A word puzzle for the ENO

The ENO does face one intractable problem. Audiences increasingly expect to be able to hear the words - after all, that's why at ENO operas are sung in English. But audiences are no longer tolerant of the fact that many composers didn't care much about audibility.

Nowadays at Covent Garden, even operas with English texts by Benjamin Britten have surtitles. According to Tony Hall, ROH executive director, the Royal Opera is no longer prepared to tell its clients that they should do without a written text and listen hard.

But ENO knows very well that if it introduced surtitles it wouldn't be long before people started pressing the company not to perform in English. And the slippery slope to questions about whether London could "afford" two opera companies both performing in the original language would be very short.

However, the whole point of a live performance is that audiences should give themselves to the performers, should be able to hang on their every word and gesture. Taking time to read destroys concentration. Preserving the authentic art of opera may be more important than giving audiences an easier time with the words.

The Royal Opera has certainly made things much harder for ENO by using surtitles with opera in English. In Germany the idea of surtitles for operas sung in German makes them laugh. But for the ROH it's a two-way safe bet. If ENO adopts surtitles, the company may be doomed. If it doesn't, its audiences may be offended.