Peter Ebert facts for kids

Peter Ebert (born April 6, 1918, in Frankfurt, Germany – died December 25, 2012, in Sussex, England) was a famous German opera director. He was the son of another well-known director, Carl Ebert. In 1934, when Peter was a teenager, his father decided to leave Nazi Germany. The Nazis were a political group that caused many problems in Germany at the time. Peter and his father moved to England.

Peter Ebert became very well-known for his work with the Glyndebourne Opera and the Scottish Opera. He directed over 50 shows for the Scottish Opera between 1963 and 1980, which brought him great success.

Peter Ebert in 2007

Early Life and Education

Peter Ebert's father, Carl, was half German, half Polish, and Irish-American. His mother, Cissi, was German. Peter's parents divorced when he was six, but they remained good friends. Because of this, Peter's early schooling was a bit mixed up. He eventually went to a boarding school in Germany run by Kurt Hahn.

In 1933, the Nazis invited Peter's father, Carl, to take charge of the theaters in Berlin. However, Carl strongly disagreed with the Nazis' ideas. He chose to leave Germany instead, and his family settled in Switzerland. Peter was given the choice to stay or leave Germany, and he decided to leave. He was one of the first 13 students at the new Gordonstoun School in Scotland. This school was also started by Kurt Hahn, who had left Germany too.

Moving to England and Glyndebourne

In England, Carl Ebert helped start the Glyndebourne Opera with his friend, conductor Fritz Busch. In 1934, when Peter was 16, he visited Glyndebourne on his way to his boarding school in Scotland. His father was directing the first operas there. This visit made Peter fall in love with England, its way of life, and especially Glyndebourne.

Before World War II, the Glyndebourne shows were very exciting. Carl Ebert brought new ideas to opera production in England. For example, he insisted that singers should also be good actors. He believed that the music should guide everything, making the whole performance a smooth interpretation of the music. Critics really liked this new approach.

After two years at Gordonstoun, Peter worked for a private bank for six months. Then, he moved to Dartington Hall in Devonshire. This was a place where the Elmhirst family was trying out a big cultural experiment. Peter's stepfather, Hans Oppenheim, who had also left Germany, was running the Music School there. So, Peter joined his mother and stepfather to study filmmaking and forestry.

Peter's Personal Life

During World War II, around the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, Peter Ebert was held in different camps. This was because he was German and had not yet become a British citizen. He was called a "friendly enemy alien." When he was released, he went back to Dartington Hall. There, he met Kathleen Elsie Bone (Kitti), who became his first wife. They moved to London and had two daughters, Judith and Tabitha. Peter had various jobs, including some in theater, and then joined the German Service of the BBC. His first marriage ended in 1947.

In August 1947, while working in Scotland, he met Silvia Ashmole, a dancer. She would become his future wife. However, Silvia's parents did not want her to see Peter. This was because he was still legally married (though separated), had children, and was German. Despite this, they married in 1951 and had eight children together.

Peter Ebert lived in different parts of Britain and Germany during his career. In 1980, he returned to Sussex, England. For ten years, he directed opera shows in Sussex and other countries. Later, he became very involved in local politics after the Social Democratic Party was formed. He was elected as a District Councillor for Lewes.

He and his family lived in Sussex for ten years. But in 1990, Peter and Silvia sold their home in Sussex. They bought an old, partly ruined farmhouse in Italy. At 70 years old, Peter worked on restoring, changing, and improving this house in the Umbrian hills. In 2004, after a healthy life, Peter began to have problems with his heart. The family moved back to England, to Sussex, close enough to walk to Glyndebourne.

In his final years, Peter Ebert's family included his and Silvia's three daughters and five sons. They had 17 grandchildren, plus three more from Tabitha, his daughter from his first marriage. There were also three step-grandchildren and their children.

Peter and Silvia had a strong and loving marriage for 61 years until the end. Peter Ebert died in Sussex and is buried in the churchyard at Ringmer, East Sussex.

Working at Glyndebourne Opera

In 1947, Glyndebourne invited Peter to be an Assistant Producer to his father, Carl. His father's first show at Glyndebourne after the war was Orfeo by Gluck, starring Kathleen Ferrier. Glyndebourne was also involved in starting the Edinburgh International Festival. So, in August, Peter went to Scotland to help with a show of Verdi's Macbeth.

The Glyndebourne shows in the 1950s were very successful. La cenerentola and Cosi fan tutte were so popular they sold out every time. Other successful shows included The Marriage of Figaro, Idomeneo, and Le Comte Ory. Peter also directed his own show, Don Giovanni, which had beautiful sets by John Piper and was musically improved by the music director, Vittorio Gui. For 20 years until 1954, Carl Ebert directed almost every show. But in 1954, Peter's show Arlecchino by Busoni, directed by John Pritchard, introduced the young Peter as a director.

Peter Ebert continued to work with Glyndebourne until the 1960s, especially with their television performances. After leaving the BBC, he learned how to produce for television. He became in charge of the early yearly TV broadcasts from Glyndebourne. The huge cameras had to run on wooden tracks through the audience!

Outside of the Glyndebourne season, Peter Ebert directed his first show for the Wexford Festival. This opera festival started in 1951 and was held in the autumn. The opera was L'elisir d'amore by Donizetti. He went on to direct 16 shows there between 1952 and 1965. Some of these were very rarely performed operas. In 1965, his father Carl directed a show, his daughter Judith designed one, and Peter directed his own La Traviata. Peter was invited back to give talks in his later years.

Return to Germany (1954–1962)

In 1954, Peter Ebert became the chief producer at the Staatsoper Hannover in Hanover, Germany. His family moved there. Peter stayed for six years and learned a lot about opera in a theater with very high standards. However, he almost always spent his summers working at Glyndebourne. He helped his father and later directed his own shows or restaged his father's work.

When Glyndebourne took Le Comte Ory and Falstaff to Paris, Peter Ebert did all the technical work, preparations, and rehearsals. When La cenerentola went to West Berlin, Peter was in charge of the whole thing because his father became ill. Later, when his father died, a famous critic named Bernard Levin praised a show of Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail in an obituary. He didn't realize it was Peter's show, not Carl's.

During these years, Peter Ebert became known around the world. He worked in America, Canada, South Africa, Italy, Denmark, and Germany. But Peter felt closest to England. He loved Glyndebourne and was very grateful to it and the Christie family who ran it.

In 1960, Ebert moved to Düsseldorf/Duisburg, which had a larger theater and many singers. But he felt there wasn't much teamwork there, so he left after two years.

Making England His Home Base

After 1962, Peter Ebert moved back to England. He bought a large house in Sussex for his family. For the next six years, Ebert worked as a freelance director. This meant he worked on different shows in different places like Los Angeles, Pretoria, Copenhagen, and Basle. During this time, he also produced a TV show of La traviata for the BBC. He also hosted a music program called "Music in Camera." This show was where the famous musicians Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel Barenboim first met in public. Later, Peter ran the Opera School at Toronto University for 18 months.

Back to Germany (1968–1977)

In 1968, Ebert was asked to become the General Administrator in Augsburg, Germany. In this role, he was in charge of opera, plays, concerts, ballet, and operetta. He had a very successful and productive time there with a great team, including the designer Hans Ulrich Schmückle. Among many other operas, he directed Berlioz's Les Troyens (The Trojans). He later took this show to Scottish Opera.

In 1973, he moved to Bielefeld as an Intendant (a theater director). In 1975, he moved to the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in Wiesbaden.

Leading Scottish Opera

In 1977, Peter Ebert was asked to join Scottish Opera. He had already worked with them as a freelance director since the company was founded in 1962 by Sir Alexander Gibson.

Peter Ebert had a very successful and creative three years there. However, he "resigned...in 1980 in some bitterness over the financing and future artistic policy of the company." This means he left because he had strong disagreements about how the company was funded and what its artistic plans should be for the future.

In 1979, he received an Honorary Doctorate from St. Andrews University for his contributions to music.

The Scotsman newspaper, in his obituary, noted that "from the outset he was an inspiring figure." As director of productions from 1965 to 1975, he was responsible for many different operas. These included works from Monteverdi to Don Pasquale and Fidelio. He created the company's first orchestra. He also directed Scotland's first-ever Ring cycle (a series of four operas) and The Trojans, with an excellent cast including Janet Baker. He brought opera to the Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre, where the shows attracted the largest audience ever for an opera in Scotland. It was also noted that:

• He directed a memorable Falstaff with Geraint Evans performing the main role for the first time.
• He built strong artistic relationships with several singers, including the soprano Helga Dernesch. Dernesch gave powerful performances in both the Ring Cycle and Les Troyens.
• When these two huge productions were seen at the Edinburgh Festivals in 1971 and 1972, critics were extremely impressed by Ebert's amazing direction. The Scotsman newspaper praised Ebert's "clear, unforced" direction in the Wagner operas and the "glory" he brought to the Berlioz opera.

Peter Ebert's Opera Career

Professional Skills

Peter Ebert's great talent as a director was his ability to create a "perfect whole" in his shows. When conditions were right, he could help his singers give their best performances. This, combined with his deep understanding of music and his eye for visual details, made his work with conductors, designers, and the cast very successful. Opera can be tricky, so it didn't always work perfectly, but he was often very successful. Peter was a fair, capable, and charming leader. He and his team planned the season's shows with enthusiasm. He tried to make the administration more cooperative in his German theaters. He wasn't interested in the financial side of running a theater and was happy to leave that to others. He also wasn't very good at fundraising, for example, in Scotland. He was an artist, not a businessman.

Productions at Glyndebourne, Liverpool and Edinburgh

• 1954: Arlecchino
• 1955: La Forza del destino in Edinburgh
• 1956: Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Don Giovanni
• 1957: Don Giovanni (repeated), plus L'italiana in Algeri and Mozart's "Abduction" again
• 1958: Il segreto di Susanna
• 1959: Le nozze di Figaro
• 1960: Il segreto di Susanna and Arlecchino both in Edinburgh
• 1961: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Peter Ebert's Stagings for Carl Ebert at Glyndebourne

• 1959: La Cenerentola
• 1960: Falstaff, La Cenerentola, Falstaff (Edinburgh)
• 1961: The Barber of Seville
• 1962: The marriage of Figaro, Ariadne auf Naxos
• 1963: The Marriage of Figaro and The Rake's Progress
• 1964: Idomeneo

Productions at Scottish Opera

Between 1963 and 1980, Peter Ebert directed about 50 shows for Scottish Opera. This included directing the entire four-opera Ring Cycle on one occasion.

His shows in the 1960s included Don Giovanni, the full Ring Cycle, and many operas by Puccini, including three productions of Madame Butterfly (with three more in the 1970s). In the 1970s, he directed three productions of Verdi's Falstaff and two of Simon Boccanegra, plus some "Ring" operas and two Magic Flutes. Less common operas he presented included Beethoven's Fidelio (three productions) and Berlioz' Les Troyens (two productions).

Publications by Peter Ebert

• In This Theatre of Man's Life: The Biography of Carl Ebert. Lewes, Sussex: The Book Guild Ltd., 1999 ISBN: 1-85776-347-5