By Phil Egan for the Sarnia Journal
Is it possible to love an opera that you’ve never heard?
If the answer is yes, and I think it is, then you’ll have some idea of how I feel about the opera
which premiered in Toronto on June 26 and 27 at Calvin Presbyterian Church.
It was called the Llandovery Castle Opera and, as you might expect, there’s a story behind it – a
story that, 100 years ago, left Sarnia and cities across the Dominion riveted in shock and anger.
It’s a story that’s been mostly lost behind the curtain of time – forgotten among the pageant of
Great War anniversaries like Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. But June 27,
1918, is a date in Canadian lore that should never be forgotten.
On that date, His Majesty’s Canadian Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle was torpedoed and sunk
off the southern coast of Ireland by a German U-boat commander who had convinced himself
that the vessel was carrying troops.
Realizing the scope of his error as he watched the ship’s medical personnel take hurriedly to
lifeboats, Captain Helmut Brummer-Patzig surfaced and began to machine gun the survivors –
hoping to eradicate the record of his war crime. There were 234 killed, including 14 Canadian
nursing sisters. Only 24 survived.
I have been obsessed with the tragedy of the Llandovery Castle ever since hearing its story
several years ago. These courageous nurses, who each carried the rank of lieutenant,
represented the ultimate combination of compassion and ambition – a driving desire to serve
the nation.
A similar obsession grasped composer Stephanie Martin, the organist at Calvin Presbyterian
Church, when she finally noticed a forgotten plaque in the church dedicated to one of the lost
nursing sisters.
She couldn’t get the atrocity out of her mind, even having nightmares about the sinking and loss
of the nurses, and when she met playwright Paul Ciufo at a Canada 150 concert, they decided
to collaborate on an opera to memorialize the event.
Paul’s mother, Anne Kuch, lives in Sarnia and was kind enough to send me a copy of the
program. It is captivating. Photos of four of the lost nurses are included, together with a photo of
HMCHS Llandovery Castle.
Martin and Ciufo began their collaboration with the libretto – the “little book,” or dialogue that
tells the story to be sung. Ciufo tells the story through the words, and ultimately the song, of four
of the nursing sisters and two of the soldiers. Together with the chorus, they relate the
harrowing tale of tragedy and heroism.
Whether this story is told in story or song – and now even as an opera – it helps to ensure they
are never forgotten.