Noye's Fludde
Noye's Fludde[n 1] is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten, intended primarily for amateur performers, particularly children. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year's Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century Chester "mystery" or "miracle" play which recounts the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark. Britten specified that the opera should be staged in churches or large halls, not in a theatre.
Noye's Fludde
By the mid-1950s Britten had established himself as a major composer, both of operas and of works for mixed professional and amateur forces – his mini-opera The Little Sweep (1949) was written for young audiences, and used child performers. He had previously adapted text from the Chester play cycle in his 1952 Canticle II, which retells the story of Abraham and Isaac. Noye's Fludde was composed as a project for television; to the Chester text Britten added three congregational hymns, the Greek prayer Kyrie eleison as a children's chant, and an Alleluia chorus. A large children's chorus represents the pairs of animals who march into and out of the ark, and proceedings are directed by the spoken Voice of God. Of the solo sung roles, only the parts of Noye (Noah) and his wife were written to be sung by professionals; the remaining roles are for child and adolescent performers. A small professional ensemble underpins the mainly amateur orchestra which contains numerous unconventional instruments to provide particular musical effects; bugle fanfares for the animals, handbell chimes for the rainbow, and various improvisations to replicate musically the sounds of a storm.
At its premiere Noye's Fludde was acclaimed by critics and public alike, both for the inspiration of the music and the brilliance of the design and production. The opera received its American premiere in New York in March 1959, and its first German performance at Ettal in May of that year. Since then it has been staged worldwide; the performance in Beijing in October 2012 organised by the KT Wong Foundation was the first in China of any Britten opera. The occasion of Britten's centenary in 2013 led to numerous productions at music festivals, both in the UK and abroad.
Creation[edit]
Writing[edit]
Britten began detailed planning for the opera in August 1957, while sailing to Canada for a tour with the English Opera Group.[22] He told Colin Graham, at that time the EOG's stage manager, that he wanted him to direct the new work.[23] After a further meeting at Associated Rediffusion's London headquarters on 18 October,[20] Britten began a composition draft in Aldeburgh on 27 October.[22][n 3] To Pollard's edition of the Noah play's text, he added three congregational Anglican hymns: "Lord Jesus, think on me"; "Eternal Father, strong to save"; and "The spacious firmament on high".[n 4] Britten introduced the repetitive Greek chant "Kyrie eleison" ("Lord, have mercy") at the entry of the animals, and "Alleluias" at their triumphant exit.[26] He had completed about two-thirds of the opera when Ford was dismissed from A-R, allegedly for administrative shortcomings and inexperience. A-R decided to withdraw from the project, which was then taken up by Associated Television (ATV), whose chairman Lew Grade personally took responsibility for signing the contract and urged that Britten should complete the opera.[27]
In November 1957 Britten moved to The Red House, Aldeburgh, but continued to work on the opera throughout the upheaval. According to a letter he wrote to Edith Sitwell on 14 December, "the final bars of the opera [were] punctuated by hammer-blows" from workmen busy at the Red House.[28] Before he finished the composition draft,[22] Britten wrote to the baritone Owen Brannigan, who had sung in several previous Britten operas, asking if he would take the title role.[29] Britten completed the full score of the opera in March 1958,[30] which he dedicated "To my nephew and nieces, Sebastian, Sally and Roguey Welford, and my young friend Ronald Duncan [one of Britten's godsons]".[31]
Performance history and reception[edit]
Premiere[edit]
The first performance of Noye's Fludde was staged during the 1958 Aldeburgh Festival, at St Bartholomew's Church, Orford, on 18 June. The conductor was Charles Mackerras,[41] who had participated in several productions at past Aldeburgh festivals.[42] The production was directed by Colin Graham, who also designed its set, with costume designs by Ceri Richards.[43][n 7]
Publication[edit]
Several of the opera's novel features, including the use of a large amateur orchestra, and specifically its use of handbells, posed problems for Britten's publishers, Boosey & Hawkes. Ernst Roth made enquiries about the availability of handbells to the firm Mears & Stainbank (the bell foundry based in Whitechapel, London), and then wrote to Britten urging him to prepare an alternative, simplified version of Noye's Fludde for publication, since the rarity of handbells in the scale of E flat made the original score, in his view, impractical.[103][n 14] Britten resisted such a proposal: "I think if you consider a performance of this work in a big church with about fifty or more children singing, you will agree that the orchestra would sound totally inadequate if it were only piano duet, a few strings and a drum or two." Britten suggested, rather, that Boosey & Hawkes should invest in a set of E flat handbells to hire for performances; or, that the handbells music could be simply cued in the piano duet part.[105]
After the score had been published, and in the face of an imminent performance in Ettal, Britten suggested that he could attempt to rewrite the music for a handbell ensemble in D, since sets in that key were more common than in E flat.[106] Britten never prepared this alternative version for reduced instrumentation.[103] He did agree, however, to make the published full score "less bulky" by presenting the amateur forces of recorders, ripieno strings and percussion in the form of short score, on the understanding that full scores for those groups would be available to hire for rehearsal and performance purposes.[107] The full score was published in 1958,[108] and the vocal score, prepared by Imogen Holst with the libretto translated into German by Prince Ludwig of Hesse and the Rhine, under the pseudonym Ludwig Landgraf,[109] was published in 1959.[110]
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