ipl-logo

Benjamin Britten's Influence On Peter Grimes

764 Words4 Pages

Opera is often a medium used to express the most intense of human emotions. Although many operas have attempted to authentically convey the feelings of isolation, fear, and ostracism, few have done so at the same level as Benjamin Britten with his work, Peter Grimes. Throughout the opera, the title character, Peter Grimes, is ever-increasingly distressed, as accusations of murder stain his reputation and force him to flee from angry townspeople. By the end of the opera, Grimes is propositioned to sail himself out to see and sink his ship, and with no hopes of ever returning to life as before at the Borough, Grimes obliges. In this essay, I will be discussing how Benjamin Britten drew from his personal experiences as a homosexual man to make …show more content…

Shortly before World War II, Britten had left England with his partner Peter Pears feeling discouraged and looking for work. Britten quickly garnered success with a number of commissioned pieces, but still felt unfulfilled. While in California, Britten and Pears stumbled across the poetry of George Crabbe. Grimes drew inspiration from Crabbe’s poem, “The Borough,” to adapt it into an opera and return to his roots in England. While waiting for passage to England, Britten met Serge Koussevitsky who heard Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem and wondered why Britten had not yet written an opera. He soon arranged for the commission of an opera based on the Crabbe’s poem in honor of his recently deceased wife. Britten and Pears then began creating scenarios which they eventually brought to librettist Montague Slater. After nearly 18 months of intense collaboration and revisions, Britten began working on the scored in January of 1944. The score was complete in 1945, and the first performance brought Sadler’s Wells Opera Company back to its home theater after years of touring during the war. Peter Grimes gained enough acclaim that many consider it to be the first great English opera since

Show More
Related
658 Words | 3 Pages

This essay will explain the conflicts between the narrator and his choices about the bass and Sheila and how it makes us feel sympathy for him. The first conflict is between the narrator and his choices about Sheila. The reason being is that he is in love with her even though she is described as “all but out of reach.” (McDougal pg.27)

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

The shoe horn sonata by John Misto is a highly evocative play which explores the up-to-then largely forgotten history of female prisoners of the Japanese during WW2, by looking at the stories of two characters, Bridie and Sheila. Misto has effectively incorporated a wide range of language techniques both visual and auditory, which create powerful images in the responders’ mind to achieve distinctively visual ideas.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

Representations of events in the past are created through choice of historical evidence and personal memory. Factors utilised by a composer to demonstrate a purpose are consciously chosen to ensure the idolised meaning is constructed. Mark Bakers non-fiction text The Fiftieth Gate articulates the manifestations of the holocaust, contrasting historical facts with personal memory. Bakers deliberate utilisation of differing perspectives integrated throughout the text, challenges and questions the validity of both history and memory. Similarly Steve McQueen’s film 12 years a slave and Redgums song “I was only 19”, exhibit the composer’s choices of particular historical knowledge and memory, idolising the idea of selection defining perspective.

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

Song of Solomon, a novel written by Toni Morrison in 1977 spans over the course of 30 years during which the protagonist, Macon Dead, embarks on a quest for cultural identity. In a small excerpt retrieved from the novel’s first chapter, we see how Macon observes his estranged sister Pilate, along with her daughter and granddaughter, through a window. Through the narrator’s vivid descriptions, symbolic setting, and witty comparisons, Morrison conveys a conflicted relationship between the observer and the observed. In this piece, Morrison utilizes vivid diction that works on multiple levels. For example, in the text he uses specific phrases to create a image and representation as if we (the readers) are present.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

An individual’s life, identity, and their relationship with other people can be impacted by the suffering and loss that war and its aftermath bring. Australian composers address these issues in their novel to convey the Australian identity. Australia composer Sue Lawson explores and creates images of the Australian identity through their actions, words and personality. Showing the effects of war not just of immediate generation but those who follow war. In exploring clear features and techniques of the Novel FINDING DARCY we find that the protagonist and antagonist eventually connect and interact with each other.

Read More
831 Words | 4 Pages

Composers have the ability to influence how we the audience views and responds to characters and issues. Through viewing and analysing ‘The Shoe Horn Sonata’ by John Misto and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ directed by Steven Spielberg, it is obvious that composers have the ability to impact and influence our views on characters and issues that occur. Shoe Horn Sonata and Saving Private Ryan were set in the same context of World War 2. John Misto’s Shoe Horn Sonata takes place during the war against Japan, the play focus on the lives of two women Bridie and Sheila who have been captured by the Japanese to become (POW) prisoners of war. John Misto’s play was based on real accounts from POWs, the play was to commemorate the female POWS who story was unheard of and to give an insight to the audience into what the POWs had to endure while under the japanese rule.

Read More
495 Words | 2 Pages

Ben Rector is a unique musician in the fact that the hardest songs for him to write are his most priced accomplishments. His lyrics stylistically reflect human emotion and his internal struggle between fame and humility, and faith and conformity. His music speaks louder than everyday pop music because it conveys a non-superficial and applicable message. In Ben Rector’s lyrics for “Song of the Suburbs” he utilizes personification and symbolism, emphasizing that there is more to life than self-advancement and money.

Read More
1410 Words | 6 Pages

In Sherman Alexie’s short story, “War Dances,” the narrator unravels in thoughts and takes us through events in his life. He picks up by speaking about a cockroach that ends up dying in his Kafka baggage from a trip to Los Angeles. The cockroach still appears many times throughout the story. The narrator spends quality time in the hospital with his father, who is recovering from surgery due to diabetes and alcoholism, all along the way while he, himself, discovers he might have a brain tumor, leading his right ear to talk about his father. Using a style of tragedy and care both incorporate together a symbolic story that would make even a plain reader feel touched, leading to the major occurrence of a theme of the importance of family.

Read More
892 Words | 4 Pages

For this analysis paper, the lyricist I will be discussing is Nathan Sharp, also known as NateWantsToBattle. Nathan is most known for his covers of other artists’ songs, but recently, he has released his first original album entitled, “Sandcastle Kingdoms.” The songs on this album contain a variety of themes. For example, his song, “Live Long Enough to Become the Hero,” has an encouraging theme that tells the listener to keep persevering despite all the trials they may face while his other song, “StopRewind,” has a mixed theme of belittlement and love. Nathan’s use of rhyme, repetition, and emotions, places emphasis on his desire to be remembered by all his listeners.

Read More
1946 Words | 8 Pages

Pathos at times yields to a sort of modern Gothic mélange in which Williams preoccupations have been stylized into fashionable nightmares of castration, incest and homosexuality. One of Williams favourite themes was the ruthless destruction of idealists and artists. This has often caused him to be

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

Peyton Williamson Professor Tanya Boler English 223301 March 23, 2015 Analysis of the Modern Connections Present in “The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S. Elliot was one of the most well-read literary composers and seemed to be his own endless book of literary references. His mind could simply make literary connections in a work without his actual conscious consent. There were times when his own literary works were made up almost entirely of allusions to other works of literature.

Read More
782 Words | 4 Pages

They experimented and tested boundaries. They may have received flack for the changes they made and some booing and backlash along the way but in the end they are seen as some of the biggest contributors of music in history. Igor Stravinsky

Read More
1916 Words | 8 Pages

These compositions were written by very established artist that were on the

Read More
3974 Words | 16 Pages

Marisol Alviso Professor Russell Moses CAPS 4360 19 June 2015 Should the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to allow direct to consumer advertising (DTCA)? I. Introduction Direct-to-consumer Advertising is directed to the general public to spread the word on pharmaceutical drugs and medical goods. This business has grown rapidly since 1997 and is now the biggest source of health communication that reaches the public (Ventola). Although DTCA has been legal in the United States since 1985 it wasn’t until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed its regulations on DTCA in 1997 that the issue became more prominent.

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

Keria Thadison Mr. Patt 4th Block Music Theory 1 March 2017 Composer Sameul Barber Samuel Barber's path to a successful career in composition began in his childhood when he first expressed an interest in music. From then on out, he flourished, going out from studying music to eventually making music of his own. The music that Samuel composed was interesting due to the fact that he didn't try to conform it into the popular styles of composition; instead he focused on expressing his own voice. Although his career ended on a sour note, Sameul Barber has lived an astounding life in music writing.

Read More

More about Benjamin Britten's Influence On Peter Grimes

Related Topics

Open Document