There is a long and proud history of working class opera in the UK. In the 1920s, businessman Lilian Baylis packed the poor of south London into Old Vic to see the performances of Mozart and Verdi. The idea was to get them out of the pub, but it really changed lives. Then there was the working-class operatic culture of the East End, where performances at the People’s Palace on Mile End Road always ran out.
During the Depression, countless Welsh miners became opera singers: it was much better than being down. And during World War II, Sadler’s Wells performed in the factories, barracks, and church halls, all over the earth. People were hungry for culture and it was a fun thing and a little different to do.
Everything was cheap, cheerful and often a little cheeky. Glyndebourne, where Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner recently attended a performance, is none of that. It is the most refined face of British opera, set in an idyllic setting, known for its elegant attire and sumptuous picnics. It is, and always has been, elegant, musically excellent and, of course, expensive. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab called Rayner a “champagne socialist” for going there.
But let’s put it in perspective. Many activities cost a lot. Top-priced West-End tickets have reached astonishingly exorbitant levels. With £ 62, Rayner paid less to go to Glyndebourne than he would have paid for top-priced tickets to hear the Rolling Stones or Adele play at Hyde Park this July. Millions of people from all walks of life have fallen in love with opera over the last century. But at the same time, he has always been mocked, characterized as too intellectual (though most opera is not) and, well, too foreign. Abroad, it is quite normal to see prominent politicians at the opera.
Angela Merkel is a Bayreuth regular. It is seen as a way to celebrate the culture of the nation. Britain, on the other hand, finds itself caught between Philistine populism on the right and a cultural relativism that moves away from anything “high” on the left. Today’s deputies keep their operatic tendencies very calm, for fear of being called this terrible thing: an elitist. Going to Desert Island Discs? Better choose some tracks that look great.