Famous people. Benjamin britten

The character of Benjamin's first opera Britten

• In the town (where the action of the opera takes place) the life of each of its inhabitants is connected with the sea. The protagonist of the opera does not at all look like a positive hero, against whom small people unfairly took up arms. Grimes is easy to blame for all those actions that put him outside of a society where not all people are so worthless. Only the retired skipper and pharmacist treat him with sympathy, and the teacher Ellen loves this cruel, unsociable person. She understands that many of Grimes's actions, absurd and sometimes terrible, are due to the fact that he lost faith in goodness, human understanding, in the fact that for him there can be both a smile and warmth of the heart. Peter Grimes is dead. He swims alone into the sea, never to return.
• Britten does not blame or defend his hero, but illuminates his spiritual world, showing how terrible life is, capable of disfiguring a person and leading him through a chain of misfortunes into the night darkness of a raging ocean, into oblivion...

The Meaning of "Peter Grimes" in Britten's Creative Biography

• "Peter Grimes" was first staged in London in 1945 by the Sadler's Wells Theatre. The premiere turned into a national event, reviving the long-lost glory of English music. The premiere of "Peter Grimes" became an important phenomenon and of international significance as a talented work, deeply emotional, democratic in language and sharply modern. It is possible that "Peter Grimes" in a special way captured people who experienced a lot of terrible things during the years of the just ended war. Britten's first opera toured all the major stages in the world.

• In "Peter Grimes" the talent of Britten, a musical playwright, first showed. He achieves the ever-growing interest of listeners through an unusual comparison of solo, ensemble, choral episodes; he interlayers the stage action with symphonic interludes - intermissions that affect the listeners with great force. The six interludes - "Dawn", "Storm", "Sunday Morning", "Call of the Sea", "Moonlight", "Endless Night" - reflect the dramatic milestones of the action, its symphonic overtones.