The other notable first performance was of Benjamin Britten's "Our Hunting Fathers" and Auden's verses attacking blood sports also surprised the Festival audience a little. It was conducted by the composer and I understand that Sophie Wyss, the singer, recounts in her memoirs that the orchestra behaved so badly at rehearsals we had to be reproved by Vaughan Williams! I confess I have no recollection of this although we certainly had problems. At this time Britten was very young, full of brilliant new ideas but quite unused to relating to hardened orchestral players. The work was full of difficult technical tricks and the orchestra was more or less in revolt at being asked to attempt them. There were acrid exchanges like this: Player: This glissando is impossible. Britten: There's a man in Chicago who can play it. Player: Well, you'd better get him to do it, then. In the end, what we couldn't manage we left out. I have no doubt that modern players would wonder what we found so difficult. << less