About this episode
The episode discusses Benjamin Britten's 'The Prodigal Son' and its significance in the context of church music and opera.
Synopsis Back in Bach’s day, there were churchmen aghast at the thought that composers were trying to sneak flashy opera music into Sunday services. Church music was meant to be simple, austere, and, well, not “operatic.” So what would they have made of the three “church parables” — mini-operas, really, composed in the 20th century by the great English composer Benjamin Britten? The third of these, The Prodigal Son , debuted on today’s date in 1968 at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Orford, England. All three impart Christian values and were meant for church performance — scored for a handful of soloists, modest choir, and a small ensemble that would fit in front of and on either side of a church altar where church music was normally performed. But operas they are, and Britten himself let the “o” word slip when he commented in a 1967 interview that he was “doing another church opera to go with the other two, Curlew River and The Burning Fiery Furnace , to make a kind of trilogy.’” Britten took these mini-operas seriously, and dedicated The Prodigal Son to his new friend, the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who in turn would dedicate his 14th Symphony to Britten. Music Played in…
Topics covered
- church music
- opera
- Benjamin Britten
- 20th century composers
- Christian values
- mini-operas
Keywords
- Britten
- Prodigal Son
- church parables
- opera music
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- 1968 premiere
- English composer
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Decca
Books & works: The Prodigal Son, Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace
Places: St. Bartholomew’s Church, Orford, England
More episodes of Composers Datebook
- Brahms and Liszt · June 12, 2026 · 2 min
- Carlisle Floyd · June 11, 2026 · 2 min
- The London Symphony on stage (and screen) · June 9, 2026 · 2 min
- Ravel's 'Daphnis and Chloe' · June 8, 2026 · 2 min
- Britten's 'Peter Grimes' · June 7, 2026 · 2 min
- Handel's dueling divas · June 6, 2026 · 2 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Composers Datebook podcast page.