About this episode
This episode discusses the debut of Benjamin Britten's opera 'Peter Grimes' and its cultural significance.
Synopsis On today’s date in 1945 Peter Grimes , a new opera by English composer Benjamin Britten, debuted at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London. The libretto was based on George Crabbe’s long poem, The Borough , published in 1810, which described life along England’s North Sea coast. In the early 1940’s, Britten was living in America, and had read Crabbe’s poem in California. The commission for the opera was also American, coming from Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony and one of the leading music patrons of the day. But his opera is intensely English — evoking, as it does, the images and sounds of the North Sea off the east coast of Suffolk. He was born within sight of this seascape, and lived, for the better part of his later life, a little farther down the coast at Aldeburgh — the borough on which Crabbe had based his poem. From the start, Peter Grimes was an immediate success. Within a week of its June 7 premiere, Britten conducted the London Philharmonic in an orchestral suite of Sea Interludes from his new opera, and these, too, have since firmly established themselves in the concert repertory. Music Played in Today's Program Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)…
Topics covered
- opera
- music history
- Benjamin Britten
- Peter Grimes
- North Sea
- English culture
Keywords
- Britten
- Peter Grimes
- opera debut
- North Sea
- Aldeburgh
- Sea Interludes
- Sadler’s Wells Theater
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Sadler’s Wells Theater, Boston Symphony, London Philharmonic
Products: EMI 72658
Books & works: Peter Grimes, The Borough
Places: North Sea, Suffolk, Aldeburgh
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