Benjamin Britten Operas and Other Music Quiz

Answer: Peter Grimes

"Peter Grimes" was first performed on June 7, 1945, and is seen as one of the masterpieces of post-war opera and is still Britten's most celebrated opera. This opera is a direct takeoff of George Crabbe's poem 'The Borough'.

Answer: Lucretia

'The Rape of Lucretia' ends with the moral that Jesus is all, and was hailed by British Christian writers, who hailed her self-sacrifice. This opera was an operatic version of André Obey's play "Le Viol de Lucrèce"; when it was first performed, it had two alternating casts with different librettos done by Ronald Duncan and Obey.

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

The two notable ensembles in this opera are "I Swear to Thee" in Act I and "And I Have Found Demetrius" in Act III. Peter Pears did the libretto (along with Shakespeare) for this opera, and he was the man for whom Britten usually formatted the lead role, including "Peter Grimes", "The Rape of Lucretia", "Billy Budd", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Curlew River", and "Death in Venice".

Answer: Billy Budd

The main conflict in this opera is between Billy Budd and Claggart, who is eventually killed by Billy Budd. The captain presides over a court-martial which sentences Billy to hang.

Answer: Albert Herring

'Albert Herring' tells the story of a beautiful boy in Loxford who is taunted for being a mamma's boy and turns to drinking to try to become popular. 'Twilight of the Gods' is better known in German as 'Gotterdammerung'.

Answer: The Turn of the Screw

This work was commissioned by the cultural exhibition known as the Venice Biennale, and written in four months. Britten conducted the inaugural performance with partner Peter Pears appearing in the lead role. Recurring throughout the opera is a twelve note theme known as the 'Screw' theme.

None of the incorrect choices were written by Henry James.

Answer: Noye's Fludde

Both of these had their premiere performance in St Bartholomew's Church, Orford, Suffolk, but a decade apart, with 'The Prodigal Son' arriving in 1968 as one of Britten's 'Parables for Church Performance'. The earlier 'Noye's Fludde' was intended for amateur (especially child) performers, and was a retelling of the story of Noah's Ark.

Then aged sixteen, Michael Crawford went on to be a star of stage ('Phantom of the Opera'), screen and television ('Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em).

Answer: Song cycle

A song cycle is described as a set of individual songs that are meant to be performed as a unit, and Britten wrote a number of such works. 'Nocturne' concerns itself with themes of sleep and darkness, as one might expect, using poetry by such diverse authors as Shelley, Shakespeare, Wilfred Owen and five others. Each song is accompanied by strings, and most also by a particular instrument.

Its first performance was in Leeds in 1958.

Answer: Bertolt Brecht

Brecht's poem, written in German, was titled 'Kinderkreuzzug 1939' and was about a group of children in wartime Poland. The first performance of Britten's work in English was in 1969 at St Paul's Cathedral, and was an expression of his pacifist views.

Answer: Coventry Cathedral

The occasion was the 1962 consecration of the new Coventry cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of St Michael, immediately beside the preserved ruins of the 14th century building that was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. Britten was commissioned to write a piece for the service, and chose to set to music the words of several poems by WWI poet Wilfred Owen, interspersed with words from the Latin Mass for the Dead.