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Enigma Variations (My Friends Pictured Within)-26 October 1968 Evening

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Ballet: Performance details

Company: The Royal Ballet
Venue: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Performance status: Original season
Conductor John Lanchbery
Leader Charles Taylor
Cast
Edward Elgar (E.D.U.) Derek Rencher
The Lady - Elgar's wife (C.A.E.)
'Whose life was a romantic and delicate inspiration.' 		Svetlana Beriosova
Hew David Steuart-Powell (H.D.S.-P.)
One of Elgar's chamber-music cronies. 		Stanley Holden
Richard Baxter Townshend (R.B.T.)
An amiable reedy-voiced eccentric who rode about on a tricycle. 		Brian Shaw
William Meath Baker (W.M.B.)
'With a slip of paper in his hand forcibly read out the arrangements for the day and hurriedly left with a bang.' 		Alexander Grant
Richard P. Arnold (R.P.A.)
Son of Matthew Arnold, a quiet contemplative scholar. 		Robert Mead
Isabel Fitton (Ysobel)
Charming and romantic. 		Vyvyan Lorrayne
Arthur Troyte Griffith (Troyte)
A very close friend, outspoken and brusque though 'the boisterous mood is mere banter.' 		Anthony Dowell
Winifred Norbury (W.N.)
'Her gracious personality is sedately shown.' 		Georgina Parkinson
A.J. Jaeger (Nimrod)
This variation recalls a summer evening's talk about Beethoven and, further, reveals the depth of a friendship. 		Desmond Doyle
Dora Penny (Dorabella)
'The movement suggests a dance-like lightness.' An intimate portrait of a gay but pensive girl with an endearing hesitation in her speech. 		Antoinette Sibley
George Robertson Sinclair (G.R.S.)
Or rather 'his bulldog Dan who fell into the river and barked rejoicing on landing. G.R.S. said "Set that to music." I did; here it is.' 		Wayne Sleep
Basil G. Nevinson (B.G.N.)
'An amateur cello player of distinction - a serious and devoted friend.' 		Leslie Edwards
***(Lady Mary Lygon)
'The asterisks take the place of the name of a lady who was, at the time of the composition, on a sea voyage.' 		Deanne Bergsma
E.D.U. (Edward Elgar) 'Written at a time when friends were dubious and generally discouraging as to the composer's musical future, this variation is merely to show what he intended to do. References to Alice Elgar and to Nimrod, two great influences on the life and art of the composer, are entirely fitting to the intention of the piece.'
Schoolgirl Patricia Linton
Country girl Lesley Collier
Country boy Donald Kirkpatrick
Sailor girl Christine Aitken
Sailor boy Frank Freeman
Housekeeper Julie Wood
Gardener Ronald Plaisted
The carrier Gary Sinclaire
Country woman Lois Strike
Telegraph boy John Haynes
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Event: Number 2 in The Royal Ballet mixed programme 26 October 1968
Information source: Royal Opera House programme for 26 October 1968 (in Royal Opera House Collections)