Peter Grimes

Spending time in the USA during World War II, Benjamin Britten longed to be back in England and, in George Crabbe’s narrative poem The Borough, found a text that struck a particular chord with him at that time. In the poem, Crabbe tells the story of a small fictional fishing village in Suffolk, Britten’s home. Back in England, Britten composed Peter Grimes in 1944/45 to a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from themes in Crabbe’s text. Following the opera’s premiere at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, Britten was enthusiastically feted as “the new Purcell”. He had achieved his declared aim of restoring “to the musical setting of the English language a brilliance, freedom and vitality that have been curiously rare since the death of Purcell”. Britten succeeded masterfully in portraying the villagers, the communal mood and the mood of the individual characters. The ambivalent figure of Peter Grimes, torn by inner conflict, was the first of many roles he wrote for his partner, the tenor Peter Pears. The plot and the psychological events are given added depth by several symphonic interludes which evoke the dawn, a storm, the atmosphere of a Sunday morning and a moonlit night over the sea with overwhelming musical vividness. With its succinct musical expression and mesmerising tone colours, Peter Grimes has now become a central part of the repertoire.

The fisherman Peter Grimes is an outsider in his own village. He is suspected of maltreating his apprentices. Because one of them has died under mysterious circumstances, an investigation is held. However, nothing can be proved against Grimes. The only person who sides with the eccentric fisherman is a teacher, Ellen Orford. Although he has been advised not to do so, Grimes takes in another boy. The villagers keep a close and distrustful eye on him and the boy, and once again suspicions are aroused. Ellen wants to help, but Grimes refuses to allow her to interfere. The scrutiny of the village is torment to the fisherman, who dreams of peace. When he realises there is a danger that the villagers will lynch him, there is another fatal accident: the boy falls off the cliffs. Now the hunt for Grimes begins in earnest. The former captain, Balstrode, advises Grimes to sail out to sea and let his own boat go down with him in it.