Grace Williams: The Parlour - Opera in One Act

$16.99
Label
Lyrita
Release Date
July 4, 2025
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Grace Williams
    • PERFORMER
      Various
    Product Details ⌄
    Works ⌄

    1. Scene 1: Hie you there! (Grandmamma, Chorus, Mamma)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edith Coates, Noreen Berry

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    2. Scene 1: You are insupportable! (Mamma)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    3. Scene 1: Rosalie! Rosalie! (Mamma, Rosalie, Papa, Louisa, Augusta)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, Marian Evans, Edward Byles, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    4. Scene 1: The children (Mamma, Papa, Louisa, Augusta)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, Edward Byles, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    5. Scene 1: Dinner at last (Louisa, Augusta, Mamma, Papa, Rosalie)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles, Marian Evans

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    6. Scene 1: Who'll be the first to solve the mystery? (Louisa, Augusta, Doctor Charlton, Mamma, Papa)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, John Gibbs, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    7. Scene 1: Won't you join us at dinner (Mamma, Doctor Charlton, Papa, Louisa, Augusta)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, John Gibbs, Edward Byles, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    8. Scene 1: Now don't worry (Doctor Charlton, Mamma, Augusta, Louisa, Papa)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: John Gibbs, Noreen Berry, Janet Hughes, Anne Pashley, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    9. Scene 1: Entr'acte: Have your heard the news? (Chorus)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    10. Scene 2: Look, the neighbours are coming (Mamma, Chorus)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    11. Scene 2: Thank you, one and all (Mamma, Papa, Chorus)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    12. Scene 2: It's time to start preparing supper (Mamma, Louisa, Augusta, Papa)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    13. Scene 2: It's getting dark (Papa, Rosalie, Mamma, Louisa, Augusta)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edward Byles, Marian Evans, Noreen Berry, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    14. Scene 2: Mother! Mother! (Papa, Louisa, Augusta, Mamma)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edward Byles, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, Noreen Berry

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    15. Scene 2: Aunt Genevieve and Uncle Steve! (Louisa, Augusta, Mamma, Papa, Aunt Genevieve, Uncle Steve)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles, Jean Allister, David Lennox

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    16. Scene 2: I lay in a coma, a deep coma, make no mistake (Grandmamma, Aunt Genevieve, Mamma, Papa, Uncle Steve)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edith Coates, Jean Allister, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles, David Lennox

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    17. Scene 2: What a sensation! (Louisa, Augusta, Uncle Steve, Mamma, Aunt Genevieve, Papa, Doctor Charlton)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, David Lennox, Noreen Berry, Jean Allister, Edward Byles, John Gibbs

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    18. Scene 2: Oh yes, you can laugh, and treat it as a joke (Grandmamma, Doctor Charlton, Uncle Steve, Mamma)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edith Coates, John Gibbs, David Lennox, Noreen Berry

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    19. Scene 2: I'm sorry, you were interrupted (Papa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Genevieve, Mamma, Doctor Charlton)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edward Byles, David Lennox, Jean Allister, Noreen Berry, John Gibbs

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    20. Scene 2: We accuse you, and you know the reason why (Aunt Genevieve, Uncle Steve, Mamma, Papa, Louisa, Augusta)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Jean Allister, David Lennox, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    21. Scene 2: Is it true? (Chorus, Papa, Uncle Steve)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edward Byles, David Lennox

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    22. Scene 2: She's here! (Grandmamma, Chorus, Louisa, Augusta, Aunt Genevieve, Uncle Steve, Mamma, Papa)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: Welsh National Opera Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edith Coates, Anne Pashley, Janet Hughes, Jean Allister, David Lennox, Noreen Berry, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    23. Scene 2: Louisa! Augusta! To bed this instant! (Grandmamma, Aunt Genevieve, Uncle Steve)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Edith Coates, Jean Allister, David Lennox

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill

    24. Scene 2: There's no justice, all to her daughter! (Mamma, Papa)

      Composer: Grace Williams

      Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Noreen Berry, Edward Byles

      Conductor: Bryan Havell Balkwill


When the Arts Council's Welsh Committee approached Grace Williams in the summer of 1959 with the offer of a commission to write a one-act opera, this was an opportunity to realise a long-cherished ambition. For her libretto, the composer turned to the French satirist Guy de Maupassant's savagely funny short story en Famille in which the apparent demise of a cantankerous matriarch uncovers the greed of family members. She wrote her own libretto for The Parlour, embellishing and refining Maupassant's story for dramatic purposes and transferring the setting from the banks of the Seine in France to the living room of a house in a Victorian seaside town. Structured in two scenes framing a brief interlude, the drama unfolds during a summer's day in 1870. The Parlour reveals Grace Williams as a natural composer for the theatre, with a flair for character delineation and development. The fast pace means there is no time for a formal overture and the drama begins without preamble. The compact arias, ensembles, recitatives and choruses arise naturally from the music, which is continuous, and there are no long numbers to inhibit the flow of the narrative. As the composer admitted, 'There's quite a lot to say in a short time. So whatever else I'll be accused of, I hardly think anyone could say that the opera drags'. At it's first performance, The Parlour was given a sustained ovation by an enthusiastic audience and there were some very good press notices. Writing in The Sunday Times, Felix Aprahamian was profuse in his admiration, describing The Parlour as 'hilarious' and 'an undoubted hit', going on to remark that 'the piece progresses with perfect clarity and a fine sense of musical contrast'. He concluded his observations by commenting that 'Miss Williams shows a remarkable feeling for musical proportion in her very first operatic essay'. © Paul Conway