Owen Wingrave, Op. 85, is an opera in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James. It was originally written for televised performance.
Britten had been aware of the story since his work with Piper on his previous opera modelled after a James work, The Turn of the Screw in 1954. BBC television commissioned an opera for television from him in 1966 and, in 1968, he and Piper began work on the libretto. The work was completed by August 1970.
The premiere was recorded at Snape Maltings in November 1970 and first broadcast on BBC2 on 16 May 1971. The music is influenced by Britten's interest in twelve-tone serialist techniques. A large tuned percussion section anticipates the musical treatment of his next (and last) opera, Death in Venice. In addition to its being an expression of Britten's own pacifism, he was reported as saying that this opera was partly a response to the Vietnam War.
The costumes were designed by Charles Knode, who also designed some of the costumes for Death in Venice.
Britten had never owned a television at that time. It has been reported that he hated television and never owned a set at all. This is not strictly true. Perhaps he would have never purchased a set himself, but he was given one by Decca for his 60th birthday in November 1973.
Performance history
Britten originally intended the work for both television and the stage, although after the stage premiere on 10 May 1973 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, it has rarely been seen in either medium. The US premiere of the opera was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1973, with Colin Graham directing the production.
It was seen at Glyndebourne in 1997, following performances by Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1995. A new production by The Royal Opera opened in April 2007 in the Linbury Studio Theatre, with a reduced orchestration by David Matthews. It was performed in May 2009 at the Chicago Opera Theater as well as the Wiener Kammeroper in Vienna directed by Nicola Raab with English baritone Andrew Ashwin in the title role. A new production was presented in January 2010 by Opera Frankfurt and directed by Walter Sutcliffe. Opera Trionfo (Netherlands) presented the opera in 2013 directed by Floris Visser and conducted by Ed Spanjaard and a planned reprise in 2014. Visser also directed the opera at Theater Osnabrück in Germany; this production premiered on 16 January 2016 under the baton of Daniel Inbal.
In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Grange Park Opera produced a video version of the opera as part of its 2020 "Interim Season", directed by Stephen Medcalf, with the setting moved from the Edwardian period to the 1950s.
Roles
Synopsis
Time: Late 19th century
Place:
Act 1
Prelude
Depiction of the Wingrave family portraits at Paramore, the Wingraves' ancestral home.
Scene 1
At Coyle's military "cramming establishment" in Bayswater, Coyle is instructing Owen Wingrave and Lechmere on war and command in battle. Owen tells Coyle of his disdain for war, which is contrary to the family history of the Wingraves as soldiers. Coyle replies that Owen must change his attitude, and warns him that his family will disapprove. Owen stands by his words. Alone, Coyle wonders how he shall tell this news to Owen's family.
Scene 2
The scene cross-cuts between Hyde Park and Miss Wingrave's London residence. In Hyde Park, Owen muses to himself that he is strong, not weak, in his disdain for war. At Miss Wingrave's lodgings, she and Coyle discuss Owen. Miss Wingrave asserts that Owen will change his mind once he returns to his family at Paramore.
Scene 3
Back at Coyle's establishment, Lechmere, Coyle and Mrs Coyle talk about what they feel to be Owen's "strange ideas" about soldiering and war. Lechmere says that he will help to "bring him round". Owen overhears this and emphasises that he will not be brought round. Coyle tells Owen that he is to return to Paramore. Owen recalls his grandfather's love of war, his father's death in battle and his own mother's death with a stillborn brother.
Scene 4
At Paramore, Mrs Julian, her daughter Kate and Miss Wingrave await Owen's arrival, themselves distressed by the news of Owen, and determined to bring him back into the Wingrave traditions. They leave the ancestral hall where the portraits of the Wingrave ancestors hang, so that Owen arrives to no greeting from his family or loved ones, but only from the portraits. One by one, Mrs. Julian, Kate and Miss Wingrave enter the hall and denounce Owen. Owen tries to respond, but finds no support. He then goes to meet his grandfather, Sir Philip.