo |
That's all I can find out at
the moment.
I will try to get the book on
ILL and describe the opera.
Alan
Best wishes
Alan
Pritchard MPhil FCLIP
Tel: +44 (0)1202
417477