FULL VIVIENNE (Stephen McNeff) London 2013 Clare McCaldin

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Vivienne  
• Composer: McNeff Stephen   
• Libretto: Andy Rashleigh    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: The Forge, Camden, London, UK  
• Recorded: August 8 & 9, 2013
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Clare McCaldin
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Libby Burgess, PIANO  
• Stage Director: Joe Austin   
• Stage Designer: Simon Kenny  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Tête à Tête  
• Date Published: 201  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Genesis

  After considering Shelley’s tempestuous relationships in A Voice of One Delight, Stephen McNeff and I found ourselves drawn to another literary subject. Although the “Tom & Viv” story has been told before, we felt that Vivienne’s voice could be heard afresh through lyrics evoking Eliot’s poetry, in an imaginative re-­‐creation of her life’s story.

  About

  Vivienne Haigh-­‐Wood married T.S. Eliot in June 1915 against the wishes of her family. Their marriage was disastrous from the start, and dominated by her ill-­‐health. It became clear that each had misread the other’s hopes and ambitions; Vivienne longed to escape the social conventions that Eliot enthusiastically embraced, as he was elevated to the literary Establishment. However, their shared belief in his great future as a poet held them together, and their co-­‐dependence provided rich creative inspiration even as their marriage was falling apart. Eliot later wrote: “To her, the marriage brought no happiness. To me, it brought the state of mind out of which came The Waste Land“. Vivienne’s fears that Eliot’s success was taking him away from her put huge pressure on their relationship, as her behaviour became more erratic. Eliot was already considering a separation, when he was offered a one-­‐year fellowship at Harvard in 1932. On his return to London, he was shielded from any contact with Vivienne by his Bloomsbury friends. Vivienne’s family arranged for her committal to an asylum; she remained there until her death in 1947. Eliot never visited her.

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