The Turn of the Screw (opera)

The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54, is a 20th-century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper,"wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas" in based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.Kennedy, Michael, "Benjamin Britten", in

It concerns a young, inexperienced governess sent to a country house to care for two children, who she is gradually convinced have been corrupted by the ghosts of a previous manservant and governess. The drama grows increasingly tense, with a tragic outcome.

It has been described by The Guardian as one of the most dramatically appealing of Britten's operas, and by music professor Peter Evans as "Britten's most intricately organized opera". It is in two acts of eight scenes each, with a prologue that ends with the introduction of a twelve-note 'Screw' theme. Each scene is preceded by a variation on that theme. Several other related leitmotifs occur through the opera. Typically of Britten, the music mixes tonality and atonality.

Performance history

The opera was commissioned by the Venice Biennale, written in four months, and given its world premiere on 14 September 1954, at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, with the composer conducting, and as in many other Britten works, his life-partner tenor Peter Pears in a leading role, that of Quint. The original cast recording was made during January of the next year.

The opera was given its British premiere on 6 October 1954 by the Sadler's Wells Opera in London; the North American premiere on 23 August 1957 at Canada's Stratford Festival with the English Opera Group; the US premiere followed on 19 March 1958 at the New York College of Music.J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. The Stratford Festival Story, 1st edition. Greenwood Press. Peter Morley made a TV version for ITV in 1959 which had been lost until its rediscovery in the early 2000s. It was staged at the New York City Opera in 1996 with Lauren Flanigan as the Governess and Christine Abraham as Miss Jessel.

In 2003, English Touring Opera presented the work throughout England"ETO's 2003 production" and three years later Glyndebourne Touring Opera toured the UK with their new production of the work before reviving it in 2007 at their summer festival, Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Opera Queensland staged Neil Armfield's production in 2005 which featured the solo professional operatic debut of Kate Miller-Heidke as Flora."Review: The Turn of the Screw" by John Henningham, Stagediary, July 2005

Los Angeles Opera performed the Glyndebourne Touring Opera production of the work in 2011 under music director James Conlon. OperaUpClose reframed the opera in their 2011 production, the story being told from the point of the view of the Governess as a patient in an asylum. It is left unclear as to whether the story stems completely from her mind or whether she arrived there after her experiences in the Bly house.George Hall, "Turn of the Screw – review. King's Head, London", The Guardian (London), 8 July 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2011 Opera Moderne produced the work in 2012 at Symphony Space in New York under the stage direction of Luke Leonard.

Opera Holland Park received positive reviews of their presentation of the work in six performances in summer 2014."The Turn of the Screw review – Britten chamber opera is made even creepier" by Erica Jeal, The Guardian (London), 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014"Turn of the Screw, Holland Park, review: 'enthralling'" by Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph (London), 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014

For a limited run in 2018, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre presented a co-production with the English National Opera, directed by Timothy Sheader and conducted by Toby Purser.

On 6 June 2021, a version by OperaGlass Works was broadcast by BBC4. The new staging of the opera, at Wilton's Music Hall, London, had been scheduled for a run in March 2020, but this was prevented by the lockdown. Instead, the performance was reworked as a film, shot on location at the Victorian music hall. The whole space of the venue, not just the stage, was used to tell the story.

Roles

+RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 14 September 1954Conductor: Benjamin Britten Prologuetenor Peter Pears GovernesssopranoJennifer Vyvyan MilestrebleDavid HemmingsFlorasoprano Olive Dyer Mrs. Grose, the housekeepersopranoJoan CrossMiss Jessel, the former governesssoprano Arda Mandikian Peter Quint, the former manservanttenorPeter Pears

Synopsis Time: The middle of the nineteenth century Place: Bly, an English country house

Prologue A male Prologue tells of the "curious story" he has in a faded manuscript, written by a young, unnamed Governess to two children, "long ago". She had been hired by their uncle and guardian in London, "young... bold, offhand and gay" and too busy with "affairs, travel, friends, visits" to care for them. When he stipulates that she is never to bother him about the children, never to write, but to be silent, the "Screw" theme is heard in fragments then, as she accepts, in full, followed by its first variation, suggestive of a coach.

Act 1

(Scene 1 – The Journey) In the coach, the Governess is apprehensive about her new position ("O why, why did I come?" – a motif recurring throughout the opera).

(Scene 2 – The Welcome) When she arrives at Bly, the housekeeper Mrs. Grose greets her, and the children bow and curtsy as they have been rehearsed. The Governess sings that she begins to love Bly, now her home, and tells Mrs Grose that the lively children will do better with a young, clever person like her.

(Scene 3 – The Letter) A letter from Miles' school arrives. Mrs Grose muses that now all will be well, but the letter says Miles has been expelled, giving only a vague "injury to his friends" as reason. Mrs Grose considers it normal for a boy sometimes to be "wild", but they agree that Miles can not be "bad". Hearing the children sing "Lavender's blue" together reassures the women, and the Governess decides to ignore the letter.

(Scene 4 – The Tower) Walking in the grounds in the evening (after a variation suggesting birdsong), the Governess sings about their beauty and the charm of the children. Setting aside her fears about footsteps she has heard outside her door and cries in the night, she wishes only that she could impress the uncle. Suddenly, she spots a man on a tower of the house (to the sound of a celesta). He disappears and she wonders who it can be ("Who is it? Who?").

(Scene 5 – The Window) In the house, the children sing "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (to the grotesque, syncopated beat of the previous variation) and the Governess sees the man again, looking in through a window. Frightened, she asks Mrs. Grose about him, and when she describes him, the housekeeper bursts out, "Dear God, is there no end to his dreadful ways?" (a motif recurring from here on) It is Peter Quint, the former valet at Bly. Mrs. Grose says "It was not for me to say ... I had only to see to the house" but ambiguously that Quint "was free with" Miles, and with Miss Jessel, the well-born and beautiful previous governess, and "had his will, morning and night". Mrs Grose feared him and didn't act. Miss Jessel left the house "to die." The Governess is startled to learn that Quint has died too, in a fall on an icy road. She rededicates herself to protecting the children "that they may see and know nothing" (to the "O why did I come?" theme).

(Scene 6 – The Lesson) The next morning, Miles is learning Latin ("Many nouns in -is we find, to the masculine are assigned"), when he unexpectedly sings a sad song, "Malo", based on the meanings of the Latin word, another recurring motif.

(Scene 7 – The Lake) By the side of Bly's lake, Flora, studying geography with the Governess, names seas of the world. Invited to name the lake, she dramatically calls it the Dead Sea. As she sings a strange lullaby ("Today by the dead salt sea") to her doll, the Governess suddenly sees a woman across the lake (to the sound of a gong). Realising it is the ghost of Miss Jessel, she sends Flora home to safety and sings that it is far worse than she dreamed and that the children are "lost".

(Scene 8 – At Night) Miles has slipped outside in his nightclothes, and from the tower Quint sings beguilingly to him ("Miles! Miles!" – a variant of "O why did I come") and of mysteries ("I am all things strange and bold") while Miss Jessel sings to Flora to come to her to see "all those we have wept for together". The Governess and Mrs. Grose interrupt them and the ghosts depart. Miles tells the Governess, "You see, I am bad, aren't I?"

Act 2 (Scene 1 – Colloquy and Soliloquy) The ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel are "nowhere". They argue ("Why did you call me from my schoolroom dreams?") about whether Quint caused Miss Jessel's downfall, but unite (in the only time the "Screw" theme is sung) that they will claim the children, culminating with "The ceremony of innocence is drowned" (to the "O why did I come?" theme). Also nowhere, the Governess laments ("Lost in my labyrinth") that her innocence has not prepared her for the evil that surrounds her.

(Scene 2 – The Bells) On a Sunday morning (after a variation for tubular bells), the family is on its way to church. The children sing a psalm, but its words become increasingly sinister. Mrs. Grose reassures the Governess that the children are happy, but the Governess tells her to listen to their "horrors". Alarmed, Mrs. Grose advises the Governess to write to their uncle. At first she declines, remembering his stipulation. Mrs Grose and Flora go into the church, and Miles asks the Governess when he is going back to school. She prevaricates, but when Miles indicates he knows about her fears and mentions "the others", she realises things are much worse than she thought. She can not rely on Mrs Grose ("It was not for me to say" in the strings) and decides to flee Bly and abandon the children –

(Scene 3 – Miss Jessel) But when she enters the children's schoolroom, Miss Jessel is seated at her desk. The spectre bemoans her fate, and sings that here she will have revenge. The Governess challenges her until she vanishes. She writes to the children's uncle (strings suggest a scratching pen, woodwind, the words she writes, then reads: "Sir, my dear sir, I have not forgotten my vow of silence"), telling him only that she must speak with him.

(Scene 4 – The Bedroom) That night, the Governess tells Miles that she has written to his uncle, and questions him about what happened at school, and at Bly before she came. Quint, unseen, tells Miles he is there, waiting. The candle goes out and Miles says it was he who blew it (to the notes of "I am bad"). Quint wonders what is in the letter and (Scene 5 – Quint) tells Miles to take it, which he does.

(Scene 6 – The Piano) Miles plays the piano for the Governess and Mrs. Grose (scales, fragments of the "Screw" theme and "Malo"). Flora and Mrs Grose play cat's cradle ("Cradles for cats are string and air") and Flora lulls Mrs Grose to sleep with her doll's lullaby, then slips away. When the women realise she is gone, they go out to look for her as Miles plays on triumphantly.

(Scene 7 – Flora) Finding Flora at the lake, the Governess confronts her: "And where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?" Miss Jessel immediately appears, calling across the lake to Flora, but Mrs. Grose sees nothing. The Governess tries to force Flora to admit she can see Miss Jessel, but Flora vehemently denies it, telling the Governess she hates her. Mrs. Grose, convinced by Flora, takes her home. The Governess feels abandoned by Mrs. Grose and that she has "most miserably failed, and there is no more innocence in me."