Eric Kisch <[log in to unmask]> queried why ENO director David Pountney
said that surtitles removed one of the elements of opera - it being a
synthesis of music, text, action and image.

Surely he meant that the sung sung text was "removed" to become text that
is to be "read"?

Eric Kisch also voiced the opinion:

>and I would suggest that today's opera audience is much
>more knowledgeable -- as a whole -- than ever before.

This may well be the case in the USA of which I have no experience and from
where, presumably, he is writing.  It is, however, not my impression that
this is the case in Europe where the cost of tickets has caused immense
damage to the building of future audiences "compared to before".

When I was cutting my teeth on opera in the 1960s I was attending between
45 and 65 performances a year on a trainee's salary of 17 pounds a week
(USD 27.50) and this would include the ROH, Sadler's Wells, Glyndebourne
and one or two sorties into Europe (two visits to Vienna, each for 13
performances over 14 days), Bayreuth (all 7 operas), Munich etc.  I observe
that this is no longer possible for those under 30 (say) and by then, I
would venture to suggest, it is too late to lay the ground work.  My early
60s ROH ticket of 10/6d (51 pence) was last priced at 54 pounds and that
was mid-way up the house (not in the gods).  It is strange to observe
that in those days a Glyndebourne ticket at 2.50 pounds was 5 times more
expensive than my ROH seat.  Today it is just double - and Glyndebourne
receives no state subsidy whatever!

Secondly, can one dare stick one's neck out to say that today applause
frequently bears little ressemblance to the quality of performance?
Most notable in this regard were the sad and lack-lustre performances
of Falstaff by Giulini at the ROH in 1982.  These were but a shadow of
his performances in 1961 but so ecstatically received as to suggest the
audience was rather inexperienced, to say the least.  One wonders what a
modern audience would do if something *truly* great was to occur on stage!?

Yes, I concede that there is a far wider range of interest in opera today
but that, IMO, it is noticeably shallower.

And if these audiences are now more knowledgeable than before why, then,
are they so obsessed with having surtitles? That strikes me as a non
sequitur.

John G. Deacon: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/j.deacon