Special orchestral effects in the operas of Benjamin Britten

Includes bibliographical references (pages 152-154)The operas of Benjamin Britten seem to have earned permanent place in the international repertoire. This alone makes them remarkable works of the twentieth century; their uniqueness lies in their having been composed by an Englishman. Indeed, one perspective from which the operas of Benjamin Britten is often viewed emphasizes, along with the unmistakable Englishness of the composer, the so-called Englishness of the music. This is partly due to Britten???s own passionate interest in establishing a national opera, partly to English critics who seized on the fact that, since the time of Purcell, no English opera had been completely successful (artistically or otherwise) until Peter Grimes, and partly due to the isolated atmosphere in which English music in general, and English opera in particular, long developed. Britten???s operatic works evoked comments such as ??????no one has implanted the cut of form in English opera so securely?????? and ???It seemed too good to be true that, after more than 200 years of disillusionment, England was again to lead the world in this most complicated sphere of music achievement.??? No other twentieth-century English composer has displayed, to Britten???s extent, a gift for creating serious musical theater that could earn critical respect (if not approval), hold an audience, prove worthy of revival, and be translated more or less successfully. Many have tried to create such works; Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Delius, Walton, and Holst all made attempts at writing important works for the stage that fell short of the mark. Even Sir Arthur Sullivan thought his major contribution to musical history was his opera Ivanhoe. Contemporary composers like Humphrey Searle and Michael Tippett continue to create operas with a serious intent; Tippett is possibly the most successful. Whether his works will prove to be of as lasting worth as Britten???s remains to be seen. Peter Grimes has already stood the test of time, and, together with some of the later operas in Britten???s canon, constitutes a major contribution to the music of the twentieth century. Few operas can be so described; Wozzeck and Pelleas can, certainly, and possibly some of the works of Janacek and Shostakovitch. But Britten is the only major figure in twentieth-century music (aside from Berg) who is noted chiefly for his operas, and who made his reputation as a composer for the theater. This is not to say that Hindemith, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Copland, and Schoenberg did not write operas, but their operas are not their most important works, though they may be enjoyable in their own right. Britten, though he wrote for almost every medium, is known chiefly as an opera composer??? (See more in text