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Published: Sunday, 04 August 2024 at 14:00 PM


Read on to discover the first-night flops that became huge successes…

The best Judges allowed it to be the most finished piece of Musick,’ glowed The Dublin Journal in 1742. ‘Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audience.’

That ‘most finished piece of Musick’ was Handel’s Messiah, whose first-night audience thrilled to its rousing Hallelujahs in the same way as they do today. But not all great works have enjoyed the same fortune. Drunk conductors, knock-kneed dancers, greedy diners – all these and more have turned premieres into a nightmares. Bizet’s Carmen offended polite society. Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius was too difficult. Bernstein’s Candide wasn’t funny enough.