An opera in two acts
Libretto by RONALD DUNCAN after the play
Le Viol de Lucrece by ANDRE OBEY
Music by BENJAMIN BRITTEN The English Opera Group production from
Sadler's Wells Theatre, London
Britten's second published opera, first produced at Glyndebourne in 1946 with the famous contralto Kathleen Ferrier in the leading role, was as important a landmark in English operatic history as Peter Grimes : for it inaugurated the English Opera Group, and with it the still nourishing tradition of chamber opera, a genre only touched upon before by Vaughan Williams and Holst.
The story concerns the rape by Tarquinius, Prince of Rome, of the wife of his general, Collatinus, which provoked a rebellion and the expulsion of the Roman kings. In Ronald Duncan 's libretto the drama is given a new dimension by the presence of two singers, the Male and Female Chorus, who comment on the action from a Christian point of view. Cast in order of singing
ENGLISH OPERA GROUP CHORUS ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA leader KENNETH SILLITO conducted by BENJAMIN BRITTEN Producer COLIN GRAHAM Repetiteur VIOLA TUNNARD
The action takes place in Rome in 510 BC
Act 1 Scene 1 The army camp Scene 2 Lucretia's house