RICHARD Telfer, ``or Uncle Dick'' as many of us came to call him, was one of Scotland's operatic pioneers. As conductor of the Edinburgh Opera Company after the Second World War, he enabled people to keep in touch with favourite operas at a time when Scotland had no professional company to perform them. But it was when he persuaded the young Alexander Gibson to conduct a production of Verdi's Nabucco at the Usher Hall, with David Ward in the title role, that he set in motion a process that led to the foundation of Scottish Opera in 1962.
To an extent Telfer was Gibson's soft-spoken Svengali, quietly planting suggestions in his head that might materialise years later as fully-fledged performances. It was Telfer who famously proposed the Debussy centenary production of Pelleas et Melisande with which Scottish Opera, in its first season, would make musical history. (``I think I have an idea for you,'' he characteristically murmured in the conductor's ear after a concert in the St Andrew's Hall.)
French opera, indeed, was very much Telfer's scene, even if his own aspirations rose no higher than Gounod's Faust in performances by his own plucky amateur forces. For a while he worked as a tourist guide in Paris, one of the more mysterious episodes in a varied career that incorporated periods as a cinema organist (no Wurlitzer was too mighty for this dapper little man, who, in appearance, could easily have been thought to be French), as manager of the Assembly Hall during the Edinburgh Festival, and as a music teacher at George Watson's College, where he taught for almost quarter of a century.
It was Scottish Opera, however, that meant most to him, and to which he devoted so much of his enthusiasm. First as a member of the board, later as company manager, and finally as archivist, he possessed a detailed knowledge both of how the company functioned and of how it ought to function.
Despite his devotion, he could be sharply critical of the company and its practitioners, even of Gibson himself, if they failed to rise to what he considered to be their capabilities. But when, in the 1980s, Gibson's position came under threat, Telfer - without telling him - worked quietly behind the scenes on his behalf.
Telfer was not only Scottish Opera's archivist, he was also Gibson's. When, three years ago, I was at work on my biography of the conductor, Telfer's huge, meticulously annotated volumes of press cuttings proved invaluable to me. But the man in every way was a mine of helpful information, about opera and its performers, about music and how it matters.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article