Glyndeborne
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Glyndebourne () is an
English country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
, the site of an
opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...
that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual
Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...
. The house, located near
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...
in
East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...
, England, is thought to be about six hundred years old and listed at grade II.Kennedy, p. 5


History of the house

"There had been a
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
at Glynde Bourne (as it was often spelt) since the fifteenth century", but the exact age of the house is unknown. Some surviving
timber framing Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...
and pre-Elizabethan
panelling Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...
makes an early 16th-century date the most likely. In 1618, it came into the possession of the Hay family, passing to James Hay Langham in 1824. He inherited his father's baronetcy and estate in Northamptonshire in 1833 which under the terms of his inheritance should have led to him relinquishing Glyndebourne, but as a certified
lunatic ''Lunatic'' is a term referring to a person who is seen as Mental disorder, mentally ill, Risk, dangerous, Foolishness, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moo ...
he was unable to do so. After litigation the estate passed to a relative, Mr Langham Christie, but he later had to pay £50,000 to persuade another relative to withdraw a rival claim. Langham Christie's son,
William Langham Christie William Langham Christie (31 May 1830 – 28 November 1913) of Glyndebourne, Sussex, and Tapeley, North Devon, was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the son of Langham Christie, who had inherited Glyndebourne, the Sussex country ...
, made substantial alterations to the house in the 1870s. First, a brick extension hid its 17th-century
façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
, while ornate stonework and
balustrading A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...
was added. Then, in 1876, the architect
Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery. He was Arch ...
was engaged to install bay windows and add decorative brickwork to give the house the
Jacobethan The Jacobethan ( ) architectural style, also known as Jacobean Revival, is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the Engli ...
appearance which can still be seen from the gardens today. Some of the exterior of the older parts of the house can be seen from the driveway next to the theatre.


Swiss origins of the Christie family

Langham Christie was the son of one Daniel Christin, a Swiss of obscure origins who
anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
his name to Christie on entering the army of the East India Company. According to frequently published accounts, Daniel Christin joined the Bombay Engineers rising to the rank of major, and the family fortune was made when he was given a hoard of gems by a Sultan in thanks for having prevented his troops from pillaging a harem. Unfortunately none of these claims finds ready support in the records of East India Company or indeed in any accounts of the period. The rank of major seems to have been a later invention. There was indeed a Major Christie of the Madras Engineers, however he was shot dead by a Cossack near the river Aras in 1812, some three years after Daniel Christie had died. In his will, Daniel Christie refers to himself as formerly a captain in the service of the English East India Company under the presidency of Bombay, there being no mention of higher rank or of an engineering connection. The Christie family pedigree cites Daniel Christie's dates of promotion, first to Lieutenant in 1781 and to Captain in 1783, however no records to support these claims have been offered or traced thus far. The only Daniel Christie to be found for this period in the East India Company records is a surgeon's mate of the Sixth Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry. The Christie family pedigree claims that in 1782 Christin served in the war against
Hyder Ali Hyder Ali (''Haidar'alī''; ; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's ...
in
Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
. That Hyder Ali died in that year and that there was extensive looting by East India Company soldiers from Ali's palace, as was commonplace throughout the Anglo-Mysore Wars, is perhaps suggestive. Whatever the truth regarding his origins, rank or source of sudden wealth, Daniel Christie undoubtedly returned to England with a fortune estimated at £20,000 (equivalent to about £35 million in 2021 values), and his second marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Purbeck Langham, ultimately brought Glyndebourne into the Christin/Christie family.


Origins of the opera house

John Christie obtained the use of the house in 1913 after the death of William Langham Christie, his grandfather. He came into full legal possession of the estate in 1920. Among other renovations, he added to the house an organ room, long, in the process almost doubling the length of the south façade of the house. This room contained one of the largest organs outside of a
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
in the country. It was built by the firm of Hill, Norman & Beard Ltd (bought by Christie in 1923). After the Second World War, John Christie made a gift of sections of the soundboards, pipes and structural parts to the rebuilt
Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks The Royal Military Chapel, commonly known as the Guards' Chapel, is a British Army place of worship that serves as the religious home of the Household Division at the Wellington Barracks in Westminster, Greater London. Completed in 1838 in the st ...
(which had been destroyed in
the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
); the case and console remain at Glyndebourne. John Christie's fondness for music led him to hold regular amateur
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
evenings in this room. At one of these evenings in 1931, he met his future wife, the Sussex-born Canadian soprano
Audrey Mildmay Grace Audrey Laura St John-Mildmay (19 December 1900 – 31 May 1953) was an English and Canadian soprano and co-founder, with her husband, John Christie, of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' describes her voice "as a li ...
, a singer with the Carl Rosa Opera company who had been engaged to add a touch of professionalism to the proceedings. They were married on 4 June 1931. During their honeymoon, they attended the
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
and
Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
festivals, which gave them the idea of bringing professional opera to Glyndebourne, although Christie's original concept was for it to be similar to the Bayreuth Festival.Susan Aspen, "Pastoral Retreats: Playing at Arcadia in Modern Britain", Susan Aspen, ed., ''Operatic Geographies: The Place of Opera and the Opera House'', Chicago University Press, 2019, 195-212, p. 201. As their ideas evolved, the concept changed to focus on smaller-scale productions of operas by
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
more suited to the intimate scale of the planned theatre.


The first theatre

As an annex to the organ room, the Christies built a fully equipped and up-to-date theatre with a 300-seat
auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...
and an
orchestra pit An orchestra pit is an area in a theatre (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. The orchestra plays mostly out of sight in the pit, rather than on the stage as for a concert, when providing music fo ...
capable of holding a
symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
. Christie engaged conductor
Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen to a musical family and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior posts in two G ...
as the first music director,
Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was a Germans, German actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his nat ...
, the Intendant of Berlin's Städtische Oper as artistic director, and
Rudolf Bing Sir Rudolf Bing, KBE (January 9, 1902 – September 2, 1997) was an Austrian-born British opera impresario who worked in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, including as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City f ...
became general manager until 1949. All three men were exiles from
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. After extensive rehearsals, the first six-week season opened on 28 May 1934 with a performance of ''
Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
'' followed by ''
Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...
''.
Boyd Neel Louis Boyd Neel O.C. (19 July 190530 September 1981) was an English, and later Canadian conductor and academic. He was Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto. Neel founded and conducted chamber orchestras, and cont ...
had conducted the first music heard in the renovated Glyndebourne opera house in 1934, in private performances, at John Christie's invitation. John Christie's original theatre was soon enlarged and improved many times after its initial construction. As early as 1936 its capacity was increased to 433; by 1952 it held nearly 600, and finally, in 1977, it held 850 people. In addition, a rehearsal hall was constructed. Productions were interrupted by the Second World War, during which time the house became an evacuation centre for children from London. After 1945 the festival slowly began again. Until 1951, the entire burden of financing the opera festival was undertaken by John Christie himself, but, in 1952, the Glyndebourne Festival Society was formed to take over the financial management. Christie's death in 1962 resulted in his son
George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...
(later Sir George) taking over, and additional changes and improvements to the theatre continued. Hill, Norman and Beard built the pipe organ in 1924, and it gradually expanded over the years. John Christie owned a considerable share in the company. Currently, the organ is a gutted shell, the pipes having been donated to various churches for the construction of new organs after World War II. The organ originally contained four manuals and 46 stops, but this was eventually expanded to 106 stops, unusual for an English-built organ in having multiple diapason chorus ranks of pipes. A short semi-documentary film was made in 1955 entitled '' On Such a Night'', featuring excerpts from that year's production of ''
Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
'' and with glimpses of John Christie,
Vittorio Gui Vittorio Gui (14 September 188516 October 1975) was an Italian conductor, composer, musicologist and critic. Gui was born in Rome in 1885. He graduated in humanities at the University of Rome and also studied composition at the Accademia Nazio ...
and
Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was a Germans, German actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his nat ...
, interwoven with fictional story about an American going there for the first time.


The present theatre

By the late 1980s the theatre's expansion, which had proceeded in a somewhat piecemeal fashion, included an agglomeration of outbuildings which housed restaurants, dressing rooms, storage and other facilities. It became clear to George Christie that a completely new theatre - and not just an enlargement of the old one - was necessary. Having chosen the architects
Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...
and
Patty Hopkins Patricia Ann Hopkins, Lady Hopkins, (née Wainwright; born 1942) is an English architect and joint winner, along with her husband Sir Michael Hopkins (architect), Michael Hopkins, of the 1994 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Early life Hop ...
of
Hopkins Architects Hopkins Architects (formerly Michael Hopkins and Partners) is a prominent British architectural firm established by architects Sir Michael and Patricia, Lady Hopkins. Background The practice was established in 1976 by Michael and Patty Hopkins ...
in a design competition, Christie announced in 1990 that a new theatre, capable of seating 1,200 people, would be constructed in 1992. The old theatre hosted its last festival in 1992, and construction of a brand-new theatre began. It was completed at a cost of £34 million, 90 per cent of which was raised through donations, which gave the donors control of 28% of the seats. The inaugural performance in the new theatre on 28 May 1994, given 60 years to the day after the old theatre's first performance, was ''
Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
''. The design of the theatre, a large brick oval building, has resulted in a four-level, horseshoe-shaped auditorium with main level seating, two balconies, and a gallery topped with a circular roof. The over high stage building is semi-circular in shape and allows for the efficient flying and storage of scenery. The acoustics, by Derek Sugden and Rob Harris of Arup Acoustics, have received praise.


Education

Since its establishment in 1986, Glyndebourne's education department has undertaken an array of projects within the local community. Schools around the
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
and
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
area often visit the venue for performances and workshops. Youth opera projects are also undertaken such as the recent production of for 14- to 19-year-olds and the previous Hip H'Opera project in 2006 - timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
's birth. The department has also worked with
HMP Lewes His Majesty's Prison Lewes is a local category B prison located in Lewes in East Sussex, England. The term local means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. The prison is operated by His Maj ...
since 1988 in projects such as inmate-designed puppet shows influenced by works such as
Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...
's ''
Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
''.


Wind turbine

Glyndebourne has featured windmills for many years. A post-mill, erected in 1706, was used until 1921, but collapsed in 1925, and the trestle timbers were blown down in 1964. Glyndebourne applied for planning permission to
Lewes District Council Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the South Downs. A traditional market town ...
for a wind turbine in January 2007. The council granted permission in July 2007, but the decision was called in by the Secretary of State because of the wider implications of the proposal for renewable energy development in the
South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and strong opposition from countryside protection groups and local residents. On 10 July 2008, the Secretary of State granted planning permission. In 2008–9, Glyndebourne erected a temporary mast on Mill Plain to monitor meteorological conditions for a year, prior to erection of the turbine. The data collected showed lower wind levels than had been predicted at this location, perhaps because 2008–9 had lower wind levels than usual. The turbine was launched in January 2012. In the first five years since it was launched, the turbine generated the equivalent of 102% of Glyndebourne's annual electricity requirements, outperforming its annual target of 90%.


References

;Notes ;Sources *Allison, John (ed.), ''Great Opera Houses of the World'', supplement to ''Opera'' magazine, London 2003 *Beauvert, Thierry, ''Opera Houses of the World'', The Vendome Press, New York, 1995. * Binney, Marcus, and Rosy Runciman, ''Glyndebourne - Building a Vision'', London: Thames and Hudson, 1994. * Hughes, Spike, ''Glyndebourne'', London: Methuen, 1965. *Kennedy, Michael, ''Glyndebourne; A Short History'', Oxford: Shire Publications, 2010 * * Norwich, John Julius, ''Fifty Years of Glyndebourne'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1985. * Plantamura, Carol, ''The Opera Lover's Guide to Europe'', New York: Citadel Press, 1996. *Zeitz, Karyl Lynn, ''Opera: the Guide to Western Europe's Great Houses'', Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1991.


External links


Glyndebourne Festival Opera
official website *, includes live video
An oral history of Glyndebourne opera
- sound recordings of interviews with gardeners, musicians and staff.

* [http://www.glyndebourne.com/discover/news-and-blogs/2011/december/a-seasonal-message-from-david-pickard-general-director/ David Pickard, "A Seasonal message from David Pickard, General Director". Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 13 December 2011] {{Authority control Country houses in East Sussex Opera houses in England Glyndebourne Festival Opera Opera in the United Kingdom Theatres completed in 1934 Music venues completed in 1934 Theatres completed in 1994 Music venues completed in 1994 Grade II listed buildings in East Sussex 1934 establishments in England Houses completed in the 15th century Ewan Christian buildings bourne Ringmer