page_title: Noye's Fludde
section_title: Premiere
hierarchical_section_title: Noye's Fludde / Performance history and reception / Premiere
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of a statue at St Bartholomew's Church in Orford
context_page_description: Noye's Fludde 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.
  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 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.
context_section_description: 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, who had participated in several productions at past Aldeburgh festivals. The production was directed by  Colin Graham, who also designed its set, with costume designs by Ceri Richards.
  Apart from Brannigan as Noye, two other professional singers were engaged: Gladys Parr, in her last role before retirement, sang the part of Mrs Noye, and the spoken Voice of God was provided by the Welsh bass Trevor Anthony. The other major roles were taken by child soloists, who were selected from extensive auditions. Among these was the future actor-singer, Michael Crawford, then 16 years old and described by Graham as "a very recently broken-voiced young tenor", who played the role of Jaffet. Mrs Noye's Gossips were originally to be performed by girls from a Suffolk school, but when the headmistress heard rumours about the "dissolute" parts they were to play, she withdrew her pupils.
  The professional element in the orchestra was provided by the English Opera Group players, led by Emanuel Hurwitz, with   Ralph Downes at the organ. The children players, billed as "An East Suffolk Children's Orchestra", included handbell ringers from the County Modern School, Leiston; a percussion group, whose instruments included the slung mugs, from Woolverstone Hall School; recorder players from Framlingham College; and bugle players from the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. Graham, recalling the premiere some years later, wrote: "The large orchestra (originally 150 players) ... were massed around the font of Orford Church while the opera was played out on a stage erected at the end of the nave." Philip Hope-Wallace, writing for The Manchester Guardian, observed that "Charles Mackerras conducted the widespread forces, actually moving round a pillar to be able to control all sections in turn." Martin Cooper of The Daily Telegraph noted: "The white walls of Orford Church furnished an ideal background to the gay colours of Ceri Richards's costumes and the fantastic head-dresses of the animals. In fact, the future of the work will lie in village churches such as this and with amateur musicians, for whom Britten has written something both wholly new and outstandingly original."
  The general critical reception was warmly enthusiastic. Felix Aprahamian in The Sunday Times called the performance "a curiously moving spiritual and musical experience". Eric Roseberry, writing in Tempo magazine, found the music "simple and memorably tuneful throughout ... the writing for strings, recorders and percussion is a miracle of inspiration". Andrew Porter in Opera magazine  also found the music touched "by high inspiration"; the evening was "an unforgettable experience ... extraordinarily beautiful, vivid and charming, and often deeply moving". The design and production, Porter reported, were "brilliant", while Mackerras commanded his disparate forces masterfully. Several critics remarked favourably on the sound of the handbells. The Times's critic noted the effectiveness of Britten's setting of the mystery play: "It is Britten's triumph that in this musically slender piece he has brought to new life the mentality of another century by wholly modern means. These means included a miscellaneous orchestra such as he alone could conceive and handle".
  After the premiere, there were two further performances by the same forces in Orford Church, on 19 and 21 June. Noye's Fludde became the first of Britten's operas to be shown on television, when it was broadcast by ATV on 22 June 1958.
caption: Detail from a statue of Noah and the dove in Orford Church, where Noye's Fludde was first performed
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