Peter Grimes

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=44892" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="06c085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>The David Kaye Web Site</b></FONT><B>    </b><B> |     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The David Kaye Web Site"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Der Rosenkavalier "><U>Der Rosenkavalier </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tosca"><U>Tosca</U></A>   |   <B>Peter Grimes</b></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="06dd2e83.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Peter Grimes</I></div> <div> by Benjamin Britten </div> <bR> <bR> <div> The opera takes place in a 19th century fictitious English town. </div> <bR> <div> ACT I, Scene 1: The people of the Borough suspect Grimes of having caused his young apprentice's death, and the feelings run high. At the inquest, Grimes tells a story of distress at sea, how he and the boy, when out fishing, were driven from their course by a wind change, how they were three days without water, and how the boy died of exposure. Grimes is acquitted of any wrongdoing and Ellen comforts him as she tells of her confidence in his future. Some time later, many from the Borough are assembled by the seashore when Grimes calls for help to haul up his boat. Only a few come to his aid. Grimes is told of a boy who could be his next apprentice, and while they fetch the boy, Ellen agrees, amidst much criticism, to look after the him. A storm is brewing on the horizon. Balstrode suggests to Grimes that he should consider working on a merchantman, away from the gossip of the Borough. He rejects the idea and tells of how he plans to earn the Borough's respect by making his fortune and marrying Ellen. Scene 2: Inside the pub, all are discussing the storm's damage along the coast. Tempers are high, and quarrels break out. Grimes, wet and disheveled, enters unmoved by the horrid climate. When Ellen and the boy arrive chilled to the bone, Grimes unsympathetically takes the boy off to his hut on the cliff. </div> <bR> <div> ACT II, Scene 1: Weeks later on a Sunday, Ellen is sitting quietly with the boy one morning, when she notices a tear on his sweater and a bruise on his neck. Grimes arrives to collect the boy. Ellen pleads for the boy to have a day of rest, and tells Grimes that the Borough's gossip will never be silenced. She asks that he adjust his ways to the boy's tender years and quit trying to mend his life with lonely toil. In anguish, Grimes strikes Ellen and retreats with the boy. The Borough members' anger against Grimes is heightened, Ellen tries to calm the fury of the people. Nonetheless, the men march off together to Grimes' hut. Scene 2: Grimes, in his hut, is dressing the boy to go to sea. He thinks of the life he had planned with Ellen, and is also revisited by the haunting scepter of his dead former apprentice. When he notices the procession coming up the hill, he reacts violently and blames the boy and Ellen for gossiping. With an admonition to be careful, Grimes hustles the boy towards the cliff, turns as he senses the unwelcome visitors nearing his door, and hears the boy scream as he falls down the cliff to his death. Grimes climbs down after him. The people of the Borough find the hut empty and tidy, and retreat satisfied that they have misjudged Grimes. </div> <bR> <div> ACT III, Scene 1: A few days later, it is noticed that Grimes and his apprentice are missing. Their boat is in, but they have yet to be found. Ellen discovers the boy's jersey washed-up on shore. A search-party is formed. Scene 2: To the distant sounds of the foghorn and the voices of the mob, Grimes enters, weary and demented. He babbles on about his home, and his tragic life. Ellen and Balstrode convince him to take his boat out to sea and sink it. The search-party returns from their unsuccessful chase. The next morning the Borough resumes normal life uninterested in the report of the sighting of a boat sinking at sea.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>