Great Britten


Interesting to read today's Guardian leader invoking Benjamin Britten (and George Crabbe) in its assesment of the departing Tony Blair ~ 'Christianity underpinned so much about his prime ministership, from his 1997 identification of the act of voting Labour with spiritual redemption - "one cross on the ballot paper, one nation was reborn" - to his attempts to persuade the public of absolute truths. The effect could be brilliant. But it produced a strange sort of defiance, especially after Iraq and in the response to terrorism, a leader who came to believe, like Peter Grimes, that he could see the shoals to which the rest of Britain was blind.'

I wonder which operatic character the Guardian will use in their assesment of George W. Bush? And talking of political failings, now read the story of Peter Grimes' first conductor.
Photo is the 1995 Royal Opera House production of Peter Grimes. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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