Grand opera, like port wine, is a commodity the English are in the habit of importing. No Englishman has ever written a successful opera, though young Benjamin Britten's may one day make the grade, (TIME, Aug. 19). Even good English opera singers are rare. London has long been without a topnotch opera company.
London's historic Covent Garden opera house, reopened last year, has been doing a big business with the famed Sadler's Wells ballet. The Garden managers, counting their profits, decided to take a flyer on a permanent opera company. To play it as safe as they could, they imported promising young...
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