Sir Thomas Beecham’s equanimity in the face of equine opera critic

Sir Thomas Beecham in 1949. Reader Keith Hearnden recalls a story concerning the conductor and a four-legged critic. Photograph: Corbis

Your review of Carmen at the Royal Opera House (A luminous Micaëla upstages Tracey the donkey, 21 October) describes a cast list that includes a horse, a donkey and some chickens.

It reminded me of the time when the same opera was conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham at the same venue. It was the custom then to lend a little verisimilitude to proceedings by hiring one of the many horses locally employed in Covent Garden market. On this occasion, during the scene in the robbers’ cave, the horse at one point turned his back on the audience and defecated on stage.

A titter ran through the audience, at which point Sir Thomas stopped conducting, turned to the audience and said: “Ladies and gentlemen. You will have noticed that this evening we have a critic in our midst!”
Keith Hearnden
Quorn, Leicestershire

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