Benjamin Britten Operas, etc.
under construction

Albert Herring
Loxford, East Suffolk
April and May, 1900

opus 39 - Opera in 3 acts (Eric Crozier after Guy de Maupassant's short story Le rosier de Madame Husson) - 1947

f.p. 20 June 1947 - Peter Pears, Joan Cross, Frederick Sharp, Nancy Evans, Margaret Richie - Glyndebourne

Beggar's Opera
London
1727

opus 43 - Ballad Opera (after John Gay) - 1948

f.p. 24 May 1948 - Benjamin Britten conducting - Arts Theatre, Cambridge

Billy Budd
HMS Indomitable
1797

opus 50 - Opera in 2 (4) acts (E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier after Hermann Melville's novella) - 1951 rev. 1960

f.p. 1 December 1951 - Theodor Uppman, Peter Pears, Frederick Dalberg, Hervey Allen, Geraint Evans, Michael Langdon, Inia Te Wiata, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Benjamin Britten - Covent Garden (2 act version first broadcast 13 November 1961 - BBC; f.p. 9 January 1964 - Covent Garden)

Death in Venice
Munich and Venice
1911

opus 88 - Opera in 2 acts (Myfanwy Piper based on the novella by Thomas Mann) - 1973

f.p. 16 June 1973 - Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, James Bowman, English Opera Group, English Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford - Snape Maltings

Gloriana
England
later years of Elizabeth I's reign

opus 53 - Opera in 3 acts (William Plomer after Lytton Strachey's Elizabeth and Essex) - 1953

f.p. 8 June 1953 - Joan Cross, Peter Pears, Monica Sinclair, Jennifer Vyvyan, Geraint Evans, Frederick Dahlberg, Arnold Matters, Inia Te Wiata - Covent Garden

Let's Make an Opera / The Little Sweep
A country house
1910

opus 45 - Opera in 1 act (Eric Crozier) - 1949

f.p. 14? June 1949 - Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh

A Midsummer Night's Dream
near Athens; the palace of Theseus

opus 64 - Opera in 3 acts (Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears after William Shakespeare) - 1960

f.p. 11 June 1960 - Alfred Deller, Jennifer Vyvyan, Owen Brannigan, April Cantelo, Marjorie Thomas, Thomas Hemsley, George Moran, Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten - Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh

Noye's Fludde

opus 59 - Opera (Chester Miracle Play) - 1957

f.p. 18 June 1958 - Orford Church, Aldeburgh

Owen Wingrave
London; Paramore
late 19^th century

opus 85 - Opera in 2 acts (Myfanwy Piper based on the short story by Henry James) - 1970

f.p. 16 May 1971 - Benjamin Luxon, John Shirley-Quirk, Janet Baker, Peter Pears, Jennifer Vyvyan, Nigel Douglas, Sylvia Fisher, Heather Harper, Boys of the Wandsworth School Choir, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten - BBC2 Television

Paul Bunyan

opus 17 - Opera (W. H. Auden) - 1941 (1974)

f.p. 5 May 1941 - Helen Marshall (Tiny), Columbia Theatre Associates, New York Schola Cantorum, Hugh Ross - New York

Peter Grimes
The Borough (east coast of England)
c. 1830

opus 33 - Opera in prologue and 3 acts (Montagu Slater after George Crabbe's The Borough. Letter XXII: Peter Grimes) - 1945

f.p. 7 June 1945 - Peter Pears, Joan Cross, Edith Coates, Owen Brannigan, Roderick Jones, Edmund Donlevy, Morgan Jones, Valetta Iacopi, Reginald Goodall - Sadler's Wells Opera

The Rape of Lucretia
Rome
c. 500 BC

opus 37 - Opera in 2 acts (Ronald Duncan after André Obey's play Le viol de Lucrèce) - 1946 rev. 1947

f.p. 12 July 1946 - Kathleen Ferrier, Joan Cross, Peter Pears, Otakar Kraus, Owen Brannigan, Ernest Ansermet - Glyndebourne

The Turn of the Screw
Bly
mid 19^th century

opus 54 - Opera in prologue and 2 acts (Myfanwy Piper after Henry James) - 1954

f.p. 14 September 1954 - Peter Pears, Jennifer Vyvyan, Joan Cross, Arda Mandikian, Olive Dyer, David Hemmings - La Fenice