Britten's Gloriana: Essays and Sources

A collection of essays which explore the cultural background and creative evolution of this once-overlooked work. This volume is based on a selection of papers presented during a study course devoted to Gloriana held at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in 1991. Glorianahas been a source of controversy since its première as part of the Coronation celebrations in 1953. It was planned as a national opera of broad appeal by its authors, Benjamin Britten and William Plomer, but, despite wide coverage in the media, the opera failed toestablish itself in the repertoire until a new production in 1966 revealed it to be a powerful and stageworthy work. In recent years it has attracted an increasing amount of scholarly attention. This volume offers essays byROBERT HEWISON, PHILIP REED, ANTONIA MALLOY, DONALD MITCHELL and PETER EVANS which explore the opera's cultural background, the early stages of its creative evolution, the first critical responses, and various aspects of the workitself: these are supplemented by a list of source materials for the opera and the works derived from it, and an extensive bibliography.