Owen Wingrave
Encyclopedia
Owen Wingrave is an opera
for television in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten
, his Opus 85, and a libretto by Myfanwy Piper
, after a short story by Henry James
.
Britten had been aware of the story since his work with Piper on the previous opera, The Turn of the Screw
in 1954. BBC
television commissioned
an opera for television from him in 1966 and, in 1968, he and Piper started working on the libretto. The work was completed by August 1970.
The premiere was recorded at Snape Maltings
in November 1970 and first broadcast on BBC2 on 16 May 1971. The music is influenced by Britten's interest in 12-tone serialist techniques. A large tuned percussion sections heralds the treatment in his next (and last) opera, Death in Venice
. In addition to being an expression of Britten's own pacifism, he was reported as saying that this opera was partly a response to the Vietnam War
.
, Covent Garden
, it has rarely been seen in either medium. The US premiere of the opera was at the Santa Fe Opera
in 1974, with Colin Graham
directing the production.
However, in 1997, it was seen at Glyndebourne
, following performances by Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1995. A new production by The Royal Opera opened in April 2007 in the Linbury Studio Theatre, with a reduced orchestration by David Matthews. It was performed in May 2009 at the Chicago Opera Theater
as well as the Wiener Kammeroper
in Vienna directed by Nicola Raab with English baritone Andrew Ashwin in the title role. A new production will be presented in January 2010 by Opera Frankfurt and directed by Walter Sutcliffe
.
Depiction of the Wingrave family portraits at Paramore, the Wingrave's ancestral home.
Scene 1
At Coyle's military "cramming establishment" in Bayswater, Coyle is instructing Owen Wingrave and Lechmere on war and command in battle. Owen tells Coyle of his disdain for war, which is contrary to the family history of the Wingraves as soldiers. Coyle replies that Owen must change his attitude, and warns him that his family will disapprove. Owen stands by his words. Alone, Coyle wonders how he shall tell this news to Owen's family.
Scene 2
The scene cross-cuts between Hyde Park
and Miss Wingrave's London residence. In Hyde Park, Owen muses to himself that he is strong, not weak, in his disdain for war. At Miss Wingrave's lodgings, she and Coyle discuss Owen. Miss Wingrave asserts that Owen will change his mind once he returns to his family at Paramore.
Scene 3
Back at Coyle's establishment, Lechmere, Coyle and Mrs Coyle talk about what they feel to be Owen's "strange ideas" about soldiering and war. Lechmere says that he will help to "bring him round". Owen overhears this and emphasizes that he will not be brought round. Coyle tells Owen that he is to return to Paramore. Owen recalls his grandfather's love of war, his father's death in battle and his own mother's death with a stillborn brother.
Scene 4
At Paramore, Mrs Julian, her daughter Kate and Miss Wingrave await Owen's arrival, themselves distressed by the news of Owen, and determined to bring him back into the Wingrave traditions. They leave the ancestral hall where the portraits of the Wingrave ancestors hang, so that Owen arrives to no greeting from his family or loved ones, but only from the portraits. One by one, Mrs Julian, Kate and Miss Wingrave enter the hall and denounce Owen. Owen tries to respond, but finds no support. He then goes to meet his grandfather, Sir Philip.
Scene 5
Over the space of a week, Sir Philip, Kate, Miss Wingrave and Mrs Julian continually express their contempt for Owen. Mrs Julian finally tells Owen that he is "not worthy of Paramore".
Scene 6
The Coyles have arrived at Paramore. Mrs Coyle is shocked at the treatment of Owen by his own family. Coyle himself confesses unease, and hints about ghosts in the house, of past Wingrave ancestors. Owen greets the Coyles warmly, with Lechmere also present. When Coyle points out that Owen has brought this trouble upon himself, Owen replies that Coyle taught him to "use my mind" and to understand war "too well". Coyle reveals that he has not visited on a friendly call, but rather to try to persuade Owen to renounce his new thinking. Coyle ironically notes that Owen is "a fighter", in spite of his new pacifism.
Scene 7
The entire Wingrave family, with the Coyles and Lechmere, are at dinner. Sir Philip and Miss Wingrave demand from Owen obedience to the family tradition. Mrs Coyle is most sympathetic to Owen of the characters, and mentions that Owen does have "scruples". The Wingraves, Kate and Mrs Julian ridicule Owen's "scruples". At the end of the scene, Owen angrily states that he would make war a crime.
A ballad singer sings of a past family episode when one of the Wingrave boys did not fight another boy when challenged. The father took his son into a room, struck him and killed him. Later, the father was found dead in that same room, "without a wound".
Scene 1
Owen and Coyle are in the ancestral hall at Paramore, recalling this story and walking by the same room where the two deaths had occurred. Kate still cannot accept Owen's assertions. Sir Philip demands a private meeting with Owen. Coyle notices the similarity between Sir Philip and the old man of the story, and between Owen and the boy. Owen emerges from the meeting with Sir Philip to state that he has been disinherited. Mrs Julian cries at this news, and reveals that she had hoped that Kate and Owen would be married to be able to preserve their social status. Lechmere then steps in to offer himself to Kate. Kate momentarily encourages him, and asks Lechmere if he would even sleep in the "haunted room" for her sake. Lechmere says that he would. Owen makes a motion to light the ladies' candles, but Miss Wingrave deliberately snubs him and turns to Lechmere for this task.
Left alone after Coyle has said good night, Owen soliloquizes in the ancestral hall that he has found his strength in peace rather than war. Kate comes back into the hall, at first unaware of Owen's presence. They sing a duet of their earlier life. Kate's distress at Owen's pacifist thinking resurfaces. When she mentions Lechmere, Owen scolds her for her flirtation with him. Kate replies that Owen is a coward, which causes Owen's anger to flare more strongly. He replies that he is no coward, and she demands proof. After he asks her what proof she wants, she asks that he sleep in the "haunted room". Owen initially refuses, but after one last taunting remark from Kate, Owen agrees, and even says that she can lock him in the room.
Scene 2
The scene begins in the Coyles' bedroom, where Mrs Coyle is reflecting on Lechmere's flirtatious behavior and Kate's headstrongness. Coyle noted that earlier in the evening, Owen seemed "resigned" and "at peace".
Later, Lechmere, unable to sleep, visits Coyle. He tells Coyle that he heard Kate's taunting of Owen to sleep in the "haunted room". Mrs Coyle expresses concern for Owen's safety, but Coyle finds a grim satisfaction in that this act will prove the Wingrave family wrong about Owen. Just as Coyle is about to check on Owen, Kate cries from outside the "haunted room". The Coyles and Lechmere rush to her, joined soon by Mrs Julian and Miss Wingrave. Kate now regrets her challenge to Owen, but it is too late: when Sir Philip appears and opens the door to the room, they see Owen dead, lying on the floor.
The opera closes with the ballad singer intoning the steadfastness of the Wingrave boy against his foe.
Source: Recordings of Owen Wingrave on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
“Cat:” refers to recording company’s catalogue number.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
for television in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, his Opus 85, and a libretto by Myfanwy Piper
Myfanwy Piper
Mary Myfanwy Piper was a British art critic and opera librettist.Myfanwy Evans was born into a Welsh family in London. She attended North London Collegiate School and read English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford. She married the artist John Piper, with whom she lived in rural...
, after a short story by Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
.
Britten had been aware of the story since his work with Piper on the previous opera, The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
in 1954. BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television commissioned
Commission (art)
In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another.In classical music, ensembles often commission pieces from composers, where the ensemble secures the composer's payment from private or public organizations or donors.- Commissions for public art...
an opera for television from him in 1966 and, in 1968, he and Piper started working on the libretto. The work was completed by August 1970.
The premiere was recorded at Snape Maltings
Snape Maltings
Snape Maltings is part of Snape, Suffolk, U.K., best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival....
in November 1970 and first broadcast on BBC2 on 16 May 1971. The music is influenced by Britten's interest in 12-tone serialist techniques. A large tuned percussion sections heralds the treatment in his next (and last) opera, Death in Venice
Death in Venice (opera)
Death in Venice is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, his last. The opera is based on the novella Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. Myfanwy Piper wrote the English libretto. It was first performed at Snape Maltings near Aldeburgh, England on 16 June 1973.The astringent score is marked by some...
. In addition to being an expression of Britten's own pacifism, he was reported as saying that this opera was partly a response to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Performance history
Britten originally intended the work for both television and the stage, although after the stage première on 10 May 1973 at the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, it has rarely been seen in either medium. The US premiere of the opera was at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in 1974, with Colin Graham
Colin Graham
Colin Graham, OBE was a British-born stage director of opera, theater, and television.Graham was educated at Northaw School , Stowe School and RADA...
directing the production.
However, in 1997, it was seen at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, following performances by Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1995. A new production by The Royal Opera opened in April 2007 in the Linbury Studio Theatre, with a reduced orchestration by David Matthews. It was performed in May 2009 at the Chicago Opera Theater
Chicago Opera Theater
The Chicago Opera Theater is an opera company that was founded as the Chicago Opera Studio in 1974 by Alan Stone to give vocal students performance experience, although it has grown into a professional opera company...
as well as the Wiener Kammeroper
Wiener Kammeroper
Wiener Kammeroper is an opera theatre and opera company founded by conductor Hans Gabor. As early as 1948 he initiated the "Vienna Opera Studio" - a company without a theatre of its own...
in Vienna directed by Nicola Raab with English baritone Andrew Ashwin in the title role. A new production will be presented in January 2010 by Opera Frankfurt and directed by Walter Sutcliffe
Walter Sutcliffe
Walter Sutcliffe is a British opera and theatre director.His work has been seen in the UK, US, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, and Estonia, including productions of Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning, Strindberg's The Great Highway and the Austrian premier of Michael Tippett's The...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 16 May 1971 (Conductor: Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Owen Wingrave | Baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Benjamin Luxon Benjamin Luxon Benjamin Matthew Luxon CBE is a retired British baritone.-Biography:He studied with Walter Grünner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established an international reputation as a singer when he won a third prize at the 1961 ARD International Music Competition in Munich... |
| Spencer Coyle | Bass baritone | John Shirley-Quirk John Shirley-Quirk John Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie... |
| Lechmere | Tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Nigel Douglas |
| Miss Wingrave | Dramatic soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Sylvia Fisher Sylvia Fisher Sylvia Fisher was an Australian operatic soprano whose stage career was made in England, who was especially distinguished in German opera, and who created the role of Miss Wingrave in Benjamin Britten's Owen Wingrave in 1971.... |
| Mrs Coyle | Soprano | Heather Harper Heather Harper Heather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training... |
| Mrs Julian | Soprano | Jennifer Vyvyan Jennifer Vyvyan Jennifer Vyvyan was a British classical soprano who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and recitals from 1948 up until her death in 1974. She possessed a beautifully clear, steady voice with considerable flexibility in florid music... |
| Kate Julian | Mezzo soprano | Janet Baker Janet Baker Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten... |
| General Sir Philip Wingrave | Tenor | Peter Pears Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten.... |
| Narrator | Tenor | Peter Pears |
| Chorus | ||
Act 1
PreludeDepiction of the Wingrave family portraits at Paramore, the Wingrave's ancestral home.
Scene 1
At Coyle's military "cramming establishment" in Bayswater, Coyle is instructing Owen Wingrave and Lechmere on war and command in battle. Owen tells Coyle of his disdain for war, which is contrary to the family history of the Wingraves as soldiers. Coyle replies that Owen must change his attitude, and warns him that his family will disapprove. Owen stands by his words. Alone, Coyle wonders how he shall tell this news to Owen's family.
Scene 2
The scene cross-cuts between Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
and Miss Wingrave's London residence. In Hyde Park, Owen muses to himself that he is strong, not weak, in his disdain for war. At Miss Wingrave's lodgings, she and Coyle discuss Owen. Miss Wingrave asserts that Owen will change his mind once he returns to his family at Paramore.
Scene 3
Back at Coyle's establishment, Lechmere, Coyle and Mrs Coyle talk about what they feel to be Owen's "strange ideas" about soldiering and war. Lechmere says that he will help to "bring him round". Owen overhears this and emphasizes that he will not be brought round. Coyle tells Owen that he is to return to Paramore. Owen recalls his grandfather's love of war, his father's death in battle and his own mother's death with a stillborn brother.
Scene 4
At Paramore, Mrs Julian, her daughter Kate and Miss Wingrave await Owen's arrival, themselves distressed by the news of Owen, and determined to bring him back into the Wingrave traditions. They leave the ancestral hall where the portraits of the Wingrave ancestors hang, so that Owen arrives to no greeting from his family or loved ones, but only from the portraits. One by one, Mrs Julian, Kate and Miss Wingrave enter the hall and denounce Owen. Owen tries to respond, but finds no support. He then goes to meet his grandfather, Sir Philip.
Scene 5
Over the space of a week, Sir Philip, Kate, Miss Wingrave and Mrs Julian continually express their contempt for Owen. Mrs Julian finally tells Owen that he is "not worthy of Paramore".
Scene 6
The Coyles have arrived at Paramore. Mrs Coyle is shocked at the treatment of Owen by his own family. Coyle himself confesses unease, and hints about ghosts in the house, of past Wingrave ancestors. Owen greets the Coyles warmly, with Lechmere also present. When Coyle points out that Owen has brought this trouble upon himself, Owen replies that Coyle taught him to "use my mind" and to understand war "too well". Coyle reveals that he has not visited on a friendly call, but rather to try to persuade Owen to renounce his new thinking. Coyle ironically notes that Owen is "a fighter", in spite of his new pacifism.
Scene 7
The entire Wingrave family, with the Coyles and Lechmere, are at dinner. Sir Philip and Miss Wingrave demand from Owen obedience to the family tradition. Mrs Coyle is most sympathetic to Owen of the characters, and mentions that Owen does have "scruples". The Wingraves, Kate and Mrs Julian ridicule Owen's "scruples". At the end of the scene, Owen angrily states that he would make war a crime.
Act 2
PrologueA ballad singer sings of a past family episode when one of the Wingrave boys did not fight another boy when challenged. The father took his son into a room, struck him and killed him. Later, the father was found dead in that same room, "without a wound".
Scene 1
Owen and Coyle are in the ancestral hall at Paramore, recalling this story and walking by the same room where the two deaths had occurred. Kate still cannot accept Owen's assertions. Sir Philip demands a private meeting with Owen. Coyle notices the similarity between Sir Philip and the old man of the story, and between Owen and the boy. Owen emerges from the meeting with Sir Philip to state that he has been disinherited. Mrs Julian cries at this news, and reveals that she had hoped that Kate and Owen would be married to be able to preserve their social status. Lechmere then steps in to offer himself to Kate. Kate momentarily encourages him, and asks Lechmere if he would even sleep in the "haunted room" for her sake. Lechmere says that he would. Owen makes a motion to light the ladies' candles, but Miss Wingrave deliberately snubs him and turns to Lechmere for this task.
Left alone after Coyle has said good night, Owen soliloquizes in the ancestral hall that he has found his strength in peace rather than war. Kate comes back into the hall, at first unaware of Owen's presence. They sing a duet of their earlier life. Kate's distress at Owen's pacifist thinking resurfaces. When she mentions Lechmere, Owen scolds her for her flirtation with him. Kate replies that Owen is a coward, which causes Owen's anger to flare more strongly. He replies that he is no coward, and she demands proof. After he asks her what proof she wants, she asks that he sleep in the "haunted room". Owen initially refuses, but after one last taunting remark from Kate, Owen agrees, and even says that she can lock him in the room.
Scene 2
The scene begins in the Coyles' bedroom, where Mrs Coyle is reflecting on Lechmere's flirtatious behavior and Kate's headstrongness. Coyle noted that earlier in the evening, Owen seemed "resigned" and "at peace".
Later, Lechmere, unable to sleep, visits Coyle. He tells Coyle that he heard Kate's taunting of Owen to sleep in the "haunted room". Mrs Coyle expresses concern for Owen's safety, but Coyle finds a grim satisfaction in that this act will prove the Wingrave family wrong about Owen. Just as Coyle is about to check on Owen, Kate cries from outside the "haunted room". The Coyles and Lechmere rush to her, joined soon by Mrs Julian and Miss Wingrave. Kate now regrets her challenge to Owen, but it is too late: when Sir Philip appears and opens the door to the room, they see Owen dead, lying on the floor.
The opera closes with the ballad singer intoning the steadfastness of the Wingrave boy against his foe.
Recordings
- 1971: The original commercial recording of the opera is the Decca recording with the same cast, chorus and orchestra as in the first performance.
- 2005: DVD recording of a newer TV production on Kultur, with the setting updated to the 1950s at the time of the Suez crisis. The cast credits are as follows: Gerald Finley (Owen Wingrave), Charlotte Hellekant (Kate), Peter Savidge (Coyle), Hilton Marlton (Lechmere), Josephine BarstowJosephine BarstowDame Josephine Clare Barstow DBE is an English soprano.-Education and early career:Josephine Barstow was born in Sheffield and educated at the University of Birmingham. She made her professional debut with the touring company Opera for All in 1964...
(Miss Wingrave), Anne Dawson (Mrs Coyle), Elizabeth Gale (Mrs Julian), Martyn Hill (General Sir Philip Wingrave); Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinDeutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinThe Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...
; Kent NaganoKent Nagano__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...
, conductor; Margaret Williams, director. - 2008: Chandos CHAN 10473(2); Peter Coleman-Wright (Owen Wingrave), Pamela Helen Stephen (Kate), Alan OpieAlan OpieAlan Opie is a Cornish baritone, primarily known as an opera singer.He attended Truro School and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre before joining the Sadler's Wells Opera...
(Coyle), James Gilchrist (Lechmere), Elizabeth Connell (Miss Wingrave), Janice Watson (Mrs Coyle), Sarah Fox (Mrs Julian), Robin Leggate (General Sir Philip Wingrave and Narrator); Tiffin Boys Choir; City of London SinfoniaCity of London SinfoniaThe City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
; Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
, conductor
Source: Recordings of Owen Wingrave on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
“Cat:” refers to recording company’s catalogue number.
External links
- Arnold Whittall. "Owen Wingrave", Grove Music OnlineGrove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
, ed. L. Macy (accessed May 7, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access). - Britten-Pears Foundation