David Webster (opera manager)
Encyclopedia
Sir David Webster was the chief executive of the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
, from 1945 to 1970. He played a key part in the establishment of the Royal Ballet
and Royal Opera
companies.
From a retail background, Webster became chairman of the Liverpool Philharmonic during the Second World War. From there he was asked to set up opera and ballet companies at Covent Garden. He persuaded the existing Sadler's Wells Ballet to move to the opera house but found no established opera company suitable to do the same, and he set up a new opera company from scratch.
At first, Webster presented opera in English with a permanent company, but as Covent Garden flourished and international stars were attracted to appear, the policy gradually changed to presenting operas in their original language. By the time of Webster's retirement, the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet were world-famous.
. When he was ten the family moved to Liverpool
, where Webster was educated at the Holt High School and the University of Liverpool
, where he graduated in economics in 1924. He joined a local department store, Lewis's
, where he rose swiftly to become general manager of the group's smaller Liverpool store, the Bon Marché, and then of the main Lewis's store in 1939. In 1931 while on business for Lewis's he met his life-long partner, James Cleveland Belle, who became a successful businessman.
In his spare time Webster engaged in amateur theatricals, becoming a leading figure in an influential Liverpool group, the Sandon Society. Recognising that his looks and stature were not those of a potential star Webster resisted the temptation to pursue a professional theatrical career, but through the Sandon Society met many leading figures in the theatre, ballet and music. He became a prominent member of the management committee of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, and in 1940 was appointed its chairman.
At the outbreak of the Second World War there had been pressure to suspend the orchestra's concerts. Webster strongly resisted it, insisting that music was an essential morale-booster. He set up low-priced concerts for factory workers and members of the armed forces. Webster was fortunate in recruiting Malcolm Sargent
as chief conductor, since whatever orchestral players thought of Sargent (his nickname ‘Flash Harry’ was not originally an affectionate one), he was immensely popular with the public. Guest conductors included Sir Henry Wood
and Charles Münch
. Wartime disbanding of other orchestras enabled Webster and Sargent to recruit leading British players such as Anthony Pini and Reginald Kell
, with the result that for a few years the Liverpool Philharmonic had a strong claim to be the finest orchestra in the country, until Walter Legge
set up the Philharmonia
after the war. During Webster's time as chairman, the orchestra increased its concerts from 32 a year to 148 and became a permanent body for the first time.
Before the war there had been no permanent company at Covent Garden. Sir Thomas Beecham
, as proprietor of the opera house, had staged annual seasons, with international stars on stage and his own London Philharmonic Orchestra
in the pit. During the war, the Royal Opera House had been converted into a dance hall. The music publishers Boosey & Hawkes
acquired the lease of the building in 1944 and proposed to re-establish opera and ballet there.
The new Chairman of Covent Garden, the economist John Maynard Keynes
, agreed with Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes that a permanent ensemble was needed, and that it had to be run by a businessman. Webster was invited to become chief executive, under the title General Administrator, which he used throughout his tenure. His selection was driven by two key facts: firstly, he was successful as a retailer with a well-developed sense of what his customers wanted and how he could give it to them; secondly, he had demonstrated his strength in arts administration. Beecham, furious at his exclusion, waged an intermittent campaign against Webster and all his works throughout the 1950s, though he conducted one of the earliest operatic furores of Webster's reign, Die Meistersinger, in 1951.
Webster's persuaded the Sadler's Wells Ballet to take up residence at Covent Garden. On the operatic side, however, Webster had to create a new company from scratch. He appointed as musical director an efficient but less known conductor, Karl Rankl
, a pupil of Schoenberg
and Webern
, who trained a new chorus and orchestra. British singers were recruited for as many leading roles as possible, and the policy of the house was that operas should be sung in English.
The Royal Opera House was re-opened under Webster's direction on 20 February 1946 with a production of The Sleeping Beauty
designed by Oliver Messel
. The history of the Royal Opera House for the rest of Webster's management was of gradual improvement from its early impoverished and provincial image to international importance as one of the top opera houses of the world. The ballet, under the rule of Ninette de Valois
, aided by Frederick Ashton
, went from strength to strength: by 1957 the company had been granted the title of ‘The Royal Ballet’; in the 1960s the partnership of Margot Fonteyn
and Rudolf Nureyev
elevated the company to international notice.
Operatically, Webster's task was both harder and less predictable. He reluctantly recognised that international singers could not be asked to relearn their roles in English, and that opera at the highest level must therefore be sung in the original language. His appointment of Karl Rankl
as the first musical director was controversial and drew criticism from the musical establishment of the day, not least from Beecham, Barbirolli
, Sargent, Albert Coates
and Stanford Robinson
. However, with twenty years' experience in European opera houses, Rankl's strengths in training the chorus and orchestra could be put to good use. In the 1950s Webster had a succession of failed attempts to find a top flight musical director for the opera company. Between 1951 and 1955, and again between 1958 and 1961, the company was without a musical director. Erich Kleiber
and Rudolf Kempe
made guest appearances but declined the permanent post. Rafael Kubelík
accepted, but was not seen at the time as an unqualified success.
Among key opera productions, the première of Benjamin Britten
's Gloriana
in 1953 was not well received, but among the productions that assured the Royal Opera House an international success were the first nearly-complete performances at any opera house of Berlioz's
The Trojans in 1957, the Luchino Visconti
production of Verdi's
Don Carlos
, which marked the centenary of the present-day house in 1958, and the Franco Zeffirelli
production of Puccini's
Tosca
, with Maria Callas
and Tito Gobbi
in 1964.
The appointment of Georg Solti
as musical director in 1961 may be taken to mark the beginning of the opera company's rise to international status. The Gramophone
magazine said of Webster:
Webster was created K.C.V.O. in 1960. Almost his final act as General Administrator was to appoint, from Autumn 1971, Colin Davis
as musical director. Webster retired in 1970, after a farewell gala, for which Britten composed a fanfare. He was succeeded by his deputy, John Tooley
.
Away from the opera house, Webster's musical tastes were wide: 'he could discourse on everything from the Beatles through Ellington
to Toscanini
'.
Webster died in Brighton
at the age of 67, less than a year after his retirement.
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, from 1945 to 1970. He played a key part in the establishment of the Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet, London
The Royal Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the four major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois, it became the resident ballet...
and Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
companies.
From a retail background, Webster became chairman of the Liverpool Philharmonic during the Second World War. From there he was asked to set up opera and ballet companies at Covent Garden. He persuaded the existing Sadler's Wells Ballet to move to the opera house but found no established opera company suitable to do the same, and he set up a new opera company from scratch.
At first, Webster presented opera in English with a permanent company, but as Covent Garden flourished and international stars were attracted to appear, the policy gradually changed to presenting operas in their original language. By the time of Webster's retirement, the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet were world-famous.
Early life
David Webster was born in DundeeDundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
. When he was ten the family moved to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where Webster was educated at the Holt High School and the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
, where he graduated in economics in 1924. He joined a local department store, Lewis's
Lewis's
Lewis's was a large department store in Liverpool city centre. It was formerly the flagship of a chain of department stores under the Lewis's name, that operated from 1856 to 1991, when the company went into administration. Several stores in the chain were bought by the company Owen Owen and...
, where he rose swiftly to become general manager of the group's smaller Liverpool store, the Bon Marché, and then of the main Lewis's store in 1939. In 1931 while on business for Lewis's he met his life-long partner, James Cleveland Belle, who became a successful businessman.
In his spare time Webster engaged in amateur theatricals, becoming a leading figure in an influential Liverpool group, the Sandon Society. Recognising that his looks and stature were not those of a potential star Webster resisted the temptation to pursue a professional theatrical career, but through the Sandon Society met many leading figures in the theatre, ballet and music. He became a prominent member of the management committee of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, and in 1940 was appointed its chairman.
At the outbreak of the Second World War there had been pressure to suspend the orchestra's concerts. Webster strongly resisted it, insisting that music was an essential morale-booster. He set up low-priced concerts for factory workers and members of the armed forces. Webster was fortunate in recruiting Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
as chief conductor, since whatever orchestral players thought of Sargent (his nickname ‘Flash Harry’ was not originally an affectionate one), he was immensely popular with the public. Guest conductors included Sir Henry Wood
Henry Wood (conductor)
Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences...
and Charles Münch
Charles Münch
Charles Munch was an Alsatian symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he is best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.-Biography:...
. Wartime disbanding of other orchestras enabled Webster and Sargent to recruit leading British players such as Anthony Pini and Reginald Kell
Reginald Kell
Reginald Clifford Kell was a British clarinetist.-Career:Born in York, England, Kell was the first prominent player to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his colleague the oboist Léon Goossens...
, with the result that for a few years the Liverpool Philharmonic had a strong claim to be the finest orchestra in the country, until Walter Legge
Walter Legge
Harry Walter Legge was an influential English classical record producer, most notably for EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the Century". He worked in the recording industry from 1927, combining this with the post of junior...
set up the Philharmonia
Philharmonia
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
after the war. During Webster's time as chairman, the orchestra increased its concerts from 32 a year to 148 and became a permanent body for the first time.
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Before the war there had been no permanent company at Covent Garden. Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, as proprietor of the opera house, had staged annual seasons, with international stars on stage and his own London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
in the pit. During the war, the Royal Opera House had been converted into a dance hall. The music publishers Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
acquired the lease of the building in 1944 and proposed to re-establish opera and ballet there.
The new Chairman of Covent Garden, the economist John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
, agreed with Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes that a permanent ensemble was needed, and that it had to be run by a businessman. Webster was invited to become chief executive, under the title General Administrator, which he used throughout his tenure. His selection was driven by two key facts: firstly, he was successful as a retailer with a well-developed sense of what his customers wanted and how he could give it to them; secondly, he had demonstrated his strength in arts administration. Beecham, furious at his exclusion, waged an intermittent campaign against Webster and all his works throughout the 1950s, though he conducted one of the earliest operatic furores of Webster's reign, Die Meistersinger, in 1951.
Webster's persuaded the Sadler's Wells Ballet to take up residence at Covent Garden. On the operatic side, however, Webster had to create a new company from scratch. He appointed as musical director an efficient but less known conductor, Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl was a British conductor and composer of Austrian birth. A pupil of the composers Schoenberg and Webern, he conducted at opera houses in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia until fleeing from the Nazis and taking refuge in England in 1939.Rankl was appointed musical director of the...
, a pupil of Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
and Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, who trained a new chorus and orchestra. British singers were recruited for as many leading roles as possible, and the policy of the house was that operas should be sung in English.
The Royal Opera House was re-opened under Webster's direction on 20 February 1946 with a production of The Sleeping Beauty
The Sleeping Beauty Ballet
The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was by Pyotr Tchaikovsky . The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles Perrault's La...
designed by Oliver Messel
Oliver Messel
Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel was an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century....
. The history of the Royal Opera House for the rest of Webster's management was of gradual improvement from its early impoverished and provincial image to international importance as one of the top opera houses of the world. The ballet, under the rule of Ninette de Valois
Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois, OM, CH, DBE, FRAD, FISTD was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet...
, aided by Frederick Ashton
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...
, went from strength to strength: by 1957 the company had been granted the title of ‘The Royal Ballet’; in the 1960s the partnership of Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
and Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
elevated the company to international notice.
Operatically, Webster's task was both harder and less predictable. He reluctantly recognised that international singers could not be asked to relearn their roles in English, and that opera at the highest level must therefore be sung in the original language. His appointment of Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl
Karl Rankl was a British conductor and composer of Austrian birth. A pupil of the composers Schoenberg and Webern, he conducted at opera houses in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia until fleeing from the Nazis and taking refuge in England in 1939.Rankl was appointed musical director of the...
as the first musical director was controversial and drew criticism from the musical establishment of the day, not least from Beecham, Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, Sargent, Albert Coates
Albert Coates (musician)
Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses...
and Stanford Robinson
Stanford Robinson
Stanford Robinson OBE was an English conductor and composer, known for his work with the BBC. He remained a member of the BBC's staff until his retirement in 1966, founding or building up the organisation's choral groups, both amateur and professional.Between 1947 and 1950, Robinson was Assistant...
. However, with twenty years' experience in European opera houses, Rankl's strengths in training the chorus and orchestra could be put to good use. In the 1950s Webster had a succession of failed attempts to find a top flight musical director for the opera company. Between 1951 and 1955, and again between 1958 and 1961, the company was without a musical director. Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...
and Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...
made guest appearances but declined the permanent post. Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
accepted, but was not seen at the time as an unqualified success.
Among key opera productions, the première of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Gloriana
Gloriana
Gloriana is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Elizabeth and Essex by Lytton Strachey...
in 1953 was not well received, but among the productions that assured the Royal Opera House an international success were the first nearly-complete performances at any opera house of Berlioz's
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
The Trojans in 1957, the Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
production of Verdi's
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, which marked the centenary of the present-day house in 1958, and the Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
production of Puccini's
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, with Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
and Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...
in 1964.
The appointment of Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
as musical director in 1961 may be taken to mark the beginning of the opera company's rise to international status. The Gramophone
The Gramophone
Gramophone is a magazine published monthly in London by Haymarket devoted to classical music and jazz, particularly recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie...
magazine said of Webster:
- It was he who gave SutherlandJoan SutherlandDame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
her first big break (in LuciaLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
). It was he who changed Jon VickersJon VickersJonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
almost overnight from an occasional concert singer into one of the best of present-day dramatic tenors. It was he who carefully nurtured the talents of Sir Geraint EvansGeraint EvansSir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
, Josephine VeaseyJosephine VeaseyJosephine Veasey is a British mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Wagner and Berliozroles.-Life and career:Born in Peckham, she studied with Audrey Langford, and became a member of the Royal Opera House chorus in 1949, she made her debut as a soloist in 1955, as the Shepherd Boy in...
, Gwyneth Jones, Peter GlossopPeter GlossopPeter Glossop was an English baritone who was the only Englishman to have sung Verdi's great tragic baritone roles at La Scala, Milan...
and many others. ... He was also proud that productions such as The Trojans, Pelléas et MélisandePelléas et Mélisande (opera)Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
and The Midsummer MarriageThe Midsummer MarriageThe Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard...
could be taken straight off his stage and recorded.
Webster was created K.C.V.O. in 1960. Almost his final act as General Administrator was to appoint, from Autumn 1971, Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
as musical director. Webster retired in 1970, after a farewell gala, for which Britten composed a fanfare. He was succeeded by his deputy, John Tooley
John Tooley
Sir John Tooley is a former general director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. He has also held a range of appointments in the musical world, serving as a trustee or board member for many organisations....
.
Away from the opera house, Webster's musical tastes were wide: 'he could discourse on everything from the Beatles through Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
to Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
'.
Webster died in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
at the age of 67, less than a year after his retirement.