Cocktail Party Fact: Before the opera’s premiere the stage director asked Britten if he could lengthen one of the interludes by 90 seconds to allow more time to change the scenery. Britten reluctantly agreed, saying “You’re like someone who comes along to an architect when he has just finished building a cathedral and gives him a huge block of stone and says, ‘You simply must find room for this’.”

Here’s the plot: Peter Grimes is a fisherman in Suffolk and is considered a misfit by the other villagers. One of his boy apprentices has died at sea in an accident and when he takes on another apprentice, the villagers step up their hostility toward him. When his new apprentice dies at sea Grimes goes mad, and commits suicide by rowing his boat out to sea never to return.

Memorable Melodies: Not really “melodies” per se, but some wonderfully impressionistic interludes which have made their way into the symphonic repertoire. There are also some memorable scenes: Ellen Orford’s “Embroidery” aria, and a truly hair-raising moment with the entire cast screaming “Peter Grimes!” at the close of the penultimate scene.

Vital Statistics: Music by Benjamin Britten; libretto by Montagu Slater, based on the poem The Borough by George Crabbe; first produced at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, 1945.

Why See It?: Peter Grimes has become one of the most popular of all modern operas. Music and drama, heavy choral involvement, orchestral interludes, and a tale of a social misfit; these are all standard components of opera, but Britten has managed to create something which sounds like nothing which preceded it.