Peter Grimes is an opera by the English composer Benjamin Britten , consisting of a prologue and three acts. Libretto by M. Slater based on the poem by J. Crabb "The Town". The premiere of the opera took place on June 7, 1945 at the Sadler's Wells Theater in London. Of the music for the opera, four symphonic interludes are best known (“Breaking Dawn”, “Sunday Morning”, “Moonlight”, “Storm”).
| Opera | |
| Peter Grimes | |
|---|---|
| Peter Grimes | |
| Composer | Benjamin Britten |
| Librettist | Montague Slater |
| Tongue libretto | |
| Action | 3 and prologue |
| Year of creation | 1945 |
| First production | June 7, 1945 . |
| First Place | London , Sadlers Wells Theater |
Storyline
The action takes place in a fishing town on the east coast of England, around 1810.
Prologue
The courtroom is full of excited citizens. The case against the greedy and rude fisherman Peter Grimes is being considered. He, in order to save on a worker, hired not an adult, but a boy as his assistant. During the last trip to the sea, due to a raging storm, Grimes’s boat could not land for three days, and the boy died of thirst. Judge Suellow finds that the fisherman is innocent of the death of the child - all the fault of the accident. Residents are unhappy with the decision, only a local teacher, the widow of Ellen Orford, sincerely worries about Grimes.
Act One
Clear morning, seashore. Fishermen are preparing to go fishing. But Grimes’s boat has long been at sea, and is now returning with a catch. Fishermen are unfriendly towards Peter, no one wants to help him moor. Only Captain Balstrode and the local pharmacist rescue Grimes. Meanwhile, heavy rain begins. The topic is being discussed in the coastal inn: who will undertake to deliver a new boy from the shelter to Grimes instead of the deceased? Since no one else wants to get in touch with Grimes, teacher Ellen takes up the matter. The Onti innkeeper, with two female assistants, is giving drinks to visitors. When Grimes appears in the zucchini, ridicule flies in his direction from all sides, a mocking song is heard. Grimes is furious, he is ready at all costs to prove to these people his superiority over them. Ellen brings the boy, and the fisherman, not letting the child come to his senses, grabs him and takes him away to go fishing in the storm.
Act Two
On Sunday morning. Citizens gather in church for a solemn service. Ellen talks to the Grimes servant boy and finds out that the fisherman is rude to the child, constantly offends him and forces him to do an excessive job for him. Suddenly, the news spreads around the town that a huge, unprecedented fish school has come up to their shores. Grimes also learns about this. Here is his chance! Today he will catch so many fish that he will become rich, buy a house and open a shop. He will marry Ellen. But - according to the unbreakable custom of antiquity - on Sunday you can’t work! The violator of this law is condemned and despised by all. In vain, Ellen tries to dissuade Grimes - he pushes her so that the woman falls, and takes away the assistant boy with him. A crowd is gathering, indignant at the act of Grimes and his evil plans. Everyone converges here: Methodist Bowles, who predicts the End of the World, Pastor Adams, Captain Balstrode. The crowd, under the drumming, they are sent to the home of Grimes. People are ready to tear apart the patriarch. Peter's house is an upturned old ship lying on top of a cliff. At its stern there is a secret exit - descent to the seashore. Hearing the approach of his enemies, Grimes rushes the boy and pushes him to the stern. He does not know that the sea washed up into the night storm, and instead of a gentle descent, an abyss now gapes behind the stern of his “house”. The boy, loaded with gear, comes out first, and then falls into the cliff, followed by the fisherman himself. When a crowd bursts into Grimes's home, they find him deserted. Only after a child’s body is discovered on the shore does everyone understand what happened.
Act Three
A rumor quickly spreads around the town that Peter Grimes had also killed his second boy. People arm themselves with whatever they can and rush in search of a fisherman. Only Ellen and Captain Balstrode are still trying to somehow save him from death. But Grimes is insane. Without recognizing anyone, he mimics the people chasing him. Ellen wants to hide him in his house. The captain, seeing that there is no other way out, convinces the half-mad Grimes to go out to sea on his longboat and flood it - in order to avoid an even more terrible death on the shore. Grimes goes to sea, and Balstrode takes away the weeping Ellen. In the morning, the coast guard discovers the sea cast ashore, an upturned Grimes boat.
Actors
- Peter Grimes , fisherman (tenor)
- John , his henchman (dumb role)
- Ellen Orford , widow, rural teacher (soprano)
- Balstrode , retired captain (baritone bass)
- Onti , mistress of the boar tavern (contralto)
- Two girls in a tavern (two sopranos)
- Bob Bowles , fisherman, methodologist (tenor)
- Swallow judge (bass)
- Mrs. Sedley , wealthy widow (soprano)
- Horace Adams , pastor (tenor)
- Ned Keane , pharmacist and shopkeeper (baritone)
- Hobson , Carter (bass)
- Dr. George Crabb (dumb role)
Literature
- Allen, Stephen Arthur, "He Descended Into Hell: Peter Grimes, Ellen Orford and Salvation Denied", The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten ,, (Ed. Mervyn Cooke). Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 81-94.
- Banks, Paul (2000). The Making of Peter Grimes: Essays and Studies. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-791-2 .
- Gilbert, Susie (2009). Opera for Everybody. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22493-7 .