Enid Blyton and opera.

[MJE]

     I've just stumbled on an amazing piece of news related to Enid Blyton.
     I was actually reading up about Busoni's Piano Concerto on Wikipedia, and then followed one link, and another, and so on - and I've just learned that Australian composer Larry Sitsky is planning to write a series of operas based on the stories of Enid Blyton, according to plans he announced in August last year.
     Knowing what I thought I knew about Larry Sitsky, this could not be more surprising - and apparently I know very little about Larry Sitsky indeed. Not that I ever thought I knew a lot about him; but I had enough of an impression of his work, at least, to find this very, very surprising.
     I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about this. There can't be too many operas around based on Enid Blyton. I tried Googling it, but all I got was a basic mention of Sitsky's plans for a series of operas (not just one opera) based on Enid Blyton stories. It looked as if all the numerous web sites mentioning this were really just copying that bare fact from some original source, because I could find no detail beyond that.
     Does anyone know? Larry Sitsky would need permission to use Blyton's texts, wouldn't he? From whom would he get that? Would they be likely to give such permission?

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't know anything about Larry Sitsky, but it does sound an interesting project. The Enid Blyton copyright is now owned by Hodder (though the rights to Noddy are owned by Classic Media), so he would need to seek permission from them.

[MJE]

I don't know anything about Larry Sitsky, but it does sound an interesting project.

     Well, he's quite a well-known contemporary composer and academic in Australia - don't know what to say about him. But this doesn't at all sound like something I'd have expected him to do, or almost any contemporary composer for that matter.
     I don't know what stories or books he was planning to use. I tried finding more information but couldn't (within a somewhat short time at least) find anything more, so I'd guess that no more information has been released yet.
     It doesn't really surprise me for very little detail to have been released: if I were a famous composer, I wouldn't want to release too much about future plans, in case they fell through for some reason or I just lost interest, so that I wouldn't look foolish in public for having announced plans but then done nothing about them.
     I'm not really an opera fan, so don't have much feel for opera - but I'm not sure that I can clearly imagine how Enid Blyton set as opera would work. Her work really doesn't seem all that operatic in nature to me.

The Enid Blyton copyright is now owned by Hodder (though the rights to Noddy are owned by Classic Media), so he would need to seek permission from them.

     So Chorion are defunct now, are they? Or at least not into Enid Blyton any more? I was aware there were difficulties, but I haven't really been following it closely, nor heard the latest.
     I wonder whether it's a good thing or a bad thing for the rights to different works to be split amongst different owners.

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

     I'm not really an opera fan, so don't have much feel for opera - but I'm not sure that I can clearly imagine how Enid Blyton set as opera would work. Her work really doesn't seem all that operatic in nature to me.

I feel the same, Michael, but sometimes an idea that sounds improbable will work. I assume Larry Sitsky is knowledgeable and creative enough to conceive of how it might be done and that he feels inspired to give it a go.

     So Chorion are defunct now, are they?

Chorion were deeply in debt and broke up some months ago, selling off all their assets.

[MJE]

     I'm not really an opera fan, so don't have much feel for opera - but I'm not sure that I can clearly imagine how Enid Blyton set as opera would work. Her work really doesn't seem all that operatic in nature to me.

I feel the same, Michael, but sometimes an idea that sounds improbable will work.

     Yes, you're right. I do absolutely believe that, in the hands of a sufficiently skilled and imaginative creator, almost *anything* can be made to work.

I assume Larry Sitsky is knowledgeable and creative enough to conceive of how it might be done and that he feels inspired to give it a go.

     Yes, I assume so, too. It just seemed surprising to me that he would be interested in this particular thing, though - writing not just one opera, but a *series*, is not a minor undertaking. I met Larry Sitsky in 1978, and he didn't strike me in the least as someone who'd have a sympathy for Enid Blyton's writing. But clearly either I misperceived his character or else he's changed a lot since then.
     (I do belatedly wonder whether he's doing it because he *dislikes* her work, and wants to satirize it. But that doesn't seem to fit, either. It would be a lot of effort to go to for that; and what I know of him seems to show him as a serious, sober-minded man who would take his work seriously and straightforwardly - he didn't strike me as the sort to be into satirizing things.)

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

...writing not just one opera, but a *series*, is not a minor undertaking.

Ah - when I read your last post I somehow took your comment about "Sitsky's plans for a series of operas (not just one opera) based on Enid Blyton stories" to mean interlinked operatic scenes based on several stories but forming one work. I've only just realised that you're talking (I think) about a number of separate operas, each based on an Enid Byton story.

It sounds intriguing - let us know if you hear any more about it, Michael.

[Enikyoga]

     I've just stumbled on an amazing piece of news related to Enid Blyton.
     I was actually reading up about Busoni's Piano Concerto on Wikipedia, and then followed one link, and another, and so on - and I've just learned that Australian composer Larry Sitsky is planning to write a series of operas based on the stories of Enid Blyton, according to plans he announced in August last year.
     Knowing what I thought I knew about Larry Sitsky, this could not be more surprising - and apparently I know very little about Larry Sitsky indeed. Not that I ever thought I knew a lot about him; but I had enough of an impression of his work, at least, to find this very, very surprising.
Larry Sitsky would need permission to use Blyton's texts, wouldn't he? From whom would he get that? Would they be likely to give such permission?

Regards, Michael.

Nowadays, it seems Enid Blyton's works can be turned into anything literally i.e. movies, musicals (The Famous Five Musical), documentaries. My original intention for writing The Famous Five: A Personal Anecdotage was to summarize the 21 original Famous Five books in a rhyming manner. I even wrote to Chorion (who were then the owners of the rights to Enid Blyton's Famous Five series at the time). The request was denied. That denial plus other distrations discouraged me from writing my book. It was not about three years later that I did send in a "better" book proposal to Chorion that was then accepted. Nonetheless, the beginnings of my summary of Five On A Treasure Island still has some residual rhyming to it. Anyway, I was heartbroken when Chorion broke since they gave me very good terms for my book and above all it was a very cordial company. I even still have the voice message (a five-year old message) from their then secretary, Lisa Hatley (or whatever) calling all the way from London to Flagstaff, Arizona to follow up with my book agreement with them However, I was not surprised when the company broke since I had been closely following its economic woes closely. We just hope that Hatchette does maintain the same standaeds as Chorion, especially in light of the fact that it is also the longtime publisher of the Famous Five and other key Enid Blyton book series.
Stephen I.

[lwindrush]

Not sure about the opera but I agree with Stephen that the FF would make a great musical.

Hachette should do a splendid job with the rights, Blyton regularly sells two million books a year and she is still current and relevant.

[pete9012S]

Wonder if this idea ever came to anything?

[MJE]

Hallo, Pete.

     Apparently it did, and has been performed. I'd forgotten all about this, after I first mentioned it maybe 7 years ago, and didn't think anything would come of it. The paucity of detail originally given seems characteristic of one of those thought bubbles that never come to anything - and the fact that the many references to it were all basically the same.
     But Wikipedia now tells us that the operas were performed by the A.N.U. (Australian National University) School of Music, although no details are given of when, or the exact nature of the work.
     See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sitsky" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the very brief reference. A reference is given to a page on the web site of the A.N.U. School of Music, but the page there is gone now.
     Also, some of the several other very brief mentions of this here and there now state the writing to be in the past tense, instead of "announcing plans" to do it.
     I would be curious to know how this would work: which books were used, how you'd treat them in opera, and so on - but I can't find any details at all.
     If you want to read up more on this, and see if you can find out more detail, just search for "Sitsky" and "Blyton" in a single search.

Regards, Michael.

[Courtenay]

Good to see you again, Michael! It's a shame there seems to be so little information about this — it does sound intriguing and I would love to know more.

(Meanwhile, I reckon someone ought to turn Noddy into a full-length opera. Then we can buy a centre front row seat ticket for Anita and take her to it as a surprise treat, without telling her beforehand what the special performance is, of course... )

[pete9012S]

Thank you for the update Michael.
A most interesting project. There seems to be a lot more interest these days in turning well know characters/bands into musicals etc.
Queen, Abba, Elton John etc.