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University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
James Edmund Tracey (November 14, 1927 - March 23, 2007) was a musician, dramaturge and translator. He was the literary manager at English National Opera. Tracey was for nearly three decades a potent force in the world of opera. As dramaturge at what became English National Opera, he worked behind the scenes; the general opera-going public was aware of him, if at all, as translator of the Verdi, Gounod and Massenet operas performed at Sadler's Wells and the Coliseum and as author of some amusing new dialogue for, among others, The Merry Widow, La Belle Hélène and Die Fledermaus. But he was much more than that. It was largely thanks to his initiative that the conductor Reginald Goodall's career had its wonderful late flowering, and ENO and Welsh National Opera hosted some of the finest Wagner conducting of the second half of the 20th century.
James Edmund Tracey was born in Preston, Lancashire, of Irish parents and was brought up in Blackburn. At grammar school, he acquired his love of literature and cinema and, quite unprompted, made up his mind that he was going to Oxford. The headmaster, discussing his future with his mother, said that he supposed Jimmy (as he was then known) would go into a local bank when he left school, to which she retorted: "If you think that, you obviously don't know my son." Instead, he wrote, off his own bat, to the provost of Oriel, receiving a courteous reply to the effect that the college was likely to be full of returning ex-servicemen, but he was passing the letter to his friend the head of Lincoln College. In 1945, Tracey went up to Lincoln, where he read English, acted and wrote incidental music for productions, and called himself by his second name, Edmund.
After Oxford he worked in London in the theatre as composer and music adviser, before enrolling at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he played the viola and studied composition with Benjamin Frankel, earning money by working nights at the international telephone exchange. He gradually recognised that he was not cut out to be a composer.
In 1953 Gerard Reve shared a room in London with Tracey and later an apartment with Angus Wilson. In 1954 he shared a room with John Minton. In 1955 he shared rooms first with Perkin Walker and later again with Tracey. Always in 1955 he shared rooms with Eugene Herrington. From 1955 to 1956 he shared rooms with Peter Nathan.
Peter Heyworth, the Observer's music critic, introduced Tracey to music journalism and from 1959 to 1964 he was music editor of the Times Educational Supplement. He also wrote for the Observer, stepping in as the paper's music critic when Heyworth was away. Certain elements at the Observer wanted him to replace Heyworth. Tracey himself had no part in this manoeuvre, and in any case he was about to leave journalism. In 1965, with the encouragement of Colin Davis (then music director) and as a counterpart to Kenneth Tynan at the National Theatre, he was appointed literary manager of Sadler's Wells. Here he quickly made his mark, transforming the quality of the printed programmes and generally helping to raise the standard of the company's work.
After Norman Tucker resigned as manager, Tracey was for a few years virtual artistic director. His great moment came when he persuaded Stephen Arlen, Tucker's successor and a shrewd administrator, to invite Goodall to conduct a new production of The Mastersingers. Goodall's career, at its height when he conducted the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, had sunk into semi-obscurity; on the staff of Covent Garden, renowned as a coach, he was only occasionally given a revival to conduct. One of them, a radiant Meistersinger in 1958, made him a cult figure with the younger music critics. Among them was Tracey, who, ten years later, seized his opportunity.
Tracey was also a moving force behind the famous Goodall Ring which followed the success of his Mastersingers - doubly so, for the Arts Council opera committee, at a special meeting chaired by Lord Goodman, was on the point of vetoing the whole project when Tracey spoke so eloquently that it was decided the company would be allowed to stage The Valkyrie, and the rest followed. Goodall, who always acknowledged his debt to Tracey, was devoted to him, and, after performances, when the conductor's room was thronged with important people, was apt to ignore them and call out, "Where's Edmund?"
When Lord Harewood became managing director in 1972, Tracey worked closely with him on the repertory, keeping a clear eye on the budget, regularly attending rehearsals, advising conductors and stage directors, nurturing and encouraging singers, working to make ENO a true company. His judgment and knowledge were widely respected. Under the Power House team, which took over when Harewood left, there was at first a move to get rid of him; but Peter Jonas, the managing director, came to realise how valuable he was, and he stayed on as artistic adviser until his retirement in 1993.
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