Glyndebourne: The Untold History

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Glyndebourne is a beautiful country

house in the Sussex Downs

where I live with my wife,

the opera singer Danielle de Niese.

What makes this place unique

is that we also have a world-class

opera house and everything that goes

with it in the gardens.

It was founded by a passionate man -

my grandfather, John Christie

and his equally passionate wife,

the opera singer Audrey Mildmay.

He started the Glyndebourne

tradition with a love story

and it continues as one.

The most unique thing about

Glyndebourne is the idea that

you have all the creative teams

actually living in the house.

It really creates this hive

of information and people, when

they live in close proximity,

you tend to bump into

each other, idea-wise.

It's always been that way,

ever since we started.

There have been strange people

living in this house

ever since I can remember.

Conductors, designers, directors,

assistants, repetiteurs

and not singers.

Except me! Except Danni, of course!

Oh, there's Mr John Christie.

I'm very glad to welcome you.

He was an extraordinary man

in many ways.

I mean, he was a captain

in the First World War

and even though he'd he lost an eye

playing rackets at school,

when he went for his medical,

the doctor asked him

to cover an eye, which he duly did

to read out the letters,

he then read out the letters

and the doctor said,

"And now for the other eye, please."

As he simply went like that...

Fooled the doctor

and got through.

He earned a Military Cross

for his courage and bravery.

He would boost the troops' morale

by reading poetry to them

in the trenches.

During ceasefires, they would shoot

partridges behind the line.

He would get sauces flown out

from Fortnum and Mason's and they

would have slap-up meals in the

trenches while they were waiting.

So I think he was a bon viveur,

but he was an inspiration to

many around him.

He was passionate about music

and he was also

mad about everything German,

from the clothes to the wine, and

he would go round in his lederhosen.

He felt that England did not have

the same culture

that Germany offered.

He loved cars and he had this

wonderful old two-seater,

open-topped sports car.

As a very young man,

he would make trips to

the Wagner festival in Germany

at a time that there were no

car ferries going across the Channel

and he hired a barge

and a raft on which he'd put his car

to tow him across the Channel,

which took him quite a long time,

I think.

Across Europe to get to Bayreuth

to go and see Wagner,

which he lapped up

and was very inspired by.

Well, after the war,

he went back to Eton as a master

and then he inherited

the estate at Glyndebourne,

so at that point he gave up

his schoolmastering career

and he focuses attentions

completely on Glyndebourne.

One of the first things that he did

was knock down a court and an old

conservatory

and started building this beautiful,

long room and it was

for his friend

Dr Charles Harford Lloyd,

who had been the organist at Eton

and was retiring

and John said to him,

"You must move to Sussex,"

and of course Dr Lloyd replied,

"Well, there are no good organs

for me to play,"

and John said,

"Fine, I'll build you one."

So he had this extraordinary

room built,

which was also to satisfy his own

musical interests,

and he would put on scenes

from operas

and concerts in the organ room,

invite his friends...

He would act and star

in some of them

along with some of his friends,

along with some professionals.

And this is how

he met my grandmother,

who came down to sing the role

of Blonde in Entfuhrung by Mozart.

His usual am-dramers weren't

available, but he was

recommended the services of a young

soprano from the Carl Rosa

Opera Company called Audrey Mildmay

who came with a tenor colleague.

They came down,

they were paid five guineas

and they were given free board

and lodgings.

They came and took part in this

absolutely hilarious amateur

event in the Organ Room.

The result of that was, of course,

that John fell absolutely

head over heels in love

with his soprano, which, when you

look at her, is not really

surprising

because she was absolutely gorgeous.

He was at that time about 50,

a confirmed bachelor.

Anyway, she arrived and he fell

instantly in love with her,

took her upstairs, I think, and

showed her his bedroom and told

her that this was where they would

be sleeping when they were married!

She thought that might be

a proposal, but tried to ignore it.

Indeed, she wrote a letter to him

afterwards,

saying, "Please, dear John, do not

fall in love with me."

But it was a bit late!

He already had.

The story goes that he took her

three times to Rosenkavalier,

the Royal Opera house,

and at each time

the Silver Rose was presented

by Octavian

to Sophie, he proposed to her.

The first two occasions,

she told him,

"I just need a little bit

more time."

On the third occasion, he bought

her a diamond-encrusted brooch

and she simply couldn't refuse!

And the rest is history.

They were married in June

and they went to Germany of course,

to listen to opera -

where else would they go?

So they came back

from their honeymoon,

returned home to Glyndebourne

after this wonderful

trip around Europe and John came up

with the idea of extending

the Organ Room, effectively putting

a stage across the end of the room.

And she famously remarked,

"For God's sake, John -

"if you're going to spend all that

money, do the thing properly."

So he took her advice

and built her a 300-seat barn in

the Kitchen Garden of Glyndebourne.

What they wanted to do was create

the festival atmosphere

that they had enjoyed in Europe in

this country, to bring the standard

of performance they'd been enjoying

in Europe into this country.

At that point,

all idea of amateur performances

was completely cast aside.

He was very fortunate to secure

two of Germany's top

directors at that time in Carl Ebert

and Fritz Busch.

This was the period just before 1933

when political interference both from

the left and right was increasingly

becoming a problem in Germany.

A lot of musicians were

denounced in the Nazi press

and one prominent musician

was Fritz Busch, the general

music director in Dresden.

Not Jewish,

but the brother of Adolf Busch,

who was a very famous violinist,

who was an outspoken

opponent of the Nazis and who

actually left Germany in 1929.

Fritz Busch was busy

working in the opera house

and stormtroopers came into the

building while he was rehearsing

and tried to prevent him

from carrying on the rehearsal.

He was forcibly removed

from the opera house.

Adolf Busch, Fritz's brother

and leader of the Busch Quartet,

was stranded in Eastbourne after

a concert and conversation turned

to Glyndebourne over dinner

and the fact that Captain Christie

had built this opera house

in the middle of the countryside

and he was looking for a conductor.

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