History was in the making last week in Oxford, when an opera that has lain dormant for over 40 years was finally given a long-overdue showing. Perelandra, based on C.S. Lewis’s novel of the same name, was written in the early 1960s by Donald Swann (of Flanders and Swann fame) and librettist David Marsh, together successfully exploiting the operatic qualities that Lewis himself saw in his novel. The libretto, which Lewis considered “stunningly good”, was overlaid with Swann’s richly melodic score, which drew on sources ranging from the classical traditions to Greek folk song, to produce an immensely dramatic and compelling work.
Sadly, Lewis didn’t live to see the premiere of the opera in the summer of 1964. Three concert performances were given in Cambridge, Oxford and London, but the sale of film rights following Lewis’s death put an embargo on further performances. Now, though, those rights have expired, and the two concert performances last week at Keble College Chapel and the Sheldonian Theatre have at last brought the opera back into the public arena.
In this production, singing legends Neil Jenkins and Rupert Forbes reprised their 1964 roles of C.S. Lewis and his friend, Colin Humphrey, while Leon Berger (who also directed) gave a powerful portrayal of the evil Weston, Hakan Vramsmo sang strongly and movingly as Ransom, and Jane Streeton was appealing as the Lady. John Amis — brother of Kingsley Amis, a close friend of Lewis’s — narrated, and the piece was conducted by Jonathan Butcher.
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