The prompter at the Bayreuth Festival
The prompter and Parsifal as a boy. Photo: Enrico Nawrath
Andrew Shore: A basic difference between the UK and Europe
There is a basic difference between the UK and Europe because in general at home we try not to use a prompt box at all. The feeling is that if the piece is rehearsed properly and everyone knows what they are doing then there should be absolutely no need for one; the conductor in the pit will take as much interest in his singers as in his orchestra. That is different in Europe where traditionally the conductor is primarily concerned with the orchestra and so the prompter is needed partly to conduct and give singers a clear beat where necessary - as prompters have a monitor showing the conductor - as well as just giving singers the first couple of words of every line.
It is partly because in the German and Italian repertory system there might be a long gap between performances and some singers may have just one odd performance with no rehearsal at all. In that situation it is a very good safeguard against forgetting the words. When I first started rehearsing here, having the prompter kept putting me off because I thought someone was talking to me in rehearsals and I kept looking to see who it was. To be honest it’s a very useful aid because there are always those moments when you think ‘What do I sing next?’ and just to hear even the first word can act as a trigger to help you remember.
Andrew Shore to Jim Pritchard
Iréne Theorin: Prompters hold a particularly important position at Bayreuth
Prompters hold a particularly important position at Bayreuth. The conductor trusts the prompter to give cues. They concentrate more on the orchestra and don’t always give cues. It does vary, though, from conductor to conductor. But they do trust that the prompter will give cues.
There are places, however, where prompters aren’t used, but I don’t really like it. When I debuted as Isolde in Brussels, we didn’t have any prompter.
An important responsibility for the prompter is to be there when things go wrong. If there’s a cue where you rely on a clarinetist or a horn player and they fluff it, then everything goes wrong. And that places a greater responsibility on the conductor and the other performers. You can also trip on stage or lose track, or whatever. The other performers can also lose track. Anything can happen.
Actually, it was said of a colleague of the old school that he never learned the roles, but trusted entirely in the prompter. I witnessed this and was very impressed by the singer’s collaboration with the prompter. But you really can’t work in such a way today.
During the Tristan performances yesterday, the prompter made a major mistake. They, too, can make mistakes. During my first entry in the second act, the prompter probably wasn’t concentrating, for when I was due to begin singing, she gave a hand signal that I shouldn’t start. The result was that I missed my cue. You trust that they know what they are doing. So, I started in the middle of the phrase.