为英格兰之夏做好准备！

左：南希·卡罗尔和罗杰·阿拉姆在《温和的女高音》中饰演克里斯蒂夫妇

右：雅各布·福琼-劳埃德在《温和的女高音》中饰演鲁道夫·宾格

小琼：我很确定许多人正在安排夏天的计划，而歌剧迷们自然期待着夏日的歌剧节！

小薇：对准备去英格兰的人来说，最著名的夏日歌剧节就是格林德伯恩。它创立于1934年，而地点是东萨克塞斯的路易斯镇。

小琼：有多少人真正知道格林德伯恩的历史呢？最近，英国著名编剧大卫•黑尔撰写了名为《温和的女高音》的话剧，讲述乔治•克里斯蒂上尉同妻子奥德丽•米尔德梅是如何在两位德国人和一位奥地利人的帮助下，创办格林德伯恩歌剧节的。克里斯蒂先结识了指挥弗里茨•布施，随后布施又介绍了导演卡尔•艾伯特和歌剧策划人鲁道夫•宾格加入团队中来。

小薇：克里斯蒂创立歌剧节的原始动机与其妻子——“一位温和的女高音”——大有关系。为心爱的妻子奥德丽提供展示才华的舞台才是他的主要目的。真是浪漫！

小琼：确实如此。这部话剧中最触动我的，是第二次世界大战阴影蔓延的时代，夫妻之间强烈的羁绊。

Valery: For those visiting England, the most famous of all summer opera festivals is Glyndebourne, which was founded in 1934 in Lewes, East Sussex.

Joan: How many people really know the history of Glyndebourne? Most recently a new play by David Hare, entitled

The Moderate Soprano

, highlighted how this whole idea began, and how Captain George Christie and his wife Audrey Mildmay enlisted help from two Germans and an Austrian. Christie first met with conductor Fritz Busch, who then introduced director Carl Ebert and impresario Rudolf Bing to the group.

Valery: Christie's primary motivation to start the opera festival had to do with his wife, “a moderate soprano.” In his mind, creating a platform for his beloved Audrey to display her talents was his primary goal. What a romantic!Joan: Indeed. What I found so entrancing in

The Moderate Soprano

was the strong bond between husband and wife set against the looming clouds of the Second World War.

小薇：三位受邀的、来自欧洲大陆的艺术家都是“难民”。他们都不为纳粹政权所接纳，来到英格兰不只是为了歌剧事业，亦是出于政治避难的需要。在这部话剧开篇的场景中，布施讲述了他如何突然被德累斯顿国家歌剧院解雇，甚至还在《弄臣》的演出现场被坐在第一排的纳粹分子起哄攻击。

Valery: All three continental Europeans they enlisted were “refugees” because they were not welcome under the Nazi regime. Moving to England was not merely a matter of artistic choice but also a political necessity. In one of the early scenes in the play, Busch recounted how he was unceremoniously sacked by Dresden State Opera, having been heckled by Nazis sitting in the front row at a performance of

Rigoletto

.

《温和的女高音》剧照

小琼：布施邀请导演卡尔•艾伯特加入格林德伯恩团队，是因为两人于1932年已在萨尔茨堡合作过莫扎特的《后宫诱逃》。同时，他们早期在格林德伯恩共同制作的莫扎特作品，打造了歌剧节至今的“品牌＂。

小薇：1934年的鲁道夫•宾格还是个年轻小伙（他生于1902年），在格林德伯恩的经历则成了他的敲门砖，之后助他担任纽约大都会歌剧院的总经理一职（1950～1972）。

小琼：鲁道夫•宾格爵士是犹太裔，因此他离开纳粹德国实是万幸。每当我翻阅欧洲史便感到由衷的悲伤：许多富有才华的艺术家当年未能逃脱魔爪，断送了生命。1946年，宾格加入了英国籍，在1971年更被授予了爵位。Joan: Busch introduced director Carl Ebert to the group because the two had already collaborated in Salzburg in Mozart's

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

two years prior. Together, their early Mozart productions helped make Glyndebourne the celebrated “brand” that it is now.

Valery: Rudolf Bing was only a young man in 1934(he was born in 1902) and yet the experience of Glyndebourne catapulted him to great heights later when he became General Manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera House (1950–1972).