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''Peter Grimes'', Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, with a libretto by
Montagu Slater Charles Montagu Slater (23 September 1902 – 19 December 1956) was an English poet, novelist, playwright, journalist, critic and librettist. Life One of five children, Slater was born in the small mining port of Millom, Cumberland facing L ...
based on the section "Peter Grimes", in
George Crabbe George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people. In the 177 ...
'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 Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...
, Suffolk, on England's east coast. The work was conceived while Britten was living in the US in the early years of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and completed when he returned to Britain in 1943. It was first performed at
Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...
in London on 7 June 1945, conducted by
Reginald Goodall Sir Reginald Goodall (13 July 1901 – 5 May 1990) was an English conductor and singing coach noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and for conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten. Early life 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 the title role in the opera house, or on record, or both are Britten's partner
Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...
, who sang the part at the premiere, and
Allan Clayton Allan James Clayton (1981) is a British tenor singer. Clayton was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a choral scholar in the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2007-09 and winner of the Royal Ph ...
,
Ben Heppner Thomas Bernard Heppner (born January 14, 1956) is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice. Early life and career Heppner, of Mennonite descent, was born in Mur ...
,
Jonas Kaufmann Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor. He is best known for the versatility of his repertoire, performing a variety of opera roles in multiple languages in recitalTommasini, Anthony (21 February 2014)"A Tenor Finds Energy ...
,
Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio. Early life Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
,
Stuart Skelton Stuart Skelton (born 1968 in Sydney) is an Australian operatic heldentenor. In 2016 he opened the Metropolitan Opera season with Nina Stemme in Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde''. Discography Studio concert recordings *2008: Mahler – '' Das Li ...
,
Set Svanholm Set Svanholm (2 September 1904 – 4 October 1964) was a Swedish operatic tenor, considered the leading Tristan and Siegfried of the first decade following World War II. Life and career Svanholm began his musical career at the age of 17 as a pr ...
and
Jon Vickers Jonathan Stewart Vickers, (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a ...
. ''Four Sea Interludes'', consisting of purely orchestral music from the opera, were published separately and are frequently performed as an orchestral suite. Another interlude, a
passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The t ...
, was published separately and is also often performed, either together with the ''Sea Interludes'' or by itself.


Background


US: 1941−1943

In the early years of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
,
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
and his partner
Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...
were living in the US. Britten's compositions from his years there include the song cycle ''
Les Illuminations ''Illuminations'' is an incomplete suite of prose poems by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, first published partially in ', a Paris literary review, in May–June 1886. The texts were reprinted in book form in October 1886 by Les publications de L ...
'' (1940), the ''
Sinfonia da Requiem ''Sinfonia da Requiem'', Op. 20, for orchestra is a symphony written by Benjamin Britten in 1940 at the age of 26. It was one of several works commissioned from different composers by the Japanese government to mark Emperor Jimmu's 2600th annive ...
'' (1940) and his operetta, ''
Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the o ...
'' (1941).Brett, Philip, Heather Wiebe, Jennifer Doctor, Judith LeGrove, and Paul Banks
"Britten, (Edward) Benjamin"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2013 In 1941 Britten came across a transcript in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's magazine '' The Listener'' of a talk by E.M.Forster about the 18th-century Suffolk poet
George Crabbe George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people. In the 177 ...
. 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 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".Matthews, p. 61 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 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 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 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.


London: 1943−1945

During the voyage back to England, Pears continued to work on the scenario of the opera while Britten composed '' A Ceremony of Carols'' and ''
Hymn to St Cecilia ''Hymn to St Cecilia'', Op. 27 is a choral piece by Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), a setting of a poem by W. H. Auden written between 1940 and 1942. Auden's original title was "Three Songs for St. Cecilia's Day", and he later published the poe ...
''. 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 the dénouement had Grimes on the marshes, going mad and dying there.Brett, p. 52 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 Charles Montagu Slater (23 September 1902 – 19 December 1956) was an English poet, novelist, playwright, journalist, critic and librettist. Life One of five children, Slater was born in the small mining port of Millom, Cumberland facing L ...
. Slater was a journalist, novelist and playwright. Before the war Britten had composed incidental music for two short verse-plays of his.
Eric Crozier Eric Crozier OBE (14 November 19147 September 1994) was a British theatrical director, opera librettist and producer, long associated with Benjamin Britten. Early life and career Crozier was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Dr ...
, 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 the diverse speech-rhythms of the individual Borough characters": In Crozier's view, Slater's "short interjectory sentences" in the
recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...
s 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 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 was complete.Brett, p. 149 The premiere had been planned for Koussevitzky's
Tanglewood Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...
, 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 English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English. ...
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 Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at h ...
, 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 the costumes and sets, the latter being naturalistic and based on Aldeburgh.


Performance history


Premiere

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 Joan Cross (7 September 1900 – 12 December 1993) was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on ...
, 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 the "
cacophony Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century and ...
" 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 ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...
'' and ''
Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...
'', which were being staged concurrently by the company.


Original cast

:Source: Libretto.Herbert, p. 88


Later London productions

Sadler's Wells and its successor,
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
, staged new productions in 1963, 1990 and 2009. Grimes was played by, respectively, Ronald Dowd,
Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio. Early life Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
and
Stuart Skelton Stuart Skelton (born 1968 in Sydney) is an Australian operatic heldentenor. In 2016 he opened the Metropolitan Opera season with Nina Stemme in Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde''. Discography Studio concert recordings *2008: Mahler – '' Das Li ...
; the conductors were
Charles Mackerras Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...
,
David Atherton David Atherton (born 3 January 1944) is an English conductor and founder of the London Sinfonietta. Background Atherton was born in Blackpool, Lancashire into a musical family. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. His father, Robert ...
and Edward Gardner. ''Peter Grimes'' was staged at the
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
in 1947, in a production by Guthrie, conducted by
Karl Rankl Karl Rankl (1 October 1898 – 6 September 1968) was a British conductor and composer who was of Austrian birth. A pupil of the composers Schoenberg and Webern, he conducted at opera houses in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia until fleeing f ...
, 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 John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Transv ...
(1953),
Elijah Moshinsky Elijah Moshinsky (8 January 1946 – 14 January 2021) was an Australian opera director, theatre director and television director who worked for the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal National Theatre, and BBC Television, among ...
(1975), Willy Decker (2004, a co-production with the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels) and
Deborah Warner Deborah Warner (born 12 May 1959) is a British director of theatre and opera, known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Benjamin Britten and Henrik Ibsen. Early life Warner was born in Oxfordshire, England, t ...
(2022, a co-production with the
Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...
, Madrid, the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome, and the
Opéra National de Paris The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
). The conductors were, respectively, Goodall, Colin Davis,
Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is scheduled to become chief c ...
and
Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...
, and the title role was sung by Pears,
Jon Vickers Jonathan Stewart Vickers, (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a ...
,
Ben Heppner Thomas Bernard Heppner (born January 14, 1956) is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice. Early life and career Heppner, of Mennonite descent, was born in Mur ...
and
Allan Clayton Allan James Clayton (1981) is a British tenor singer. Clayton was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a choral scholar in the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2007-09 and winner of the Royal Ph ...
."Peter Grimes"
, Royal Opera House archive. Retrieved 23 March 2022 In revivals of the earlier productions, Grimes was played by tenors including
Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...
,
Richard Cassilly Richard Cassilly (December 14, 1927 – January 30, 1998) was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 y ...
,
Robert Tear Robert Tear (pronounced to rhyme with "beer"), CBE (8 March 1939 – 29 March 2011) was a Welsh tenor singer, teacher and conductor. He first became known singing in the operas of Benjamin Britten in the mid-1960s. From the 1970s until his ...
, Langridge, and
Anthony Rolfe Johnson Anthony Rolfe Johnson (5 November 1940 – 21 July 2010) was an English operatic tenor. Early life Anthony Rolfe Johnson was born in Tackley in Oxfordshire. As a boy, he demonstrated musical ability and sang as a boy soprano, making a record ...
.


Regional British productions

Productions by other British opera companies include
Colin Graham Colin Graham OBE (22 September 1931 in Hove, England – 6 April 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a stage director of opera, theatre, and television. Graham was educated at Northaw School (Hertfordshire), Stowe School and RADA. Early in his ...
's 1968 staging for
Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish ...
, conducted by Alexander Gibson with Nigel Douglas as Grimes;
Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...
's first production of the work in 1992, directed by
Trevor Nunn Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas ...
and conducted by Andrew Davis and, in revivals, Franz Welser-Most and Mark Wigglesworth; a 1999 version by
Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...
, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Carlo Rizzi with John Daszak as Grimes; and
Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and ...
's 2006 production, directed by
Phyllida Lloyd Phyllida Christian Lloyd, (born 17 June 1957) is an English film director and producer, best known for ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008) and '' The Iron Lady'' (2011). Her theatre work includes directing productions at the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Na ...
and conducted by
Richard Farnes Richard Farnes (born 1964) is a British conductor, and was Music Director of Opera North from 2004 to 2016. Education Farnes was a chorister at King's College, Cambridge before entering Eton College as a music scholar in 1977. He returned to ...
with Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Grimes. In the summer of 2013, to mark the centenary of Britten's birth, the
Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...
staged its first performance of ''Peter Grimes''. It was played in its natural setting on the beach at Aldeburgh.
Steuart Bedford Steuart John Rudolf Bedford (31 July 1939 – 15 February 2021) was an English orchestral and opera conductor and pianist. He was the brother of composer David Bedford and of singer Peter Lehmann Bedford and a grandson of Liza Lehmann and Her ...
conducted, and Alan Oke sang Grimes.


American productions

The American premiere of the work was given in August 1946 at
Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...
, conducted by Koussevitzky's protégé Leonard Bernstein, with William Horne in the title role.Watt, Douglas. "'Peter Grimes'" Has Operatic Greatness in Lenox Premiere", ''The Daily News'', 7 August 1946, p. 45B The
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
first staged the piece in 1948 with Frederick Jagel as Grimes. The house staged 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 Sir Donald Cameron Runnicles OBE HonFRSE (born 16 November 1954, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish conductor. Life and career The son of William Runnicles, a director of a furniture supply company and a choirmaster and organist, and Christin ...
, with Anthony Dean Griffey in the title role.


Continental Europe

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 Set Svanholm (2 September 1904 – 4 October 1964) was a Swedish operatic tenor, considered the leading Tristan and Siegfried of the first decade following World War II. Life and career Svanholm began his musical career at the age of 17 as a pr ...
as Grimes."''Peter Grimes'' Abroad"
''Tempo'', no. 15, Cambridge University Press, 1946, pp. 17−20 Productions in
Basle , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
, Antwerp and Zurich followed within weeks. The opera was given in Paris at the
Opéra This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
in 1981 directed by Moshinsky and conducted by John Pritchard, with Vickers in the title role and a largely Franco-British cast."Peter Grimes, 1981"
, L'archives du spectacle. Retrieved 24 March 2022 A production by
Graham Vick Sir Graham Vick (30 December 1953 – 17 July 2021) was an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and was artistic d ...
was staged at the
Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris Nat ...
in 2001, conducted by
James Conlon James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Early ...
, with Heppner as Grimes. A production by Richard Jones at La Scala, Milan in 2012 was conducted by
Robin Ticciati Robin Ticciati (born 16 April 1983, in London) is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. Biography Ticciati's paternal grandfather, Niso Ticciati, was a composer, arranger, cellist, and keyboardist. His father is a barrister, and his mother ...
, with John Graham-Hall as Grimes. In addition to 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 The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...
in a production directed by Christine Mielitz and conducted by
Simone Young Simone Margaret Young AM (born 2 March 1961) is an Australian conductor. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Young was born in Sydney, of Irish ancestry on her father's side and Croatian ...
, with
Jonas Kaufmann Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor. He is best known for the versatility of his repertoire, performing a variety of opera roles in multiple languages in recitalTommasini, Anthony (21 February 2014)"A Tenor Finds Energy ...
as Grimes,
Lise Davidsen Lise Davidsen (born 8 February 1987 in Stokke) is a Norwegian opera singer. She came to prominence after winning the Operalia competition in London in 2015, and is known as a lyric dramatic soprano. Career Lise Davidsen was born in 1987 in ...
as Ellen Orford and
Bryn Terfel Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...
as Balstrode; and the
Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...
in a production by
Stefan Herheim Stefan Herheim (born Oslo, 13 March 1970), is a Norwegian opera director, based in Germany. __NOTOC__ Life He studied cello while working as a production assistant at Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. From 1994 to 1999, he studied opera directio ...
, conducted by Gardner, with Skelton as Grimes,
Rachel Willis-Sørensen Rachel Willis-Sørensen (born 1984) is an American operatic soprano, vocal contractor / vocalist , conductor. Studies She has a bachelor's degree and a masters, the latter in vocal performance and pedagogy, both from Brigham Young University. A ...
as Ellen and Iain Paterson as Balstrode.


Synopsis


Prologue

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 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 a true second chance.


Act 1

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 the
apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Amer ...
, Ned Keene, assist Grimes by turning the capstan. Keene tells Grimes that he has found him a new apprentice (named John) from the
workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''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 a "good catch", buy a good home and marry Ellen Orford. Balstrode suggests "without your booty llenwill 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 the fiery
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
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 a climax, Ellen arrives with the apprentice, both drenched. Grimes immediately sets off with the apprentice to his hut, despite the terrible storm.


Act 2

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 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 changes out of his Sunday clothes and into fisherman's gear. Though it 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, stirred both by a paranoid belief that John has been gossiping with Ellen, so provoking the anger of the town against him; and at the same time angrily defiant. He warns John to be careful climbing down the cliff to the boat. But to no avail: 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.


Act 3

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 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, is able to whip up another vigilante mob. Singing "Him who despises us we'll destroy", the villagers march off searching for 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 the fisherman, Grimes appears onstage singing a monologue, interspersed by cries from the mob and by a mournful fog horn (a solo
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
). 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 the best thing is to sail to sea and drown himself by scuppering his boat. Silently, Grimes walks out. The next morning life in 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 rumours."


''Sea Interludes''

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 the first, third, fifth and second interludes from the opera, with the titles "Dawn", "Sunday Morning", "Moonlight" and "Storm". The fourth interlude, a
passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The t ...
, 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 The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...
, a week after the opera's premiere; the London premiere was at the
Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
, in August 1945, and the five interludes were conducted by
Sir Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with th ...
in October 1945.


Critical reception


First productions

In ''
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'',
William Glock Sir William Frederick Glock, CBE (3 May 190828 June 2000) was a British music critic and musical administrator who was instrumental in introducing the Continental avant-garde, notably promoting the career of Pierre Boulez. Biography Glock was bo ...
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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
s critic, William McNaught, considered 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 ''
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'' found the use of 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 the music matched by "the strong and lovely libretto", though he predicted that if an impresario succeeded in staging the piece on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
"it will be met with much intolerance and displeasure by audiences unprepared for its surprising magnificences". In ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', Cyrus Durgin praised the young Bernstein for bringing out "the drive and dissonance of an opera which is far from 'tuneful' in the conventional sense" and rated the work "a step forward for opera in this country, and anywhere for that matter".


Later assessments

''
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'' describes ''Peter Grimes'' as "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression", and ''
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'' has called it one of "the true operatic masterpieces of the 20th century"; Tommasini, Anthony
"The Outsider in Their Midst: Britten's Tale of the Haunted Misfit"
, ''The New York Times'', 1 March 2008. the composer's own contemporary (1948) summation of the work 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 ''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fie ...
'', J. W. Garbutt contended that Britten's "inventive genius" and the richness of the score led the listener to suspend disbelief, but that nevertheless Slater had failed to reconcile the violent and the visionary in Grimes's character and conduct. In a retrospective consideration of the opera in 1972, Peter Garvie argued in ''
Tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
'' 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.Garvie, Peter
"Plausible Darkness: 'Peter Grimes' after a Quarter of a Century"
Tempo , 1972, No. 100 (1972), pp. 9–14 In ''The University of Toronto Quarterly'' in 2005, Allan Hepburn considered 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 Philip Brett (October 17, 1937 – October 16, 2002) was a British-born American musicologist, musician and conductor. He was particularly known for his scholarly studies on Benjamin Britten and William Byrd and for his contributions to the deve ...
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 Rupert Christiansen (born 1954) is an English writer, journalist and critic. Life and career Born in London, Christiansen is the grandson of Arthur Christiansen (former editor of the '' Daily Express'') and son of Kay and Michael Christiansen (for ...
wrote that ''Peter Grimes'' can be labelled 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.


Recordings


Notes, references and sources


Notes


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links

*
Further ''Peter Grimes'' discography

Benjamin Britten's ''Peter Grimes''
(BBC synopsis) * Hensher, Philip. 2009.
A Man for the People
. ''The Guardian'' (8 May). {{Authority control 1945 operas English-language operas Music based on poems Music commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky or the Koussevitzky Music Foundation Operas based on literature Operas by Benjamin Britten Operas set in England Operas