Troilus and Cressida

Synopsis: Walton’s opera relayed live from the Royal Opera House, London, in a production by Opera North, performed by English Northern Philharmonia, conductor Richard Hickox. The broadcast is presented by James Naughtie. With a 20-minute interval between Acts II and III in which Humphrey Burton looks at the genesis of the opera in conversation with Lady Walton. Extracts from the letters between Walton and his librettist Christopher Hassall are read by Bob Peck and Christopher Fairbank.
Series: Live from Covent Garden
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Transmission details: 2 Feb 1995 at 19:25 (Channel: BBC Radio 3)
Duration: 175 mins

Notes: Chandos Records recorded an earlier version of this production on 19 January 1995. The double CD can be purchased directly from www.chandos.net or from any other online music retailer.
General: In 1947, the BBC commissioned William Walton, who also wrote the score for Olivier’s HAMLET to write an opera. It took Walton six years to finish the score of Troilus and Cressida which was first performed in 1955.
History: One of the Shakespeare productions to be presented during ‘Fairest Isle’, BBC Radio 3’s year-long celebration of British music and culture. This live broadcast was sponsored by the Peter Moores Foundation. The programme has two intervals, 15 and 20 minutes, broadcast in between the three Acts of the opera.

British Universities Film & Video Council