ABSTRACT
A lettuce is not a wild rose, yet the public continues to be regarded as a primitive organism, a kind of untouched Nature, with which the fine arts ought constantly to commune (Rosenberg 1970: 62).
I have just returned from a performance of The Rape of Lucretia at Epsom by the London Opera Group ... (with) just 54 people in the stalls and some 350 empty seats ... It seems to me a big mistake to perform less popular operas in towns such as ... Epsom. Moreover the hall was not heated adequately, and there were no facilities for a drink of coffee, to warm one up at the interval. This is not the way to 'sell' opera to the public. It was quite apparent that a large proportion of the very small audience were not regular opera-goers. These people are unlikely to come again (Letter to Opera February 1970: 180).
