90-525: Peter Grimes , Op . 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten , with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe 's long narrative poem The Borough . The "borough" of the opera is a fictional small town that bears some resemblance to Crabbe's – and later Britten's – home of Aldeburgh , Suffolk , on England's east coast. The work was conceived while Britten
180-659: A passacaglia , was published separately and is also often performed, either together with the Sea Interludes or by itself. In the early years of the Second World War , Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears were living in the US. Britten's compositions from his years there include the song cycle Les Illuminations (1940), the Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and his operetta , Paul Bunyan (1941). In 1941 Britten came across
270-562: A "folk" opera, to the extent that: Christiansen also remarks on "the sharp, Dickensian characterisations" of the various inhabitants of the Borough, showing the composer's exceptional gift for setting the English language to music. Britten-Pears Orchestra , Chorus of Opera North , Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama DVD: Arthaus Musik 102179 Opus number In music ,
360-403: A "good catch", buy a good home and marry Ellen Orford. Balstrode suggests "without your booty [Ellen] will have you now", only to provoke Grimes's furious "No, not for pity!" Balstrode abandons Grimes to the storm, as the latter ruminates "What harbour shelters peace?" The storm then breaks with a vengeance (second orchestral Interlude). In the pub, tensions are rising due both to the storm and to
450-467: A 1999 version by Welsh National Opera , directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Carlo Rizzi with John Daszak as Grimes; and Opera North 's 2006 production, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and conducted by Richard Farnes with Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Grimes. In the summer of 2013, to mark the centenary of Britten's birth, the Aldeburgh Festival staged its first performance of Peter Grimes . It
540-596: A climax, Ellen arrives with the apprentice, both drenched. Grimes immediately sets off with the apprentice to his hut, despite the terrible storm. The same, some weeks later On a sunny Sunday morning (the Third Orchestral Interlude), while most Borough townspeople are at church, Ellen talks with John the apprentice. She is horrified to find a bruise on his neck. When she confronts Grimes about it, he brusquely dismisses it as an accident. Growing angry at her concern and interference, he strikes her and runs off with
630-666: A co-production with the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , Brussels) and Deborah Warner (2022, a co-production with the Teatro Real , Madrid, the Teatro dell'Opera , Rome, and the Opéra National de Paris ). The conductors were, respectively, Goodall, Colin Davis , Antonio Pappano and Mark Elder , and the title role was sung by Pears, Jon Vickers , Ben Heppner and Allan Clayton . In revivals of
720-657: A companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major , 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia , the only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, in C-sharp minor is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Given composers' inconsistent or non-existent assignment of opus numbers, especially during
810-420: A composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue , the opus number is paired with a cardinal number ; for example, Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed Moonlight Sonata ) is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as
900-571: A composer's works, as in the sets of string quartets by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Haydn's Op. 76, the Erdödy quartets (1796–97), comprises six discrete quartets consecutively numbered Op. 76 No. 1 – Op. 76 No. 6; whilst Beethoven's Op. 59, the Rasumovsky quartets (1805–06), comprises String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 8, and String Quartet No. 9. From about 1800, composers usually assigned an opus number to
990-453: A composition, Prokofiev occasionally assigned a new opus number to the revision; thus Symphony No. 4 is two thematically related but discrete works: Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, written in 1929; and Symphony No. 4, Op. 112, a large-scale revision written in 1947. Likewise, depending upon the edition, the original version of Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, is cataloged both as Op. 38 and as Op. 135. Despite being used in more or less normal fashion by
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#17328722210221080-481: A jersey washed ashore. Ellen recognises it as one she had knitted for John. Mrs Sedley overhears this and, with the knowledge that Grimes has returned, whips up another vigilante mob. Singing "Him who despises us we'll destroy", the villagers march off in search of Grimes. (The sixth interlude, not included in the concert version of the Sea Interludes , covers the change of scene.) While the townspeople can be heard off-stage hunting for him, Grimes appears onstage singing
1170-420: A lady Goddes mother be. "This Little Babe", from Robert Southwell 's Newe Heaven, Newe Warre from 1595, contrasts with every other movement, in a darker approach and often using imagery of hell . It depicts a battle between the baby and Satan (good and evil), which is conveyed in its swift tempo, polyrhythms, overlapping segments between the voices, and the fact that the song grows progressively louder over
1260-480: A maiden That is makèles: King of all kings To her son she ches. He came al so stille There his moder was, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the grass. He came al so stille. To his moder’s bour, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the flour. He came al so stille There his moder lay, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the spray. Moder and mayden was never none but she; Well may such
1350-448: A monologue, interspersed by cries from the mob and by a mournful fog horn (a solo tuba ). The death of his second apprentice has shattered Grimes who sounds panicked, distracted and unfocused. Ellen and Balstrode discover him before the furious townspeople get there, and the sea captain advises Grimes that the best thing he can do is sail out to sea and drown himself by scuppering his boat. Silently, Grimes walks out. The next morning life in
1440-652: A new production in 1967, directed by Guthrie and conducted by Colin Davis, with Vickers as Grimes. A subsequent production, by John Doyle , was presented in 2008, conducted by Donald Runnicles , with Anthony Dean Griffey in the title role. One of the first productions of the work outside Britain was at the Royal Swedish Opera in March 1946, conducted by Herbert Sandberg , with Set Svanholm as Grimes. Productions in Basel , Antwerp and Zurich followed within weeks. The opera
1530-553: A number of important early-twentieth-century composers, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), opus numbers became less common in the later part of the twentieth century. To manage inconsistent opus-number usages – especially by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and of the Classical (1720–1830) music eras – musicologists have developed comprehensive and unambiguous catalogue number-systems for
1620-726: A result, the plural opera of opus tends to be avoided in English. In other languages such as German, however, it remains common. In the arts, an opus number usually denotes a work of musical composition , a practice and usage established in the seventeenth century when composers identified their works with an opus number. In the eighteenth century, publishers usually assigned opus numbers when publishing groups of like compositions, usually in sets of three, six or twelve compositions. Consequently, opus numbers are not usually in chronological order, unpublished compositions usually had no opus number, and numeration gaps and sequential duplications occurred when publishers issued contemporaneous editions of
1710-440: A shield; His battering shot are babish cries, His arrows looks of weeping eyes, His martial ensigns Cold and Need, And feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed. His camp is pitchèd in a stall, His bulwark but a broken wall; The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes; Of shepherds he his muster makes; And thus, as sure his foe to wound, The angels’ trumps alarum sound. My soul, with Christ join thou in fight; Stick to
1800-467: A single spoken line for Balstrode at a key point intrusive in an otherwise through-composed score, but praised Britten's "effortless originality" and "orchestral music of diabolical cunning". After the American premiere, the critic Douglas Watt opened his review " Peter Grimes has greatness", and called the work "an opera for our time, brilliantly conceived and executed", with the "breathtaking pleasure" of
1890-452: A soprano solo with harp accompaniment. The reverent tone from the previous piece carries over into this one, except this piece is more recitative. That yongë child when it gan weep With song she lulled him asleep: That was so sweet a melody It passèd alle minstrelsy. The nightingalë sang also: Her song is hoarse and nought thereto: Whoso attendeth to her song And leaveth the first then doth he wrong. The text of " Balulalow "
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#17328722210221980-462: A transcript in the BBC 's magazine The Listener of a talk by E. M. Forster about the 18th-century Suffolk poet George Crabbe . It began, "To talk about Crabbe is to talk about England". Britten was filled with nostalgic feelings about his native Suffolk. Pears found a copy of Crabbe's works in a second-hand bookshop and Britten read the poem The Borough , which contained the tragic story of
2070-469: A true second chance. The same, some days later After the first orchestral Interlude (titled, in the Four Sea Interludes concert version, "Dawn"), the chorus, who constitute "the Borough", sing of their weary daily round and their relationship with the sea and the seasons. Grimes calls for help to haul his boat ashore, but is shunned by most of the community. Belatedly, retired skipper Balstrode and
2160-614: A week after the opera's premiere; the London premiere was at the Proms , in August 1945, and the five interludes were conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham in October 1945. In The Observer , William Glock rated the first act less convincing than the other two, but found the opera as a whole "a most thrilling work", displaying Britten's "genius". The Manchester Guardian ' s critic, William McNaught, considered
2250-636: A work or set of works upon publication. After approximately 1900, they tended to assign an opus number to a composition whether published or not. However, practices were not always perfectly consistent or logical. For example, early in his career, Beethoven selectively numbered his compositions (some published without opus numbers), yet in later years, he published early works with high opus numbers. Likewise, some posthumously published works were given high opus numbers by publishers, even though some of them were written early in Beethoven's career. Since his death in 1827,
2340-670: Is a Gregorian antiphon to the Magnificat at Second Vespers of Christmas. It is sung exclusively by the sopranos and is patterned on a traditional processional in Christian church service. It has no time signature and can be sung in flexible tempo . The last several measures can be repeated to allow the whole ensemble to take their places. Text: Hodie Christus natus est: hodie Salvator apparuit: hodie in terra canunt angeli: laetantur archangeli: hodie exsultant justi, dicentes: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Alleluia! The second movement
2430-466: Is a Sunday he hastily prepares to set out to fish as he has seen a large school of herring. Grimes becomes lost in his memories of his previous apprentice, reliving the boy's death of thirst. When he hears the mob of townspeople approaching, he quickly snaps back to reality. He is angry and defiant, stirred by a paranoid belief that John has been gossiping with Ellen, so provoking the anger of the town against him. He warns John to be careful as they climb down
2520-1057: Is an upbeat and festive piece intended to welcome the important days of the coming period: Yule (25th), Saint Stephen's Day (26th), St John's Day (27th), Day of the Innocents (28th), Thomas Becket (29th), New Year , Twelfth Day , Candlemas (2nd Feb). The text is written in Middle English . Wolcum, Wolcum, Wolcum be thou hevenè king, Wolcum Yole! Wolcum, born in one morning, Wolcum for whom we sall sing! Wolcum be ye, Stevene and Jon, Wolcum, Innocentes every one, Wolcum, Thomas marter one, Wolcum be ye, good Newe Yere, Wolcum, Twelfthe Day both in fere, Wolcum, seintes lefe and dare, Wolcum Yole, Wolcum Yole, Wolcum! Candelmesse, Quene of Bliss, Wolcum bothe to more and lesse. Wolcum, Wolcum, Wolcum be ye that are here, Wolcum Yole, Wolcum alle and make good cheer. Wolcum alle another yere, Wolcum Yole. Wolcum! The text of "There
2610-439: Is come from heav’n; This pomp is prizèd there. With joy approach, O Christian wight, Do homage to thy King, And highly praise his humble pomp, wich he from Heav’n doth bring. "Spring Carol" is on a text which was also set by William Cornysh in the 16th century. Britten set it as a duet between two sopranos that depicts the signs of spring. This movement ends with a call to thank God, which transitions appropriately to
2700-819: Is found written by brothers Wedderburn around 1548. It includes the rest of the ensemble and acts as a contrast to the first part. It has a different keys, rhythm, and an overall more jubilant tone than "That yongë child". "Balulalow" is meant to be a lullaby for the baby Jesus, and the soprano solo at the beginning of the movement paints an image of The Virgin Mary singing a lullaby to her newborn child. O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit, And I sall rock thee to my hert, And never mair from thee depart. But I sall praise thee evermoir with sangës sweit unto thy gloir; The knees of my hert sall I bow, And sing that richt Balulalow! " As Dew in Aprille "
2790-666: Is in both a vernacular language (English, in this case) and Latin. There is no rose of such vertu As is the rose that bare Jesu. Alleluia, Alleluia, For in this rose conteinèd was Heaven and earth in litel space, Res miranda, Res miranda. By that rose we may well see There be one God in persons three, Pares forma, pares forma. The aungels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis, gloria in excelsis Deo! Gaudeamus, gaudeamus. Leave we all this werldly mirth, and follow we this joyful birth. Transeamus, Transeamus, Transeamus. Alleluia, Res miranda, Pares forma, Gaudeamus, Transeamus. "That yongë child" consists of
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2880-399: Is no Rose" is kept at Trinity College (MS 0.3.58) and dates to the early 15th century. It presents a more reverent tone than the previous movement, as the choir admires the beauty of the birth of Jesus . The sopranos and altos sing the melody in a soft, prayerful manner, while the rest of the ensemble occasionally joins them to sing in unison. This is a macaronic piece, meaning the text
2970-593: Is summoned to the Town Hall to account for his conduct, after which he is forbidden to employ another. He works alone until the ghosts of his victims begin to terrorise him and he sinks into madness and dies in bed. In Crabbe's poem, Ellen Orford's tale is completely separate from Grimes's and they are not mentioned as meeting each other. The Rector, Swallow, and the proprietress of the Boar inn, "Auntie", and her nieces derive from other sections of The Borough , but other characters in
3060-586: The Baroque (1600–1750) and the Classical (1750–1827) eras, musicologists have developed other catalogue-number systems; among them the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV-number) and the Köchel-Verzeichnis (K- and KV-numbers), which enumerate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , respectively. In the classical period , the Latin word opus ("work", "labour"), plural opera ,
3150-547: The Bavarian State Opera in a production by Stefan Herheim , conducted by Gardner, with Skelton as Grimes, Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Ellen and Iain Paterson as Balstrode. A Suffolk coastal village, "towards 1830". Peter Grimes is questioned at an inquest over the death at sea of his apprentice. The townsfolk make it clear that they think Grimes is guilty and deserves punishment. The coroner , Mr Swallow, determines
3240-466: The apothecary , Ned Keene, assist Grimes by turning the capstan . Keene tells Grimes that he has found him a new apprentice (named John) from the workhouse . Nobody will volunteer to fetch the boy, until Ellen offers ("Let her among you without fault..."). As a storm approaches, most of the community – after securing windows and equipment – take shelter in the pub. Grimes stays out, and alone with Balstrode confesses his ambitions: to make his fortune with
3330-492: The opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition , or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer 's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of
3420-450: The " cacophony " of Britten's score. Yet when Peter Grimes opened it was hailed by public and critics; its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly , which were being staged concurrently by the company. Sadler's Wells and its successor, English National Opera , staged new productions in 1963, 1990 and 2009. Grimes was played by, respectively, Ronald Dowd, Philip Langridge and Stuart Skelton ;
3510-410: The "Fall of Man" as Eve is tricked into eating the fruit of sin. Note the idea of Adam's sin as a 'happy fault,' emphasized by the last stanza - "Blessèd be the time That appil takè was" - introduced by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine and further developed by Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. At the end of the piece, a cross can be displayed in the text to signify the crucifixion of Christ as well as
3600-543: The Aldeburgh fisherman Peter Grimes. He said later, "In a flash I realised two things: that I must write an opera, and where I belonged". He and Pears began sketching an operatic scenario drawing on The Borough . From the outset the characters and story of the libretto were only loosely based on Crabbe's work. The Grimes of Crabbe's poem is an outright bully, "untouched by pity, unstung by remorse and uncorrected by shame". Three of his apprentices in succession have died before he
3690-419: The Borough begins as usual as if nothing has happened, though there is a report from the coastguard of a boat seen sinking far off the coast. This is dismissed by Auntie as "one of these rum-ours". To cover the scene changes during the opera Britten wrote six orchestral interludes. Five of them have been published separately. The Four Sea Interludes , Op 33a, is a suite of about 17 minutes' duration, comprising
Peter Grimes - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-964: The Mendelssohn heirs published (and cataloged) them as the Italian Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 , and as the Reformation Symphony No. 5 in D major and D minor, Op. 107 . While many of the works of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which the works were written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers, such as N. Simrock , preferred to present less experienced composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák gave lower opus numbers to new works to be able to sell them to other publishers outside his contract obligations. This way it could happen that
3870-544: The best work of an artist with the term magnum opus . In Latin, the words opus (singular) and opera (plural) are related to the words opera (singular) and operae (plural), which gave rise to the Italian words opera (singular) and opere (plural), likewise meaning "work". In contemporary English, the word opera has specifically come to denote the dramatic musical genres of opera or ballet, which were developed in Italy. As
3960-413: The boy's death to be accidental so Grimes avoids a criminal trial. The Coroner advises Grimes not to get another apprentice – a proposal against which Grimes vigorously protests. As the court is cleared, Ellen Orford, the schoolmistress whom Grimes wishes to marry as soon as he gains the Borough's respect, attempts to comfort Grimes as he rages against what he sees as the community's unwillingness to give him
4050-492: The boy. This does not go unseen: first Keene, Auntie, and Bob Boles, then the chorus comment on what has happened, the latter developing into a mob which sets off to investigate at Grimes's fisherman's hut. As they march off, Ellen, Auntie, and the nieces sing despairingly of the town's menfolk. The Fourth Orchestral Interlude (Passacaglia) follows as the scene changes. At the hut, Grimes impatiently demands John change out of his Sunday clothes and into fisherman's gear. Though it
4140-536: The case of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); after his death, the heirs published many compositions with opus numbers that Mendelssohn did not assign. In life, he published two symphonies ( Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 ; and Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ), furthermore he published his symphony-cantata Lobgesang , Op. 52, which was posthumously counted as his Symphony No. 2; yet, he chronologically wrote symphonies between symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, which he withdrew for personal and compositional reasons; nevertheless,
4230-466: The cases of César Franck (1822–1890), Béla Bartók (1881–1945), and Alban Berg (1885–1935), who initially numbered, but then stopped numbering their compositions. Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) were also inconsistent in their approaches. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was consistent and assigned an opus number to a composition before composing it; at his death, he left fragmentary and planned, but numbered, works. In revising
4320-418: The chant, along with a few other motifs from "Wolcum Yole", also serves to unify the composition. In addition, the movements "This Little Babe" and "Deo Gracias" have the choir reflecting harp-like effects by employing a canon at the first in stretto . The original 1942 publication was written for SSA ( soprano , soprano, alto ) children's choir. In 1943, a SATB (soprano, alto, tenor , bass ) arrangement
4410-415: The circumstances of the birth of Jesus and employs the choir to sing in a round to create an echoing effect. The choir and harp progress through the movement at contrasting paces and, over the duration of the piece, gradually synchronise until they both move at the same pace just before the ending when the music fades out. This is meant to symbolise the discord on earth before and during the birth of Christ and
4500-529: The cliff to the boat, but in their haste the boy slips to his death below. When the mob reaches the hut, Grimes and the apprentice are not to be found, so they disperse, curious and suspicious. The same, two days later, night in the Borough ("Moonlight" in the Sea Interludes ). At a town dance, Mrs Sedley tries to convince the authorities that Grimes is a murderer. Ellen and Captain Balstrode confide in each other: Grimes has disappeared, and Balstrode has discovered
4590-870: The co-productions, above, between the Royal Opera and the Monnaie in Brussels, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, and the Paris Opéra, productions included two in 2022: at the Vienna State Opera in a production directed by Christine Mielitz and conducted by Simone Young , with Jonas Kaufmann as Grimes, Lise Davidsen as Ellen Orford and Bryn Terfel as Balstrode; and
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#17328722210224680-548: The conductors were Charles Mackerras , David Atherton and Edward Gardner . Peter Grimes was staged at the Royal Opera House in 1947, in a production by Guthrie, conducted by Karl Rankl , with Pears, Cross and Edith Coates reprising their roles from the Sadler's Wells premiere. There have been four new productions at Covent Garden since then, directed by John Cranko (1953), Elijah Moshinsky (1975), Willy Decker (2004,
4770-405: The conventional sense" and rated the work "a step forward for opera in this country, and anywhere for that matter". Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes Peter Grimes as "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression ", and The New York Times has called it one of "the true operatic masterpieces of the 20th century"; the composer's own contemporary (1948) summation of the work
4860-434: The costumes and sets, the latter being naturalistic and based on Aldeburgh. Sadler's Wells had been closed during the war, and the premiere of Peter Grimes , on 7 June 1945, marked the reopening of the theatre. When Joan Cross , director of the company, announced the plan to reopen the house with Peter Grimes − herself and Pears in the leading roles − there were complaints from company members about supposed favouritism and
4950-403: The diverse speech-rhythms of the individual Borough characters": In Crozier's view, Slater's "short interjectory sentences" in the recitatives and the "more expansive phrases" of the arias are ideal for musical setting. In Slater's hands the character of Grimes was further developed. In Pears's words, Grimes is "neither a hero nor a villain", but "an ordinary, weak person who, being at odds with
5040-430: The duration of the movement. The music reaches its climax with an intense key change and conflicting rhythm from the rest of the piece. This little Babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, Though he himself for cold do shake; For in this weak unarmèd wise The gates of hell he will surprise. With tears he fights and wins the field, His naked breast stands for
5130-478: The dénouement had Grimes on the marshes, going mad and dying there. An episode with smugglers was dropped and several characters were gradually eliminated as work progressed on the story. By the time Britten and Pears returned home in April 1943 the shape of the work was not greatly different from the final version, and to turn the scenario into a libretto Britten recruited an old friend, the writer Montagu Slater . Slater
5220-559: The earlier productions, Grimes was played by tenors including Richard Lewis , Richard Cassilly , Robert Tear , Langridge, and Anthony Rolfe Johnson . Productions by other British opera companies include Colin Graham 's 1968 staging for Scottish Opera , conducted by Alexander Gibson with Nigel Douglas as Grimes; Glyndebourne Festival 's first production of the work in 1992, directed by Trevor Nunn and conducted by Andrew Davis and, in revivals, Franz Welser-Most and Mark Wigglesworth ;
5310-460: The fiery Methodist fisherman, Bob Boles, getting increasingly drunk and lecherous after the pub's main attraction, the two "nieces". Grimes suddenly enters ("Now the Great Bear and Pleiades..."), and his wild appearance unites almost the entire community in their fear and mistrust of his "temper". Ned Keene saves the situation by starting a round ("Old Joe has gone fishing"). Just as the round reaches
5400-415: The first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. The New World Symphony originally was published as No. 5, later was known as No. 8, and definitively was renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s. Other examples of composers' historically inconsistent opus-number usages include
5490-544: The first, third, fifth and second interludes from the opera, with the titles "Dawn", "Sunday Morning", "Moonlight" and "Storm". The fourth interlude, a passacaglia , has been published separately as Op 33b, and is sometimes appended to the Four Sea Interludes in concert and recordings. Britten conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the first performance of the suite at the Cheltenham Festival ,
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#17328722210225580-481: The general administrator of the Sadler's Wells company, appointed his assistant Eric Crozier to stage the piece, and the latter, together with Britten, made adjustments to the libretto during rehearsals when Slater's text proved unsuitable for singability or clarity. Slater resented this, and insisted on publishing his original version in 1946, as Peter Grimes and Other Poems . Crozier brought in Kenneth Green to design
5670-522: The hope of the future and the harmony he brings. Behold, a silly tender babe, in freezing winter night, In homely manger trembling lies Alas, a piteous sight! The inns are full; no man will yield This little pilgrim bed. But forced he is with silly beasts In crib to shroud his head. This stable is a Prince’s court, This crib his chair of State; The beasts are parcel of his pomp, The wooden dish his plate. The persons in that poor attire His royal liveries wear; The Prince himself
5760-457: The music "full of vivid suggestion and action, sometimes rising to a kind of white-hot poetry", but thought the libretto insufficiently "operatic" – "overloaded with scrappy and not always telling incident". The Scotsman's critic took a different view, calling the work "that rare thing – a piece of perfect collaboration between librettist and composer". The reviewer in The Times found the use of
5850-406: The music matched by "the strong and lovely libretto", though he predicted that if an impresario succeeded in staging the piece on Broadway "it will be met with much intolerance and displeasure by audiences unprepared for its surprising magnificences". In The Boston Globe , Cyrus Durgin praised the young Bernstein for bringing out "the drive and dissonance of an opera which is far from 'tuneful' in
5940-520: The next movement. Pleasure it is to hear iwis the Birdès sing, The deer in the dale, the sheep in the vale, the corn springing. God’s purvayance For sustenance. It is for man. Then we always to him give praise, And thank him than. "Deo gracias" (Thanks be to God) is based on a macaronic poem from the 15th century. " Adam lay i-bounden " tells of the events that happened in Chapter 3 of Genesis,
6030-448: The opera by the musical foundation he had recently set up. The fee was $ 1,000, and the opera was to be dedicated to the memory of Koussevitzky's wife, who had recently died. Britten approached his friend the writer Christopher Isherwood , inviting him to write the libretto. Pleading pressure of work and some reservations about the effectiveness of the subject, Isherwood declined. During the voyage back to England, Pears continued to work on
6120-448: The opera, including Balstrode, Boles and Ned Keene, are not in Crabbe's original. While Britten and Pears were waiting for a passage back to England, the conductor Serge Koussevitzky asked the composer why he had not written an opera. Britten explained that doing so would necessitate putting all other work aside, which he could not afford to do. Koussevitzky arranged for the commissioning of
6210-415: The redemption of mankind. Britten has set the choir in such a way that the choir becomes emphatic in its thanks to God. Use of syncopated (emphasis of the off-beat to create a displacement of rhythm) and staccato (short and detached) rhythms emphasise this energetic thankfulness, while only a small section very quietly recounts the plight of humanity. The harp and choir both gradually grow more resounding until
6300-475: The same opus number was given to more than one of his works. Opus number 12, for example, was assigned, successively, to five different works (an opera, a concert overture, a string quartet, and two unrelated piano works). In other cases, the same work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers. The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b)
6390-560: The scenario of the opera while Britten composed A Ceremony of Carols and Hymn to St Cecilia . The story, and Grimes's character, underwent substantial changes in the early stages of drafting. For a long time during the gestation of the work Britten conceived Grimes as a baritone role. Pears persuaded Britten to play down any emotional tie Grimes might feel to the apprentice, and play up his position as an outsider in an intolerant society. At first, Britten had Grimes murdering his apprentices rather than being at worst negligent. For some time
6480-411: The society in which he finds himself, tries to overcome it and, in doing so, offends against the conventional code, is classed by society as a criminal, and destroyed as such. There are plenty of Grimeses around still, I think!" Discussions between composer and librettist, revisions and corrections took nearly eighteen months. In January 1944 Britten started writing the music and just over a year later it
6570-415: The tents that he hath pight. Within his crib is surest ward; This little Babe will be thy guard. If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy; Then flit not from this heavenly Boy! This instrumental movement is a harp solo, creating a sense of angelic bliss with its slow tempo, shifting rhythm, and progressively soft nature. "In Freezing Winter Night" is another text by Southwell. This movement calls out to
6660-526: The time that appil takè was. Therefore we moun singen. Deo gracias! This movement is a near mirror of the Procession and the ensemble, typically, performs this piece as they exit the stage. Its melody gradually fades as the ensemble retreats outside of the venue. Hodie Christus natus est, hodie Salvator apparuit, hodie in terra canunt angeli, laetantur archangeli: hodie exsultant justi, dicentes: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Alleluia! Recordings of
6750-456: The title role in the opera house, or on record, or both are Britten's partner Peter Pears , who sang the part at the premiere, and Allan Clayton , Ben Heppner , Anthony Rolfe Johnson , Jonas Kaufmann , Philip Langridge , Stuart Skelton , Set Svanholm and Jon Vickers . Four Sea Interludes , consisting of purely orchestral music from the opera, were published separately and are frequently performed as an orchestral suite. Another interlude,
6840-448: The un-numbered compositions have been cataloged and labeled with the German acronym WoO ( Werk ohne Opuszahl ), meaning "work without opus number"; the same has been done with other composers who used opus numbers. (There are also other catalogs of Beethoven's works – see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions .) The practice of enumerating a posthumous opus ("Op. posth.") is noteworthy in
6930-586: The various views of previous commentators on the extent to which homosexuality is relevant to the plot of the opera. He notes that in Peter Conrad's analysis, "Grimes the boy-killer is the homosexual outcast, looking to Ellen Orford to effect his redemption, even his cure", and that for Philip Brett Britten's operas are "preoccupied with the social experience of homosexuality", but Hepburn concludes that Grimes can be seen in several different ways: In 2020 Rupert Christiansen wrote that Peter Grimes can be labelled
7020-400: The very last chord. Deo gracias! Deo gracias! Adam lay i-bounden, bounden in a bond; Four thousand winter thought he not too long. Deo gracias! Deo gracias! And all was for an appil, an appil that he tok, As clerkès finden written in their book. Deo gracias! Deo gracias! Ne had the appil takè ben, the appil takè ben Ne haddè never our lady a ben hevenè quene. Blessèd be
7110-551: The visionary in Grimes's character and conduct. In a retrospective consideration of the opera in 1972, Peter Garvie argued in Tempo that although it had seemed uniquely new when it first appeared, it was in fact "a great but final reincarnation of more or less traditional opera", and that it holds no promise of redemption for the characters, unlike Britten's later operas. In The University of Toronto Quarterly in 2005, Allan Hepburn considered
7200-445: The works of composers such as: A Ceremony of Carols A Ceremony of Carols , Op. 28 is an extended choral composition for Christmas by Benjamin Britten scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp . The text, structured in eleven movements, is taken from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems , edited by Gerald Bullett . It is principally in Middle English , with some Latin and Early Modern English . It
7290-450: Was "a subject very close to my heart – the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual". In a 1963 analysis of the opera in Music & Letters , J. W. Garbutt contended that Britten's "inventive genius" and the richness of the score led the listener to suspend disbelief, but that Slater's libretto failed to reconcile the violent and
7380-419: Was a journalist, novelist and playwright. Before the war Britten had composed incidental music for two short verse-plays of his. Eric Crozier , who worked closely with Britten, comments that the whole of the original text of the libretto – "apart from six quatrains by Crabbe and the small phrase 'Grimes is at his exercise'" – is Slater's work. He abandoned Crabbe's rhyming couplets and allowed his text "to reflect
7470-409: Was complete. The premiere had been planned for Koussevitzky's Tanglewood Festival , but the festival had been suspended for the duration of the war, and Koussevitzky waived his contractual rights and gave his blessing to Sadler's Wells Opera to stage the first performances, saying that the opera – which he thought the greatest since Carmen – belonged not to him but to the world. Tyrone Guthrie ,
7560-572: Was composed in 1942 on Britten's sea voyage from the United States to England. Britten composed the music at the same time as the Hymn to St. Cecilia and in similar style. Originally conceived as a series of unrelated songs, it was later unified into one piece with the framing processional and recessional chant in unison based on the Gregorian antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est". A harp solo based on
7650-637: Was given in Paris at the Opéra in 1981 directed by Moshinsky and conducted by John Pritchard , with Vickers in the title role and a largely Franco-British cast. A production by Graham Vick was staged at the Opéra Bastille in 2001, conducted by James Conlon , with Heppner as Grimes. A production by Richard Jones at La Scala , Milan in 2012 was conducted by Robin Ticciati , with John Graham-Hall as Grimes. In addition to
7740-459: Was living in the US in the early years of the Second World War and completed when he returned to Britain in 1943. It was first performed at Sadler's Wells in London on 7 June 1945, conducted by Reginald Goodall , and was a critical and popular success. It is still widely performed, both in Britain and internationally, and has become part of the standard repertoire. Among the tenors who have performed
7830-399: Was played in its natural setting on the beach at Aldeburgh. Steuart Bedford conducted, and Alan Oke sang Grimes. The American premiere of the work was given in August 1946 at Tanglewood , conducted by Koussevitzky's protégé Leonard Bernstein , with William Horne in the title role. The Metropolitan Opera first staged the piece in 1948 with Frederick Jagel as Grimes. The house staged
7920-455: Was published for a mixed choir. Many of the movements are written as rounds or call-and-response pieces – lyrically simple for the sake of the children performing. There are three-part divisi in both the tenor and bass parts. Each of these lines individually mirrors a line in either the soprano or alto parts, as though the tenor and bass sections are a men's choir singing the original SSA composition with an SSA choir. "Hodie Christus natus est"
8010-409: Was used to identify, list, and catalogue a work of art. By the 15th and 16th centuries, the word opus was used by Italian composers to denote a specific musical composition, and by German composers for collections of music. In compositional practice, numbering musical works in chronological order dates from 17th-century Italy, especially Venice . In common usage, the word opus is used to describe
8100-473: Was written by Sloane in the first quarter of the 15th century. It switches the focus from the baby to the Virgin Mary in gentle, soothing music which progressively grows softer until the very end. Throughout this movement, the different voice parts overlap to create an echoing effect. The volume of the choir abruptly shifts at the end from pianissississimo (very, very, very softly) to forte (loudly). I sing of
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