The Olympians

The Olympians is an opera in three acts by Arthur Bliss to a libretto by J. B. Priestley, first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 29 September 1949, conducted by Karl Rankl in a production by Peter Brook.

After the initial run the next performance was in concert on 21 February 1972 at the Royal Festival Hall, London, conducted by Bryan Fairfax, which was also broadcast by BBC radio.

Bliss and Priestley had first met at a music party in the late 1920s. As they lived close to each other in Hampstead, for a few years subsequently they met, played tennis and dined together. Towards the end of the Second World War, Priestley again met Bliss, who said he was ready to write an opera, and asked the author for suggestions. Priestley found in his notebooks an idea for a story about the legend of gods becoming strolling players. He enjoyed a good collaboration with the composer, only meeting three or four times and otherwise corresponding about the opera. Bliss insisted on irregular lines to set.

In 1972 Priestley reflected that to describe the first night as under-rehearsed was one of the "understatements of the last half-century". He claimed that Rankl had not taken the score away for the summer to study and that Rankl and Brook were not on speaking terms and communicated by passing notes between them. There was also insufficient rehearsal time: the first act was well rehearsed, Act 2 was barely adequate, and the third was like "charades". The ballet – intended for the Royal Ballet dancers – had to use junior dancers as the main company was away on tour.

In a letter to Bliss (quoted in As I Remember), E.J. Dent, while noting "Lavatte's familiarity with The Bartered Bride", praised the music of Acts I and III, while feeling that the entrances of the gods in Act II "weak". Dent nonetheless lauded the "masterly" orchestration and the opportunities for singers to show their voices off.

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