Overture Opera Guides: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Benjamin Britten

Overture Opera Guides: Midsummer Night's Dream - Benjamin Britten

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was Benjamin Britten’s seventh major opera and had its premiere in 1960. Britten and his partner Peter Pears adapted Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy, using (with the exception of only one line) Shakespeare’s own text, as well as cutting and simplifying the play. This newly commissioned opera guide has an essay which explores the unique process of the opera’s composition, including passages of recently published material from Britten’s own correspondence. Other essays examine the magical sound world that Britten created for this work, as well as documenting Britten’s own response to productions of the opera during his lifetime. A further essay assesses the place of the work in relation to the rest of Britten’s oeuvre.

(NB: This book is not a dual language/ parallel text book.)

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Overture Opera Guides: Midsummer Night's Dream - Benjamin Britten - About the Author:

Benjamin Britten (1913–76) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He showed prodigious talent from an early age and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born. He leapt to international fame with his opera Peter Grimes in 1945. This was followed by eight other major operas, including Billy Budd (1951), A Mid- summer’s Night Dream (1960) and Death in Venice (1973), as well as other orchestral, choral and chamber works, which established his reputation as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century.

Overture Opera Guides: Midsummer Night's Dream - Benjamin Britten - Reviews:

‘Neat little volumes they are, handy for carrying around, clearly printed and well set-out, complete with libretto and translation, discography and a generous selection of illustrations.’ Gramophone

'Brilliantly produced and superb value.' The Sunday Times

'The jolliest of bargains.' The Musical Times

'Marvellous... the best books of their kind.' Hugh Canning

‘The first thing noticeable about these initial items in the revamped Opera Guides series... is how much more solid and attractive these volumes are compared with the old ones. Production values are up, with more appealing design, clearer print and much better paper, making these books altogether more shelf-worthy.’

BBC Music Magazine