‘Rehearsal, language, and performance

techniques of Opera’

A fellowship made possible through the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

David Jackson B.A. (Hons), Dunelm, M.Mus.

Churchill Fellow 2007

 ‘Tosca’
Bregenz, Austria
July 2007

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I arrived late at night to a labyrinth of an empty airport; my plans had been thwarted by the summer
weather. I had spent 8 hours at Heathrow awaiting my delayed Munich flight, three of which were spent
sitting on a runway bound, static plane. I was conscious of the fact that my train to Bayreuth was leaving
Munich Hauptbahnhof just as we took off. I avoided a dreadful foreboding as to what might happen on
the rest of my six weeks of travels; occasions like this simply deserved spontaneity and improvisation.
There were more trains tomorrow, Munich had hotel rooms, and the most important part of the equation
– I was finally in Europe beginning my fellowship, what did half a day matter! During the months prior to
departure, my concept of ‘the fellowship’ was a series of emails, letters, and phone calls. When the
moment dawned that I was finally there doing it, despite all my preparations, it felt a strangely alien
concept. How was I going to make this a success? What exactly was I going to learn? Papers, emails and
phone calls were nowhere to be seen now. My previous undergraduate and graduate studies in Music and
Opera had given me grounding in the basics of languages, techniques of rehearsing and performing opera
scores as a repetiteur. Yet now I was to build on this knowledge, assimilate different techniques and glean
information observing musicians at the top of their field in some of the most artistically renowned and
musically celebrated opera centres in Europe.

I arrived in Bayreuth the following lunchtime. My reading book had lain forgotten as I travelled on the
regional express from Munich Hauptbahnhof, taken in by the novelty of the Bayern scenery. On arrival the
town proudly reminds you of its heritage as a ‘University and Festival Town’. This undisputed spiritual
and musical home of Wagner comes alive every summer at the Bayreuther Festspiele; an international musical
(and social) occasion, tickets being so sought after, the waiting list currently stands at 10 years. For my
short stay in Bayreuth I was being accommodated by members of the chorus. Bags duly dropped off and
after a swift lunch I made my way to the world famous opera house to collect my Tagesausweis (Day Pass).
The surrounding streets confirm your location - Nibelungenstrasse, Rheingoldstrasse, Parsifalstrasse; and you find
yourself on Siegfried-Wagner-Allee as you climb to reach the opera house. The approach is lined with trees, a
straight road with a slow incline. Surrounded by an expanse of green, the building has a detachment from
the rest of the town. Built under supervision of Wagner specifically for the performance of his operas, it
is renowned for its innovation in stage and pit design, and of course as the home of the Wagner legacy. As
I arrived the festival was in intense preparation for the opening of the 2007 festival. With rehearsals
underway for seven different operas, sets were stored under makeshift canopies, tarpaulins and what
seemed like huge warehouses to the rear of the main building. I had been given permission to come to
Bayreuth to observe chorus rehearsals under the direction of Herr Friedrich, the Chorus Director at
Bayreuth and the Deustche Staatsoper in Berlin. The first rehearsal I attended that afternoon, for female

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voices, was held ‘in the round’ in the banked Chorsaal. With a chorus of 170 singers, these were rehearsals
on a scale I had never had the privilege of observing before. The rehearsal lasted about an hour, during
which time the depth of each and every note was plumbed. The small excerpts which were being studied
were rehearsed in separate voice sections, then on separate rows, then even three people at a time. Timing
and tuning were at the heart of this rehearsal.

After an hour the rehearsal finished. What I wasn’t expecting was to be taken into the Opera House to
witness the stage rehearsals for Parsifal. After passing through the empty reception, I entered a darkened
auditorium. Blinded by the outside daylight, and unfamiliar to the surroundings, it took a while for eyes
and ears to adjust to this new environment. Parsifal Act 3: The orchestral rehearsal was in full flight, the
stage was revolving. The sound was incredible. The pit canopy hides the orchestra completely from view
in order that conductor and instrumentalists do not distract the audience, and the drama is the only focal
point. The canopy also focuses the sound towards the stage to blend with the singers voices before
flooding over the audience. The effect was astounding, sounds flowed smoothly and simultaneously all
around. There was no aural focal point; the music simply filled the auditorium as if part of the
furnishings.

With the next morning free I had time to delve deeper into the Wagnerian Bayreuth legacy. A mile or so
away from the opera house in the centre of Bayreuth sits the late nineteenth century Wagner home
‘Wahnfried’. Now restored and open as a museum, it houses a fascinating array of artefacts; the piano on
which Parsifal was written, original costumes, even Wagner’s death mask. It is in the back garden
however, that you find lying unassumingly and with no great spectacle, topped with simple black granite,
the graves of Richard and Cosima Wagner. I later understood this was where the female chorus sang at
the opening of the festival. The status Wagner has achieved in Bayreuth is nothing short of a deity –
complete with pilgrims, saints and shrines. I was to visit several festivals of composer’s music being
performed in their ‘home’ town, yet nothing was to compare to the quasi-religious status created here by
Wagner and perpetuated ever since.

That afternoon, I was again welcome to sit in on further chorus sectional rehearsals. The rehearsal
facilities in Bayreuth are very extensive, and we found ourselves in a different rehearsal room. This probe
ran from 3.30 until 5.00, and was a reassessment of small parts sung in the rehearsal the day before. The
techniques used were simple, yet very effective, and similar to the previous day’s rehearsal. The method
involved taking small sections (only 4-6 bars long) and repeating them. This obviously wasn’t to cover as

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much material as possible, but to cover what was being rehearsed in depth. These phrases were rehearsed
at differing speeds, in different voices, and with greatest possible attention to tuning. A problem which
can arise with any chorus is a gradual drop in pitch over long phrases. These rehearsals were, for the
majority, unaccompanied. This attuned the singers to their own sense of pitch, rather than creating a
relative sound world on which they can rely. There was a repetiteur present, however he simply played
(and sang) the introductions and dropped out when the chorus began to sing. The main tenants of the
rehearsal which were very clear to see and effectively dealt with, were rhythmic integrity (with below
tempo subdivided sections), tuning (with brighter more uniform vowels, and clearer voiced endings), and
dynamics.

Leaving Bayreuth behind, I continued my journey the following day south by Deutsche Bahn to Austria.
Bregenz nestles between the steep inclines of the Austrian Alps and the shores of Lake Constance. I had
come to watch preparations for the 62nd Bregenz Festival. Founded in 1946, the operation is now spread
amongst numerous theatres, a purpose built Opera House and various performance spaces; the crowning
glory being the spectacle of the floating stage. Sitting over the shore edge, the seats have the lake lapping
underneath them with the stage several feet away on a separate jetty. Originally the festival began with
Mozart operas performed on several barges, nowadays it has developed into a permanent and striking
setting for opera productions. The summer 2007 season featured Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ performed on the lake
stage, and in the opera house a production of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Death in Venice’ – a co-production with
the Aldeburgh Festival. I had been in touch with the Aldeburgh Festival prior to my arrival, and was
intending to observe their preparations for ‘Death in Venice’.

The opera house is brand new – and a stunning creation of white open spaces, amazing vistas and flowing
staircases. One of the most memorable and thoughtful touches was the staff canteen with panoramic
views over the lake from the top of the opera house building. When I arrived the company were
rehearsing with stage and pianos. Prior to the final rehearsals with an orchestra, operas undergo a series
of stage and piano rehearsals, culminating in a Klavierhauptprobe (Piano Dress). I arrived prior to the Piano
Dress and watched a rehearsal punctuated with occasional breaks for musical and directorial discussions.
The staging was inspired, and haunting, with creative use of water and light. Meanwhile in the pit the
piano was being used just as creatively – with traditional piano playing being augmented with bangs of
piano lids at times to accentuate the percussive orchestration. The score in these rehearsals was
sacrosanct. Singers suggested changes, perhaps advocating slightly more freedom with one or two notes,
however the conductor simply insisted on performing it ‘…the way it’s written’. For the chorus

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suggestions of more contrast in dynamic came with the comment of comparing piano and forte to ITV and
BBC, and it worked. The point in the rehearsal had been reached where singers on stage trying to
assimilate new surroundings and directions were putting musical concerns to the back of their minds, thus
creating accidental mistakes with entries and rhythms. It’s easy to point the finger of blame in these
occasions, and as one singer accused the conductor of not giving large enough beats in one section, he
stuck to his guns and promptly retorted ‘Yes I am!’. Neither the director, singers nor conductor were to
blame for incidents like these which occur on stages everywhere, yet it reinforced the need for patience
and diplomacy in such tense, and time constricted environments.

Luckily the weather now played in my favour. Due to numerous downpours the Piano dress rehearsals
for ‘Tosca’ on the lake had been pushed back to the dates I was in Bregenz, and I was invited to join
members of the chorus of ‘Death in Venice’ to watch the rehearsal that evening. The stage was enormous
– a single eye looked out as us from across the water. The spectacle was not just in the set and the
amazing stage trickery which ensued, but also the magical setting. As the opera drew to a close, the sun
set spectacularly behind the eye and Tosca threw herself off the stage and through a projection which
spiralled through the centre of the eye to her inevitable fate. Not just a feat of stage engineering, but also
eventually sound engineering! Understandably the singers had discreet microphones due to the enormous
size of the outdoor venue. However, it appeared that when the orchestra are playing for productions they
are housed inside the main building next door. The conductor is relayed via a camera to the singers on
stage, as well as the music via speakers. My visit to Bregenz was short and unfortunately I never saw this
form of magic happen!

I arrived back in Munich at the end of my first week of travels, relieved to be somewhere where I could
unpack for longer than two nights! This was to be my home for the next fortnight. It was a Sunday; shops
were closed, streets were empty, and it seemed an age since I had last been there (only 5 nights ago). As
soon as I had arrived I made my way to my German host family to drop my bags off, and then I was off
again. That evening, outside the Bayerische Staatsoper, there was a transmission from inside the Opera
House of a Wagner Galakonzert. It was a heavy summer evening, and the square outside the Opera house
heaved with people of all ages. Placido Domingo, Rene Pape, and Waltraud Meier gave performances of
excerpts of various Wagner operas under the direction of the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Generalmusikdirektor
Kent Nagano. The event was naturally free, and the popularity was astounding. A man stood, with baton,
to the side of the heaving square conducting the entire concert from his position in the crowd. I spent
half the time fascinated by him, and half the time the projection screen. It was the enthusiasm typified in

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this man which ran throughout the whole crowd, and gave me just a hint of what to expect over the next
fortnight.

The next morning a new schedule lay ahead of me. I had come to Munich to do two things. I was here
to learn the rudiments of German as an operatic language, whilst also observing rehearsals and
productions at the festival. My mornings were taken up with my teacher Axel Zahnmesser covering
rudimentary German and the technicalities of pronunciation. Being a repetiteur, a good working
knowledge of at least German and Italian is essential to bring as much life and meaning to a text. A good
coach needs an excellent pronunciation facility and grasp of languages. Having studied French at school,
and for the last year Italian, German had never been high up on my list of language strengths! The
lessons involved a much needed immersion in German; with an emphasis on listening and speaking as
much as possible. Every morning would start with different discussion – the weather, my hometown,
German reunification, what the argument we overheard on the tram into town was about. I was never
going to learn to master German fluently in a fortnight, however the essentials including recognition skills,
the ability to learn more, and to find out what I need to know were there. Axel was a fascinating teacher,
never stuck for something to say, and a fantastic wit. Learning about Germany and its customs, its
regional and national politics, contributed not only to my knowledge of practical German but also created
an understanding of a country I had only visited once before.

The Munich Opera Festival is an impressive achievement; a combination of 15 Operas, 3 Premieres, Ballet
and numerous evening concerts, with the programme alone standing at 240 pages! I had purchased tickets
to see ‘Alcina’ (Handel), ‘Werther’ (Massenet), and ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ (Mozart) prior to my departure.
On my first meeting with Donald Wages (the Studienleiter) at the opera house, he kindly offered me
complementary tickets to see even more productions. Through this very generous offer I was
consequently able to take in the productions of ‘Norma’ (Bellini), and ‘Chowanschtschina’ (Mussorgsky).
Donald gave me a tour of the Opera House and its impressive facilities, not least the recent extension,
adding many practice rooms and rehearsals stages to the rear of the building.

On our first meeting we ran through the timetable of rehearsals and what I might like to see. I started out
observing rehearsals for the forthcoming ‘Marriage of Figaro’ performances. The cast was a combination
of Bayerische Staatsoper Ensemble members alongside guest artists, these included Simon Keenlyside as
the Count and Anja Harteros (winner of 1999 Cardiff Singer of the World) as the Countess. The
rehearsals were extraordinary to watch – mainly for the outstanding knowledge of the assistant director

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who was running the rehearsal knowing every single line of the opera off by heart and being able to sing in
every line necessary - quite a feat to watch! The rehearsals sped by – the production had been running in
Munich for over 10 years and so the ensemble members were well rehearsed already (some feeling so well
rehearsed they chose not to turn up!). These were roles which these high calibre singers had sung, and
recorded, many times over and so musically all was secure. Several times the conductor Lothar Zagrosek
suggested a few unifying musical nuance changes, but apart from that all was firm. Listening to the
continuo playing was also interesting. It made me appreciate that florid and nuanced continuo playing is
not necessarily needed during the rehearsal stage. The harmonic structure of the recitative is more than
enough; it provides the foundations to the singers’ lines, and cements their knowledge of the staging
without being distracted by such playing. As I sat in the audience the night of the performance, I felt a
privileged ‘part of the process’ having watched the transfer from rehearsal room to main stage. This
heightened my sense of sight and sound, and especially made me more aware of the contrasts in rehearsal
styles a repetiteur can adopt prior to a performance.

My visits to the Rennert Saal for ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ (Strauss) were not as numerous as my visits to Figaro,
and were cut short due to me having a ticket for ‘Alcina’. However, what I did see was the clear
enjoyment everyone found in the music and the drama throughout the rehearsal process. The conductor,
Peter Schneider, worked on slight changes here and there, and noticeably conducted the piano and singers
exactly as he would do an orchestra. Additionally, he sang in occasional orchestral parts to add to the
colour, and increase the authenticity of the rehearsal environment.

The four other performances I witnessed on top of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ were a contrast of styles,
stagings, and voices. I started with Mussorgsky, a composer I admit to not feeling completely at home
with, purely due to unfamiliarity with his body of work. The potent orchestration, complemented by an
equally impressive staging concept and cast of singers was overwhelmingly powerful. The Soviet inspired
set of a large concrete wall and abundance of fur coats transplanted the setting from seventeenth century
Russia to a very relevant modern setting considering the composers background and Germany’s modern
history. Bellini’s ‘Norma’ was the second performance I was to see, as much of a contrast as there could
possibly be from the Mussorgsky! What made this performance so memorable was the privilege of seeing
Edita Gruberova, one of the most acclaimed coloratura sopranos of recent decades, performing the
eponymous role. It was a real joy to watch, and a privilege to be part of the audience watching one of the
finest bel canto singers around. ‘Alcina’ (Handel) was performed in the Prinzregententheater, a more intimate
and apt venue for such a work. It was a beautiful and deeply moving performance of such sensitivity; I

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spent large portions of the performance sat with my eyes closed simply surrounded by the music. Anja
Harteros performance as Morgana was a delight, and the baroque orchestra played with depth and real
sensitivity. Not one person in the audience failed to be drawn into the heady mix of music and action. I
consolidated my experience of contrasting styles of music, languages and singers with my visit to see a
performance of ‘Werther’ (Massenet). A performance marked by the illness of one of the singers
(Sophie), and a singer placed into the pit to sing the role.

With free time in Munich I had one important visit to make. Prior to my departure to Germany I had
read extensively about the White Rose movement of student non-violent resistance to the Nazi regime,
which had been based in Munich. It was a small group of students lead by brother and sister Hans and
Sophie Scholl who distributed anti-regime leaflets for nine months. In February 1943 they had been
caught in the central hall of Munich University as Sophie threw leaflets from the top floor into the
covered courtyard, they were subsequently tried and executed. Of course the University is still the
University; there are no overt references to what happened there (apart from the renaming of the street), it
has not turned into a tourist attraction, and if you weren’t aware of what had happened there you would
be none the wiser unless you looked hard. A small bronze plaque was placed in the courtyard
accompanied by a small bunch of flowers, and in the Englisher Garten nearby sits a black granite memorial.
I thought it appropriate to be making such a visit, especially considering the origins of my Fellowship and
that Sophie was just a year younger than I was.

Nearing the end of my stay in Munich I had a surprise call from the chorus members I had stayed with in
Bayreuth. They had procured a spare ticket for the dress rehearsal of ‘Siegfried’ which, if I could get there
by the Friday afternoon, would be mine. Having seen all the performances I had tickets for in Munich,
and with a little rearrangement of German lessons, I found myself back on the very reliable Munich to
Nuremberg Regional Express once again. I was once again in the theatre – but the feeling had changed.
No longer a rehearsal area, this was a packed humid theatre (on account of the day’s continuous
downpour). Once the music erupted from the pit it was hard to take in that I was actually watching a
fully fledged dress rehearsal here at Bayreuth. By this point I should have been used to the unique and
quite unexpected twists and turns my fellowship was taking, yet I wasn’t. The music, strong and
determined was met with equal impetuous from the singers on stage, not least Stephen Gould’s Siegfried,
this despite Hugh Canning later deeming it ‘passable’ in the article ‘Cycle of despair’ (Sunday Times, 12.08.07).

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A swift return to Munich in order to fly to Rimini saw me continue the second half of my fellowship on
Italian soil. I was heading to Pesaro on the east coast of Italy - birthplace of Rossini and now home to the
annual Rossini Opera Festival. The town, like much of the Adriatic coast, has been swamped by hotel
developments along the miles of inviting, stretching sand. Wandering away from the coast you discover a
striking historic town centre. Amongst these buildings, whilst watching out for the numerous cyclists, you
find Rossini’s birthplace along with the Rossini Theatre. I took the opportunity first of all to visit
Rossini’s birthplace, a non-prepossessing building sat just off the main Piazza. Inside was a sparse
collection of furniture and artefacts of his life. I spent various mornings and afternoons of the following
five days visiting rehearsals of the Rossini Festival’s production of ‘Il Turco in Italia’, just one of a number
of productions being performed throughout the summer under the auspices of the ‘XXVIII International
Rossini Opera Festival’. The theatre tucked away in a small piazza in the centre of the town has a beautiful
interior lined with 200 separate boxes, from where I observed the rehearsals. There was a stark contrast
here between the processes I had previously witnessed in Germany. The rehearsals progressed at a slower
pace, and the repetiteur led the rehearsal from the piano, often proffering advice to the singers from the
piano stool. There was an emphasis given to Rossini embellishments not becoming melodies in
themselves. Rather they were to be developed into the overriding melody. The whole affair was
completely Italian – and gave the impression of a real, alive local passion for Rossini. The sensitivity given
to the performance of the score by the repetiteur was clear to see with very little or no pedal use at all.
This reflected the delicate string orchestration of the score. A lightness and sparse texture showed
through, something I’m afraid to say I frequently neglect.

From Pesaro I travelled across country by train to my last port of call, Lucca in Tuscany. Situated just a
few miles away from Pisa, it is well known not only for its breathtaking historic town centre and walls, but
also as the birthplace of Puccini. I was fortunate enough to be staying my final fortnight in the town
centre just 100 meters away from Puccini’s birthplace. From the bedroom window I looked out onto the
church where his father had been the organist, and where Puccini himself had once been a chorister.

I had come to Lucca not only to indulge my love of Puccini, but also to immerse myself in the Italian
language. As in Munich, I was to be studying in the mornings to improve my pronunciation and general
overall awareness and knowledge of the native language. Debora Micheloni, my Italian teacher, was an
immense driving force of energy and encouragement. Her attempts to acclimatise me with Italian culture
from the coffee shops, to the local history, and even introducing me to members of her family in the
street were so welcome. We spent half our time working through Puccini Opera Scores tackling text

10
problems, and the other half building on what Italian I already knew. The constant and tireless immersion
she gave me in the language brought out the meaning the Puccini texts to a new level, and consequently
improved my Italian pronunciation and understanding no end.

Prior to my application to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust I had read Julian Budden’s book
‘Puccini: His Life and Works’ whilst working on a production of Puccini’s Opera ‘Gianni Schicchi’. I was
aware Julian Budden held the position of President at the ‘Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini’ in Lucca, and after
the success of my application in early 2007 it was my intention to write to him. Unfortunately he died in
February 2007 during the early stages of my planning and I was never able to make contact with him.
Despite unsuccessful attempts to contact the Centre prior to my departure, I went along on the off chance
they were open. Luckily they were open yet on reduced opening hours, and I managed to spend an
afternoon at the Centre looking at their facilities, and their library. One of the most exciting parts of my
fellowship was the opportunity to study a facsimile of Puccini’s handwritten ‘Tosca’ orchestral score (of
which only 100 are in existence). The novelty of looking at Puccini’s handwriting, his mistakes, his
scribbles and scrawls reminded me that this was a personal and sometimes difficult creation. Performers
tend to lose sight of the ‘origins’ of music - this wasn’t a pristine printed score in clear black and white,
this was Puccini’s thought processes of instrumentation and texture playing out before me, and they were
fascinating to see. It made me wonder what Puccini would have thought of the Bregenz production I had
just seen – the book accompanying the facsimile quotes Puccini as writing ‘I see the opera adapted to my
means, without excessive proportions as a decorative spectacle.’

Torre-del-Lago is situated on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli between Lucca and Pisa. Originally a small
village in the early twentieth century, Puccini settled here in order to take advantage of the hunting in the
surrounding hills. His villa, now a museum, sits on the banks of the lake. Nowadays the village has
expanded, and the train drops you about a mile away from the lake. As in Bayreuth, we have the
customary local hero inspired road names, the quaint Via Turandot, Via Tabarro, and Via Tosca all coming
off the main thoroughfare drawing you towards the lake. Over the road from the Puccini’s retreat (only
one of a number of houses he owned in the area), is base for the Puccini Opera Festival. Started in 1930 the
festival was conceived after Puccini said ‘I always come out here and take a boat to go and shoot snipes …
but once I would like to come here and listen to one of my operas in the open air’. The festival has run
every summer since, and the stage sits over the edge of the lake. Whilst I was there a new stage was being
built, due to open for the summer 2008 season.

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My past four weeks had been spent observing rehearsals both on and off the stage for singers and
choruses. Here in Torre-del-Lago I was to be observing orchestral rehearsals for the forthcoming
production of ‘La Rondine’, which was to open the week after I had left. This was a brand new
production – and was a continuation of the festival board’s decision to commission international set
designers and directors to work on their productions. The Puccini Centre in Torre-del-Lago is housed in
a rustic Italian villa set off from the road at right angles, behind a high wall and gates. Over the road is
Puccini’s Torre-del-Lago villa, and to the front a marina and the opera stage. The orchestral rehearsals
were held in a recently converted building near the stage – the demands of a Puccini orchestra pushing
even the most generous of rehearsal spaces. I was not familiar with ‘La Rondine’ prior to my arrival, and
as with ‘Chowanschtschina’ in Munich, it was wonderful to be introduced to such new repertoire. The
music I heard was amazing and the orchestration sublime. It was something of a revelation. Needless to
say, upon my return to Lucca I made my way to the nearest CD shop and bought a recording to further
immerse myself in it (and where better!). During the baking weeks I spent in Lucca I took the opportunity
of hiring several bikes to discover the town, and the surrounding countryside. There was a mandatory
visit to Pisa, a world away from the relative seclusion of Lucca’s tightly enclosed centre. However, one
of the best kept secrets I discovered (and visited many times), was the secluded garden of the Palazzo
Pfanner tucked away next to the city walls, a must for anybody visiting the area.

I had been offered the opportunity to come to the dress rehearsal of the production several nights later. I
was struggling with finding options of returning to Lucca after the rehearsal – buses and trains in rural
Italy didn’t run that late. I had mentioned my concerns to the General Director’s Assistant Rosella
Paduano who had been instrumental during my stay in letting me know which rehearsals were on, when,
and where. Only through her generous offer of a lift back to Lucca once the rehearsal was over was I able
to watch the dress rehearsal that evening. To hear the singers voices finally appear over the orchestral
colours I had previously been listening to was magical. Alongside the lake side setting and the warm
Tuscan evening it was a beautiful and novel staging of a work which has since become one of my
favourite Puccini operas. Since leaving Lucca and the Puccini Festival I have been getting to know the
work even more closely, a task made even more enjoyable bearing in mind the circumstances in which I
‘discovered’ it in the first place.

I left Lucca reluctantly; it had been a very special place to end my fellowship where I had started to
understand Puccini as much more than a set of black and white notes on a page. I was more alert of his
use of language, I had studied his own orchestral writings, visited his homes and spent time in his

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countryside – the ultimate inspiration for his writings. I flew back to the United Kingdom from Pisa, the
clear Tuscan sky enabling me to catch a glimpse of the leaning tower and the teaming hoards of tourists
below.

I felt confident in the outcome of my fellowship, I had covered an enormous amount of ground in my six
weeks abroad, the majority of which was intended, yet the most enlightening and memorable moments
were the opportunities which arose through luck or (more frequently) the generosity of people I met along
the way. What surprised and pleased me was that my weeks away turned out to be about much more than
just ‘the music’ – the music was incredibly special, but so were the people and the places, and this
combination of all three is what made this fellowship a unique experience.

David Jackson
February 2008

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 Itinerary
Week 1
2nd July Fly from London Heathrow to Munich. Train to Bayreuth
3rd-4th July Observe Chorus Rehearsals Bayreuth Festival, Germany.
5th July Travel by train to Bregenz, Austria.
6-7th July Observe rehearsals for ‘Death in Venice’ (Britten) and ‘Tosca’ (Puccini)
Bregenz Festival, Austria.
8th July Travel by train to Munich.

Weeks 2 and 3
9th-19th July Studying German in Munich. Attend rehearsals for ‘The Marriage of
Figaro’ (Mozart) and ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ (Strauss) at the Munich
International Opera Festival. Attend performances of
‘Chowanschtschina’ (Mussorgsky), ‘Norma’ (Bellini), ‘Alcina’ (Handel),
‘The Marriage of Figaro’ (Mozart), and ‘Werther’ (Massenet).

20th-21st July Travel by train to Bayreuth.

Attend Dress Rehearsal of ‘Siegfried’ (Wagner) at the Bayreuth Festival.

Week 4
22nd July Fly from Munich to Rimini, Italy. Train to Pesaro.
rd th
23 – 28 July Attend rehearsals for ‘Il Turco in Italia’ (Rossini) at the International
Rossini Festival.

Weeks 5 and 6
29th July Train to Lucca.
th th
30 July – 10 August Studying Italian in Lucca. Attending orchestral rehearsals for ‘La Rondine’
(Puccini) at the Puccini Festival, Torre-de-Lago and attend dress
rehearsal for the production.
6th August Visit Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini, Lucca.
11th August Flight from Pisa to UK.

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 Acknowledgements
I owe a debt of gratitude to all at the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for giving me the opportunity to
undertake this fellowship. My thanks also extend to all those countless people who over six weeks
allowed me to sit, listen, watch and learn during their rehearsals, performances and lessons. Not least, for
their immense help in my planning; Herr Friedrich at the Bayrether Festspiele, Donald Wages at the Münchner
Opern Festspiele, Dagmar Müller at the Bregenzer Festspiele, Francesca Battistoni at the Rossini Opera Festival,
and Rosella Paduano at the Fondazione Festival Pucciniano.

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