Tuesday, May 10th, 1966

Pete presents Who manager Kit Lambert with a musical gift the day before Kit's 31st birthday. It is a 10-minute piece called "Gratis Amatis" that Pete put together with his friend Ray Tolliday and which he jokingly refers to as an opera. It sparks Kit's imagination. Why not a rock 'n roll opera? Kit sends Pete off to try to devise a story and songs for a full-length work.

 

Do you recall a pre-Tommy piece called Gratis Amatis? Was it a precursor to A Quick One and then Tommy?

Gratis Amatis was a joke opera my friend Ray Tolliday and I recorded for Kit’s birthday in 1967, I think. It became important in inspiring Kit Lambert to encourage me to put together A Quick One While He’s Away, The Who’s first miniopera. But I had started to write my own ‘opera’ (Rael) as an extra-mural project, for my own amusement, around this time as well – after a holiday in Israel in early 1967. Tommy was almost inevitable given The Who’s theatrical stagecraft and, of course, my artschool ambitions, musical pretensions and spiritual hunger. Who managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, and The Who members, were incredibly supportive of my wildest ideas. The wilder the better.

Source - Record Collector