Listen to The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten - Listening Library - The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten revitalized English opera with Peter Grimes, a haunting drama from 1945. With a commission to create a new opera for the Venice Biennale in 1954, Britten once again explored the dark corners of the human psyche, real and imagined, with The Turn of the Screw. His story, adapted for the stage by Myfanwy Piper, came from an 1898 novella by Henry James. Britten developed the mysterious ghost story into a lean, incisive chamber opera, with five characters (including a split role for the tenor, who sings the Prologue as well as the role of Quint; Britten’s partner, Peter Pears, was the original tenor) and a bright-hued ensemble of individual woodwinds and strings, plus percussion, harp, piano, and celesta. Britten conducted the first performance himself in Venice’s famed Teatro La Fenice. The opera begins with a sung Prologue (tenor), accompanied only by piano in the halting manner of an old-fashioned recitative.

The Prologue fills in the back story: A governess (soprano) is hired to care for two children by an uncle, the sole relative, who wants no part in their upbringing. He stipulates that the governess is never to bother him, and she agrees to take full responsibility. As Act I begins, the piano outlines a pungent motive constructed as a twelve-tone row, a theme that supports the fifteen “variations” that comprise the rest of the opera. The governess travels to the country house over nervous drum beats in The Journey, but her fears ease in The Welcome, once she meets the elderly housekeeper (soprano) and the two children, Miles (boy soprano) and Flora (soprano). The governess shakes off the first sign of trouble in The Letter, when she learns that Miles has been expelled from his school. More disconcerting is the sight of a spectral man on The Tower, unsettling the pastoral calm. The children lift the mood with a rendition of the nursery rhyme “Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son,” but the governess sees the ghostly man again in The Window.

She asks the housekeeper about the man, and based on her description determines that it must be Peter Quint (tenor), the deceased valet of the absent uncle. The housekeeper explains the dark history of Quint and his inappropriate attention lavished upon the boy Miles. (This theme of predatory, romanticized relationships with young men also arises in the operas Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, and Death in Venice, and Britten’s biographers have shed light on the composer’s own tortured fascination with boys.) Quint, we learn, also carried on with the former governess, who died after leaving the house; Quint himself died from an inexplicable head injury. The Lesson brings back the spirited energy of the children, and the governess’s commitment to protect and care for them.

But Miles’s singing in Latin turns into a hypnotic and suggestive chant: “Malo, malo, malo, I would rather be, malo, malo, malo, in an apple tree, malo, malo, malo, than a naughty boy, malo, malo, malo in adversity.” The rhyme is a punning device for a Latin student to keep straight various meanings of “malo/malus/malum”—either the verb “I wish,” the adjectives “naughty” or “evil,” or the nouns “apple” or “apple tree”—but the subtext of a “naughty boy” has deeper meaning in context of the earlier revelations about Quint, and Miles’s expulsion from school. The strangeness of the children continues at The Lake. After Flora names the seas and oceans, ending on the Dead Sea, the governess sees across the lake the ghost of a woman, the former governess, Miss Jessel (soprano). Act I climaxes At Night, when the children rendezvous in the woods with the ghosts of Quint and Jessel.

The spirits leave after the governess and housekeeper intervene, and the scene ends with Miles repeating, “I am bad.” Act II begins with Colloquy and Soliloquy. An instrumental introduction sets up the ghoulish tone of an argument between Quint and Jessel; elsewhere the governess cowers at the evil she feels in the house. While The Bells beckon the family to church, the governess wonders how to proceed. They return home to an encounter with the ghost of Miss Jessel, which finally prods the governess to defy her original instructions and write to the uncle. In The Bedroom, the governess tells Miles that she has written the letter. Quint, accompanied by scampering pizzicato and hissing snares, comes to cajole Miles into stealing the letter before it can be delivered. The balance shifts momentarily to light again when Miles plays The Piano the next morning. His fleeting figures come off like fun-house reflections of a Mozart sonata, while the governess tells the housekeeper about the letter. She realizes that Flora has gone out, and they find the girl by the lake, joined by Jessel’s ghost.

The housekeeper cannot see the spirit, and Flora pretends that she can’t either, confounding the governess. The conflict comes to a head when the governess confronts Miles about the letter, which has gone missing. At the moment Miles admits he was put up to it by the ghost, Miles drops dead, and the tormenting Quint vanishes. It is a bleak ending to a fraught drama, which in Britten’s rendering becomes far more than a ghost tale, delving into shadowy territory of desire and helplessness. Aaron Grad ©2014 The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw An Opera by Benjamin Britten The ceremony of innocence is drowned. W. B. Yeats. The Second Coming About The Turn of the Screw is a disturbing work, a novelty in the opera world for being something of a horror story with genuine chills. Based on Henry James's novel of the same name, it's an old fashioned ghost story that touches on issues of a very contemporary nature. The Haunted House by William Miller after Birket Foster Musically it is one of Britten's most interesting. The narrative is divided into a prologue and 16 scenes that are fairly episodic in nature.

However they are connected together by variations of the "Screw" theme, built around the twelve note row. The sequence ascends in the first Act and descends in the second. options font-size=14 width=600 space=20 player=true tempo=80 accidentals=standard tabstave notation=true tablature=false notes :q A-D-B-E/4 C#/5 F#/4 D#/5 G#/4 F/5 B@/4 G/5 C/5 | A/5 The notes of the screw theme The prologue begins with just a piano accompaniment and the ensemble is a mere 13 players, yet the soundworld evoked feels far more substantial. Characters Formerly a valet at Bly, deceased. Prologue Tenor A narrator of sorts who opens the evening. Usually sung by the same singer as Peter Quint. Synopsis Prologue - Running Time: 10 mins A male figure tells the audience of "a curious story, written in faded ink": a Governess who cared for two young children at Bly. She was hired by their guardian, an uncle living in London with no interest in caring for them himself.

He instructed her to follow three rules: never write to him about the children, never ask about the history of Bly house and never abandon the children. Richard Greager sings the prologue Act I - Running Time: 45 mins Theme - The Journey The Governess travels to Bly Variation I - The Welcome The Governess is nervous of her new position but is warmly greeted by Mrs Grose, the housekeeper, and the two children Flora and Miles. She feels a strange connection to Miles but is led off by Mrs Grose on a tour of the grounds around Bly. Variation II - The Letter Her fears depart her but she is soon brought back to earth when a letter from Miles's school arrives informing her that Miles has been expelled. No reason is given and she is convinced Miles is too innocent to have been expelled and it must be a mistake, she decides to ignore the letter. Variation III - The Tower Wandering the grounds one evening, the Governess sees a strange man on the tower. She doesn't recognise him and is unsettled by the whole experience.

Sara Hershkowitz sing's 'How beautiful it is', otherwise known as the 'Governess's Aria' Variation IV - The Window The children play indoors, the Governess watching over them spots the same unknown figure at the window. She is concerned and describing him to Mrs Grose learns that he appears to be Peter Quint, the former valet. Mrs Grose explains that Quint had an illicit relationship with the last Governess, Miss Jessel specifically that he "made free" with her. They have both since died: Jessel away from the house, Quint falling on an icy road. Terrified the Governess fears he has return for Miles and swears to protect the children. He liked them pretty, I can tell you, Miss, and he had his will morning and night Mrs Grose Variation V - The Lesson Miles is reciting Latin with help from Flora and the Governess. Praising him, the Governess asks if you knows any other rhymes. Miles then produces quite one of the creepiest arias in all of opera 'Malo' David Hemmings sings Malo Variation VI - The Lake By the side of lake at Bly, the Governess sits reading whilst Flora sings to her doll.

Across the lake the Governess catches sight of a woman all in black, who disappears as mysteriously as she appeared. The Governess believes Miss Jessel has returned as well and as Flora did not see her she becomes convinced that the children are lost. Variation VII - At Night Quint calls out to Miles, tempting him from his bed with exotic and desirable visions, Miles is utterly taken. Miss Jessel appears, attracting Flora, she laments her fate begging Flora to comfort her. Together they try, successfully, to convince the children to find them. Mrs Grose and the Governess entered terrified by the children's apparent vanishing. The Governess scolds Miles. You see, I am bad, aren't I? Miles Act II - Running Time: 50 mins Variation VIII - Colloquy and Soliloquy Quint and Jessel flesh out their motives and backstory. They argue over their past and declare their determination to capture Miles and Flora. Separately the Governess despairs at the evil she feels, unable to decide how to act. Variation IX - The Bells The family head to church, the children singing a gently mocking variation of the 'Benedicite'.

Mrs Grose remains unaware of the subtext thinks it sweet until the Governess informs her of the children's bizarre behaviour. Mrs Grose suggests the Governess simply write to the guardian, which she unhappily declines. Miles creepily informs the Governess of his own awareness of the Ghosts leading her to contemplate fleeing... Flora (Lauren Worsham) and Miles (Benjamin P. Wenzelberg) on their way to Church, Richard Termine/NYCO Variation X - Miss Jessel Returning to the house, the Governess finds Miss Jessel in the schoolroom bemoaning her fate. Confronting her - Jessel vanishes. Believing the ghosts might not yet have the upperhand, the Governess writes to the guardian. Variation XI - The Bedroom Later that night the Governess goes to Miles's bedroom, coaxing him to tell her about what happened at his school. She tells him of the letter to his guardian but he barely responds as the voice of Quint intervenes, she leaves despondent. Variation XII - Quint Seduced by Quint, Miles steals the letter from the schoolroom. Variation XIII - The Piano Miles is showing off at the piano.

Flora sings, lulling Mrs Grose to slip before slipping out. Noticing Flora's absence the Governess panicked awakens Mrs Grose. They hurry off to find her while Miles continues at the Piano. Variation XIV - Flora They find Flora by the lake, Mrs Grose tries to comfort her but the Governess seeing Miss Jessel aggressively tries to make Flora admit that she too can see Jessel. Flora madly accuses the Governess of cruelty and leaves with Mrs Grose. The Governess realizes she has lost Flora. Flora (Nazan Fikret) shouts at The Governess (Rebecca Evans), Clive Barda/ENO Variation XV - Miles The next morning Mrs Grose informs the Governess that having spent the night with Flora she is convinced that Flora is possessed by evil. They agree that Mrs Grose will take Flora to London leaving Miles with the Governess. She presses him to confess, whilst Quint savagely demands Miles not betray him. Miles admits to stealing the letter but will not name Quint. Finally he cries out, 'Peter Quint -- you devil' and dies. Quint disappears. The Governess weeps, holding the dead Miles.

What have we done between us? The Governess Governess Where & When Screw takes place entirely at Bly: a large, imposing country mansion and estate in Essex, England. It's a period piece set around the 1840s. The atmospheric setting strongly imitates the narrative, so much so that Britten almost called his opera: "The Tower and the Lake" (along with the male/female sexuality that such a title evokes). The period is important because some of the plot elements might seem odd to modern audiences. To begin with the strange, absent guardian was not altogether unusual even amongst more loving families. The industrial revolution was driving much of the wealth away from rural areas towards major cities. The breadwinner (always the man) might well work in London leaving his country estate in the hands of others, and whilst transportation was fast improving regular commuting was not yet feasible. A Victorian governess teaching Governesses were also a curious species in the Victorian era. Both servant and lady, in a strongly hierarchical society they were an anomaly. The Governess was considered a moral conservator of sorts, bound to bring up children as good and proper. Our Governess seems to see herself in this image.

Conversely Quint as the Valet dresses much like his master but is entirely a servant. Yet Quint has his own power, using his gender to seduce Miss Jessel, the last Governess, corrupting her in the eyes of society. James was far from the only one to use this social limbo that Governesses occupied in Victorian life for fertile drama (often with transgressive romantic themes). Think Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Brontë's Jane Eyre and Austen's Emma amongst many others. History Listen to wireless … a wonderful, impressive but terribly eerie & scarey play 'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James. Britten in his Diary, 1st June 1932 Screw was Britten's final chamber opera. It was commissioned in 1952 for the Venice Biennale. Myfanwy Piper had years earlier suggested James's The Turn of the Screw as a potential subject for a television opera and encouraged by Peter Pears, Britten asked her to put together an outline for how it might be adapted into an opera. He was at this time working on Gloriana which had been commissioned for the upcoming coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

As a result it wasn't until autumn of 1953 that serious work could begin. However Britten was suffering badly from acute bursitis in his right shoulder and could barely work. Piper began sending draft copies of the libretto in early 1954 and by this time Britten was reduced to writing letters to her with his left hand. He had minor surgery in March and with the opera's premiere set for September he was faced with an extremely tight schedule. He wrote the score in a little over 4 months from the end of March to August 1954. The premiere was so close that Imogen Holst, Britten's amanuensis, would make a vocal score of each scene as it was completed so that the singers could begin preparing whilst the opera was still being written. David Hemmings as Miles Britten wanted children to play the children but found it impossible to cast a suitable girl for the role of Flora so the part was given to an adult, Olive Dyer. Miles on the other hand went to a 12 year old David Hemmings (who went on to be an extremely successful actor).

He would form a strong relationship with Britten - whose relationships with young boys has been the subject of much discussion - at least until his voice broke in 1956 during a performance of Screw in Paris. The opera was rehearsed in England with the entire team travelling to Venice for the premiere. The day of the premiere was a stressful one. The Italian stage crew threatened to go on strike and then, with the audience seated and ready to go, the performance had to be delayed because it was being transmitted live on the radio and an earlier broadcast had run over. The reception, from a huge mix of international press, was fairly positive and fascinatingly a French newspaper referred to 'the composer's customary intense preoccupation with homosexual love', which is very possibly the first unambiguous reference to Britten and homosexuality in the press. The same team would present the opera at Sadler's Wells and it was swiftly recorded (in part because of fears Hemmings's voice would break) by Decca becoming the first complete record of a Britten opera. The opera would receive performances around the world over the next few years and has been a fairly solid part of the repertory ever since.

Fun Facts "Whom do you mean by 'he'?" "Peter Quint — you devil!" Rarely have dashes been quite so picked over. To whom does Miles actually refer, Peter Quint or the Governess? If you lean towards believing Miles being genuinely possessed then it is probably Quint, however if you're more toward the Governess being insane then he could well be suggesting that it is the Governess that has led him to his demise. Who is the true villain? In the original novel there is of course no easy answer, we have nothing to go on but the text. Britten and Piper decided to leave it just as ambiguous. The practicalities of the stage however mean any production has to make something of a decision, we've seen it go both ways! Copyright Getting permission to use Henry James's novella proved difficult, a matter not helped by the fact Britten had written most of the opera before even asking, something that may have perturbed the James Estate. Curiously part of the problem stemmed from the very thing that had drawn Britten to the work, the sexual ambiguity, James's family still deeply concerned with the rumours around his sexuality.

After some years of back and forth, and the granting of limited rights solely for the Venice performances, Britten's solicitor cunningly worked out that if the opera was based not on the novella but on the serialization that had been earlier published (and it was impossible to prove it wasn't!), James's Estate had no control over the work. James in Opera Henry James's work has found a considerable afterlife in operatic treatments. Britten adapted not just Screw but later also Owen Wingrave (1971). James's Washington Square has been adapted three times by Jean-Michel Damase (1974), Thomas Pasatieri (1976) and Donald Hollier (1988) and his "The Aspern Papers" twice by Philip Hagemann and Dominick Argento (both 1988). Pretty good going for an author who once turned down the opportunity to meet Richard Wagner, in April 1880 when both were in Posilipo, Italy, on the grounds that he didn't speak German (he had perhaps more substantial reasons he didn't elucidate).

Composer 1988 Dirty Latin One can read too much into anything, and perhaps Valentine Cunningham does in her Guardian essay but it's hard to avoid that the Latin that Piper and Britten inserted into the text (none of it originating in James' novella) has secondary meanings. Sexual slang, mostly for male body parts, can be found throughout the childrens' Latin lesson and the strange benedicite sung by Miles is riddled with innuendo, blasphemous by any standards and indicative of the wider ambiguous sexuality of Miles's relationships with the adults in his life. Broadcast In 1959 the opera was shown as the first full length opera to be broadcast on British independent television. The two acts were shown on different nights, Act I on the 25th of October and Act II on the 28th. If a copy of this still exists we haven't been able to find it. This would not be the last television adaptation, the BBC produced a very fine version in 1982 that is rather more accessible, as you can find the whole thing in fairly low quality of youtube.

The BBC's 1982 Version Adaptations The Turn of the Screw has been adapted and referenced across so many works of art since its publication we couldn't nearly mention them all here. One of the earliest adaptations was "The Innocents" a 1950 Broadway play that later became a movie. More recently "The Others" starring Nicole Kidman took yet another stab at reinventing similar themes, with a rather cunning twist added. The rather less substantial "Insidious 2" features a child reading a copy of the novel and somewhat satirically a ghost later unscrews a chandelier. There have been endless television adaptations and perhaps most bizarrely a Star Trek episode entitled "Sub Rosa" featuring a Ned Quint and a Jessel Howard Popularity Britten's The Turn of the Screw had a successful premiere and was fairly quickly performed around the world. It's popularity ever since is easy to underestimate: it may come as some surprise that from from 2009 to 2014 Screw was the second most performed opera in English (only Dido and Aeneas was performed more).

In Brief The Turn of the screw - Opernhaus Zürich (2015) (Production - Zürich, switzerland) | Opera Online - The opera lovers web site Opera house : Opernhaus Zürich Description The dramatic spiral of this opera, based on a novella by Henry James, indeed twists its way into increasingly sinister strata of our consciousness. The story begins quite harmlessly: a young governess takes on the upbringing of two orphans in an English country house. Everything seems to be developing well until one night she glimpses a man. She learns from the housekeeper that it must have been an apparition – Peter Quint, a former servant of the master of the house, who in his lifetime exercised great influence over the boy, Miles. However, Miss Jessel, governess at the time, had also fallen under Quint’s spell, and he had ultimately driven her to her death. The governess believes she knows what will happen now: Quint will come to take the children into his possession… Are the events real, or could they merely be the obsessive fantasies of the young governess? Indeed, from which perspective is the story told?

Britten’s fifth chamber opera, composed in Venice during the Biennale in 1954, raises many questions. For this reason, we can look forward to director Willy Decker’s point of view; in the course of his career he has frequently explored the works of Benjamin Britten. The young conductor Constantin Trinks is responsible for the musical direction, and the Canadian soprano Layla Claire will be débuting at Zurich Opera in the role of the nameless governess. Britten: The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54 / Borowicz - Dux Records: DUX1247-48 | Buy from ArkivMusic Britten: The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54 / Borowicz Release Date: 02/12/2016 SEE, HEAR & LEARN MORE! Notes & Editorial Reviews Works on This Recording Customer Reviews Notes and Editorial Reviews English 20th century chamber opera The Turn of the Screw is one of Benjamin Brittenï¿½s most popular works. Premiered in 1954, the opera is based on a novella of the same name by Henry James.

This recording of the opera is taken from the Polish premier at the 19th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. The album is endorsed by the Ludwig van Beethoven Association. Lukasz Borowicz, under whose baton this recording was performed, said of the opera, ï¿½In terms of dramatic precision, it is a masterpiece. The composer oozes the discreet charm of evil, which in this work is both attractive and terrifying.ï¿½ English 20th century chamber opera The Turn of the Screw is one of Benjamin Brittenï¿½s most popular works. Premiered in 1954, the opera is based on a novella of the same name by Henry James. This recording of the opera is taken from the Polish premier at the 19th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. The album is endorsed by the Ludwig van Beethoven Association. Lukasz Borowicz, under whose baton this recording was performed, said of the opera, ï¿½In terms of dramatic precision, it is a masterpiece.

The composer oozes the discreet charm of evil, which in this work is both attractive and terrifying.ï¿½ 2016 | Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw | University of St Andrews University of St Andrews Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw Thursday 26 May 2016 The University of St Andrews’ opera company, Byre Opera, will bring Benjamin Britten’s ghostly masterpiece The Turn of the Screw to stages across Scotland and the North of England as part of a summer tour beginning next month (22 June). Britten’s 1954 chamber opera The Turn of the Screw is based on Henry James’ 1898 chilling tale of the same name, whose storyline blurs the line between the natural and supernatural. The production will make use of special effects to reveal malevolent ghosts and the set design will include taxidermy and old and unused toys to set the tone of the gothic production. The cast includes current students and recent graduates from the University of St Andrews, many of whom are recipients of music scholarships at the University’s Music Centre.

The opera is the culmination of a year of musical study by the cast, who have enjoyed coaching from some of the UK’s leading opera singers, including tenor John Graham Hall and soprano Marie McLaughlin who have performed with the likes of the Royal Opera and Opéra National de Paris. Dr Michael Downes, Director of Music at the University of St Andrews, said: “We are concluding our sequence of Benjamin Britten’s three chamber operas with The Turn of the Screw. Spine-tingling ghost stories have an enduring appeal and Byre Opera’s performance will be a truly chilling tale for a summer’s evening. “The cast of current students and recent graduates give a gripping performance and are testament to the talent and dedication of University students who participate in a wide range of opportunities at the University Music Centre all year round. I’m very pleased to be bringing Byre Opera to new audiences during our summer tour.” For many of the cast, Byre Opera is a springboard to further musical pursuits. Caroline Taylor, who plays the lead role of the governess, graduated last year in Modern Languages and has earned a place to study singing at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Current student Chris Huggon plays the role of the ghost Peter Quint.

Alongside his studies of Modern Languages, he is a member of the young artists’ scheme Genesis Sixteen. Art History undergraduate Angharad Rowlands is a member of the prestigious Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir, and Classics and English undergraduate Catherine Hooper is in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. Tania Holland Williams, a singer, opera director and arts producer who has previously worked with the Royal Opera House, Royal Academy and British Council, will direct The Turn of the Screw, returning to St Andrews after directing Byre Opera’s successful 2014 production of Britten’s Albert Herring. Tania Williams, commented: “There are so many ways of interpreting The Turn of the Screw and it is a fabulous ghost story. I am absolutely delighted to be exploring the subtleties of the work with students from the University of St Andrews, who apply such a rigour of intellect and interrogation to their performance work.” Byre Opera will perform at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews from 22 to 24 June.

The company will then visit Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling on 28 June, Haddo House in Aberdeenshire on 2 July, and The Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed on 8 July. About Byre Opera Byre Opera provides outstanding performing opportunities for the University’s most talented vocal students. Founded in 2008 as St Andrews Opera, it became Byre Opera in 2015 following the University’s acquisition of the Byre Theatre. The company provides students with experience of singing on stage and it has brought opera of an outstanding quality to audiences in St Andrews and further afield. The company’s singers are drawn mainly from the undergraduate and postgraduate student bodies, but casts have also included young professionals from throughout the UK, University staff, and singers from the local community. The company's singers have benefited from regular coaching from numerous distinguished international opera singers including the University's Honorary Professor of Singing, Brian Bannatyne-Scott. Previous alumni who have participated in Byre Opera productions have included Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Ben McAteer and Laurie Slavin, a current Master’s student in vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Praise for Byre Opera “As Iphigenie, Caroline Taylor was beautifully pure… Michael Downes conducted a performance that highlighted the suppleness and subtlety of the music.” The Scotsman “Chris Huggon’s Pylades sang with expressive sincerity” Opera Magazine Tour dates & ticket information Wednesday 22 to Friday 24 June, 7.30pm Tickets: full price £17, concession £13, student and U26 £7.50 Offer: ticket holders can enjoy a two course meal with a glass of wine for £12.95 in the Byre Theatre Café Bar Box office online or call 01334 475000 Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling Tickets: full price £17, concession £15.50, student £5.50 Box office online or call 01786 466666 Haddo House, Aberdeenshire Tickets: full price £17, concession £13, U26 £7.50 Book via National Trust for Scotland online or call 01651 851440 The Maltings Theatre, Berwick-up

on-Tweed Tickets: full price £15, concession £13.50/£10 Box office online or call 01289 330999 Notes to editors Voices of the Unseen: Benjamin Britten’s Reading of The Turn of the Screw Voices of the Unseen: Benjamin Britten’s Reading of The Turn of the Screw Hubert TEYSSANDIER PDF 129k Signaler ce document 1The first performance of Benjamin Britten’s opera, based on Henry James’s 1898 novella, took place in Venice, at the Teatro La Fenice in 1954.

Turning the text into an opera had required major changes, owing to the transposition of a complex Jamesian narrative form into a dramatic one. However, the librettist, Myfanwy Piper, and Benjamin Britten, working in close association, had attempted to retain, to some extent, the undecipherable enigma around which the novella functions. James’s narrative system could hardly be maintained: a first nameless narrator begins the storytelling, relating a strange Christmas party in an old house, then introduces a second narrator called Douglas, who reads out from an old manuscript the story of a (nameless) governess and two children (christened Miles and Flora, but without a surname) told by the nameless governess herself, who is thus introduced as third and main narrator, and whose voice is heard until the novella ends. 2Though no longer a narrator, the governess still has in the opera a crucial narrative function, since she is made to explain to the housekeeper and to the opera audience her own reading of the signs that appear to her in the world of Bly, the name of the estate and country house of her nameless employer, who is the tutor of the two children.

Mrs Grose also retains in the opera the narrative function she has in the tale, as an eye-witness of the past of Bly. However, a new narrator is introduced into the opera, according to a traditional dramatic device, under the impersonal designation of “Prologue”, who is made to convey, in recitative form, with piano accompaniment, the circumstances that led to the governess’s presence at Bly (in the novel, the information is given by Douglas, as his own “prologue” to the handwritten story he is about to read out). 3The transposition from tale to opera was further complicated by Britten’s decision to write singing roles for the intruders, visitors or visitants (James never calls them ‘ghosts’). So that Myfanwy Piper had to write a large number of speeches for which there is no basis in the original text. In the James novella, the visitants only stare; in the opera they address the children who reply to them. All those ‘ghostly’ voices (if that is what they are) have been set to music and the ‘ghosts’ are as audible as they are visible, at least for the opera audience.

4As to Britten’s music, it combines several kinds of musical organization. As has already been shown, for example by Eric Walter White in Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas (208), the whole opera is based on a twelve-note row, i.e. all the pitches that can be played on a piano keyboard on both white and black keys, first heard on the piano just as the Prologue ends, arranged in ascending fourths (A followed by D above) and descending thirds (D followed by B below and so on). The twelve-note row is called the “theme” and is followed by fifteen orchestral variations intervening between the scenes (i.e. accompanied vocal music), thus establishing almost unbroken continuity throughout the opera (except for the interval between Act I and Act II). The theme and its variations, a traditional musical structure, may be viewed, in literary terms, as functioning somewhat like the “interludes” in The Waves by Virginia Woolf, the variations introducing the scenes, and the scenes sometimes echoing them.

The twelve­note row, which is recurrently heard throughout the opera, is not however treated serially, but combines with the tonal system, Britten’s score continually shifting from one tonal key to another, also associating definite keys with some of characters, and bringing characters into tonal conflicts. Also, as Christopher Palmer has pointed out (“The Colour in the Music”, in The Turn of the Screw, ed. Patricia Howard, 104), Britten resorts to the tuneful and weird effects that can be produced by pentatonic scales, i.e. five-note scales, without semitones. For example the pentatonic scale in E flat, which goes—E flat, G flat, A flat, D flat—(all black keys on a piano keyboard) is recurrently associated with Peter Quint. Pentatonics are currently used in South Asian music, and Britten, who had made the journey to Bali, was familiar with Balinese modes. Heard in the context of western music by western ears, pentatonics are bound to sound eerie in a mysteriously tuneful way.

5As to the voices, Miles and Flora should be sung by trebles, and although it is usually found convenient to have Flora’s role sung by a soprano, in the case of Miles it simply must be a treble, as for the Knabenstimmen in The Magic Flute (although the boy’s voice in Britten’s opera may relate to a somewhat different transcendence). All the feminine roles are written for sopranos: the governess, Mrs Grose, and Miss Jessel. The two masculine roles, Prologue and Quint are for tenors. So the vocal score, as opposed to traditional opera, uses mostly the upper registers of the human voice. 6As to the instruments in the orchestra, they range from the shrill and high-pitched piccolo flute (i.e. one octave higher than the ordinary flute) down to the lowest possible sounds that can be wrenched from the double bass. The intermediate range is filled by the string quartet (first violin, second violin, viola, and cello) and a rich combination of wind instruments, high and low, handled at times in a somewhat Mozartian way.

One must add a piano, a harp, a celesta, a glockenspiel, and a whole range of percussion instruments. However the orchestra remains within the limits of a chamber orchestra, none of the instruments being doubled. There are of course definite associations between characters and instruments, and different musical styles for the children, the visitants, or the governess engaged in her tragic agon, with Mrs Grose cast in the role of an inadequate tragic confidante. The purpose of this paper is to show how these different styles alternate, blend, or slide into one another in Britten’s score. 7As any reader of Henry James remembers, Miles and Flora are good or bad or both, angelic or fiendish or both, but as angels, even fallen ones, they are musical. Henry James draws attention to the musical sense of the children: “The musical sense in each of the children was of the quickest, but the elder in especial had a marvellous knack of catching and repeating. The schoolroom piano broke into all gruesome fancies […]” (The Turn of the Screw 38).

Further on in the novella, in chapter 18, when Miles plays the piano (“He sat down at the old piano and Miles played as he had never played […]” 64), he casts a spell on the governess so that she forgets to watch Flora, who can thus disappear unnoticed. James’s text here contains a musical hint which a composer (and a pianist) could hardly resist, and Britten’s response is to introduce into the score a virtuoso piano piece, concerto-like, which runs through three sections of the opera (variation 13, scene 6, variation 14, to end up in the opening bars of scene 6). 8The score also contains a variety of songs: English folksongs, songs from schoolbooks (mnemonics for Latin grammar or geographic names), original songs, composed by Myfanwy Piper and Benjamin Britten, and a parodic canticle sung by the children outside the church. Among the popular English songs, I shall only focus on “Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son”, sung by Miles and Flora: Tom, Tom, the piper’s son, Stole a pig and away he run.

Pig was eat and Tom was beat, Tom ran howling down the street. 9The song has a strongly rhythmic four beat meter, the beats being strongly marked by the piano, with left hand octaves, by the percussions (timpani and a side-drum), and by the double bass (score 59-70, fig. 34). The song is tonal and first sung in A major (the key that Britten usually associates with the order of the world), the children’s voices being accompanied, note for note, by the oboe, the clarinet, the bassoon and the horn, while the flute adds higher­pitched ornaments. This tonal song, however, works within a polytonal system, the key signature for this section being E major. The whole passage is besides perceived as dissonant, false relations being introduced by the percussions and piano accompaniment, and through modified alterations in the string quartet, undermining the tuneful ‘normality’ of this boisterous piece of singing.

10Among the original songs integrated in the score, “The Malo Tune”, as it is called, first sung by Miles (score 111-112, fig. 51-52), provides the second theme of the opera and is heard again in the last bars of the finale, as it is sung by the governess. Myfanwy’s words deserve as much attention as Britten’s music, as is often the case here: Malo: I would rather be Malo: in an apple-tree Malo: than a naughty boy Malo: in adversity. 11The words obviously play on the different meanings of the Latin root mal-: malus (adj.) / evil; malus (noun) / apple-tree; malo (verb) / I prefer. The first two lines give the nearly exact translation of the noun and the verb, while the anaphoric repetition conveys fateful inevitability. Miles would prefer to be in an apple-tree than being placed, as he is, in adverse circumstances. The song states Miles’s own sense of doom, which is part of the overall tragic pattern of the opera.

12The malo song starts in B flat minor, modulating briefly into A major, then rises to C minor modulating into C flat (Quint’s motif), then descends gradually down to A major, oscillating throughout between major and minor. The predominance of diminished thirds (ascending at the beginning, descending in the last bars) are part of the mournful, melancholy music of the malo tune, underlined in the orchestral accompaniment by the lament of the English horn and the sustained sounds of the viola. 13In act II, scene 2 (“The Bells”, score 190-193, fig. 27-29), a parodic canticle is sung by Miles and Flora, to an accompaniment of bells, played on the glockenspiel, and first heard in variation IX. Britten and Piper’s source is recognizably San Francesco d’Assisi’s Laudes Creaturarum (The Oxford Book of Italian Verse, 1), whose praise of the Lord and all his creatures is here rewritten in a nearly blasphemous register: O sing unto them a new song: Let the congregation praise him.

O ye works and days, bless ye the Lord. O ye rivers and seas and lakes: bless ye the Lord […] O ye paths and woods: praise him. O ye frost and fallen leaves: praise him. O ye dragons and snakes, worms and feathered fowl: rejoice in the Lord. 14While the bells are tolling and the children singing, the strings down to the double bass and the wind instruments come together in long ample chords that at times sound like organ music. The children sing in the same key as the motif played on the glockenspiel (F sharp major, the sharpest tonality but one), and their voices by themselves might sound joyful enough. There is however something untuneful in the overall effect. On the one hand there is the quite audible insistent trill played on the piano: the trill is on an F sharp, and the second note of the trill (G natural) collides against the F sharp of the children’s voices and the bells. Besides, the great chords are not in consonance with the bells and the voices, and intrusive alterations appear among the strings.

The conjunction of verbal irreverence, odd behaviours, and dissonant sounds make up a web of conflictual relations that are to lead to the final catastrophe. 15As to the ghostly visitants, a distinct verbal and musical material is used, working in a different register. Reference must be made at this stage to the first scene of act II, entitled “Colloquy and Soliloquy” (score 172-187, fig. 8-23), in which Miss Jessel and Peter Quint meet—according to the stage directions—“nowhere”. The scene stages a quarrel between estranged lovers, and has of course no basis in James’s text. It is also unique in the opera, for Peter Quint and Miss Jessel usually appear separately, or, if they happen to be on the stage at the same time, they ignore each other. The verbal exchange and the story it relates, as the two visitants look back on their past, have their own intrinsic interest. Miss Jessel is here accusing Peter Quint of having seduced her, to which Quint replies that it was the other way round.

The visitants also talk about their own deaths, Miss Jessel accusing her former lover of having betrayed her when she died. She is here in the role of the discarded mistress, while Peter Quint proclaims that he now “seek[s] a friend” (Miles). She mentions that she too “must have a friend”, and the opera audience has heard her calling on Flora to come to her. Here however Miss Jessel attempts to win back the “ghost” of Peter Quint who declines to renew his pre­mortal relationship with her. 16Another kind of relationship here appears to unite the two visitants, as the words of the libretto introduce a quotation from a poem by W. B. Yeats, which seems to have essential relevance concerning the historical and metaphysical vision conveyed by the opera. Both Miss Jessel and Quint, while disagreeing on other subjects, sing Yeats one after the other, then together, as if they shared the same transcendent knowledge of the world. The question of knowledge is of course central to the novella as to most of James’s fiction. What does Maisie know? What does Nanda know? What does Strether know?

In the case of The Turn of the Screw, questions arise as to what Douglas knows, and more deeply as to what the reader can possibly know from the governess and what she thinks she knows. The opera also raises another question, which James never explicitly phrases: what do the dead know? What is here conveyed by the emphatic use of Yeats’s poem, “The Second Coming” (Collected Poems, 210­11) is the visionary knowledge to which the visitants may seem to have access, as they sing Yeats’s lines: Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned. 17As it here refers to Yeats’s poetic and transcendent vision of the world’s history as a succession of “gyres” or cyclic phases, the libretto articulates what Henry James never explicitly stated, but may have been close to feeling when the first world war broke out: a sense of ultimate doom. Although Henry James (born in 1843) and W. B.

Yeats (born in 1865) may have been a generation apart, they were both historical witnesses of the way “things fell apart” as the world entered the twentieth century. Literally an intrusion into the enigmatic verbal structure of James’s novella, the use of Yeats’s poem may here provide a plausible reading of Henry James, and of the sense of moral collapse discernible in his fiction. The “ghosts” have been turned, for one scene, into Yeatsian voices who know from prophetic experience that we are entering an age (what Yeats calls a gyre) in which innocence is no longer conceivable : “The ceremony of innocence is drowned”. 18Though briefly united by the Yeatsian intertext, Miss Jessel and Quint have distinct operatic identities, conveyed through both words and music. The libretto somewhat romanticizes the valet of the novella, as he is made to describe himself as “the riderless horse”, or “the hero-highwayman”, while however voicing his own perverse power of deceit: “I am the smooth world’s double face” (score 135-137, fig. 73-75).

King Midas and his power of turning all things into gold, Mercury, as the messenger between the living and the dead, are also part of the composite image he is made to project of himself. Besides, in a way that points to a later opera by Britten (Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1960), he describes himself as belonging to another order of existence in which the mystery of life originates: I am the hidden life that stirs When the candle is out; Upstairs and down, The footsteps barely heard […] (score 140-141, fig 76-78) 19In both Shakespeare’s play and Britten’s opera, “the hidden life that stirs when the candle is out” is represented by Puck and all the fairy characters. So that Quint may actually be double-faced in another sense, and have a magic appeal at the same time as he is a scoundrel. 20Quint’s distinctive music in the opera renders his magic and dangerous appeal. The celesta, which is continually associated with him, conventionally has celestial overtones (cf. Palmer, “The Colour in the Music”, 104).

Here a celesta motif introduces Quint, even before he has even been mentioned, in the form of a little ornament, or double appoggiatura, which is also part of a pentatonic scale, B flat, D flat, E flat, and may be interpreted, according to Christopher Palmer, as “the signature-tune of the devil” (109). As to Quint’s voice, it is a lyrical tenor going through characteristic melismas, i.e. singing sequences of ascending or descending notes on the same syllable, starting with the single, protracted syllable of Miles’s name (act I, scene 8, “At Night”, score 133, fig. 71). 21Miss Jessel’s words, in Myfanwy Piper’s libretto, make up a mythic identity, as she ranks herself among the forsaken beauties of former times, in particular of Greek mythology, Hesiod’s Pandora, Apuleius’ Psyche (The Golden Ass, where she appears as Eros’s mistress). In the orchestral motif that introduces and accompanies her, the low sonorities of the gong and the double bass are prominent and form part of her own distinctive music.

As to her voice, when it is first heard in act I, scene 8, and starts calling on Flora (Flo-ra, with three notes for the first syllable), it goes through two ascending intervals, C-B flat above, then D natural-A flat, as if it were rising from the depths (possibly those of the lake), and the second rising interval is recognizable as an augmented fourth, or tritone (three whole tones), known traditionally as the “diabolus in musica”: another demonic motif (score 142, fig. 79). Also, she is often made to sing in the lowest register of the soprano range, so that she often sounds lower-pitched than Quint, in particular in the vocal quartet that combines her voice with those of Quint, Miles, and Flora. As the governess and Mrs Grose join in, the quartet becomes a sextet, which concludes Act I, concentrating the central antagonism in which the children are at stake, as on the one hand Miss Jessel and Quint, on the other hand the governess struggle for the possession (or doubtfully the salvation) of Miles and Flora.

22As in James’s novella, the confidante is not quite trustworthy, as she conceals for a long time what she knows about the past of Bly. Mrs. Grose equivocates on the question of Miles’s goodness or badness, and she “won’t tell tales” (James 12). In the opera, the governess and Mrs Grose clash in tonal conflict, when the letter arrives from Miles’s school announcing that he has been dismissed. After Quint’s motif has been heard on the celesta (score 37, fig. 15), the governess’s words, “He’s dismissed his school”, are in E flat (Quint’s key), while the governess, refusing to believe in Miles’s guilt, goes on singing defiantly in C major, and the two women sing a semitone apart, in a sequence of cross-relations. Eventually, after Mrs. Grose has recognized Peter Quint from the governess’s description, she comes closer to her, reveals what she knows about the dead valet, and introduces the descending musical motif that conveys her fear of Quint’s doings: “Dear God, is there no end to his dreadful ways”, score 78; fig.

39). The Dear God motif, accompanied by all the strings, including the double bass, another structuring motif, is to recur throughout the opera, and to reappear, played by the harp, in the very last scene of the opera (score 290, fig. 118), as the governess and Peter are going to fight each other over the fate of Miles. 23Before we come to the final confrontation, scene 3 of act II, “Miss Jessel”, is another moment of tragic intensity in the governess’s tragic agon. The idea for this scene is in the novella, where, after Miss Jessel has appeared to her in the schoolroom, the governess relates her experience to the housekeeper, and dramatizes the encounter: “[…] I came home my dear,” I went on, “for a talk to Miss Jessel.” […] “A talk! Do you mean she spoke?” “It came to that. I found her on my return, in the schoolroom.” “And what did she say?” […] “That she suffers the torments—!” […] “Do you mean,” she faltered ”—of the lost ?” “Of the lost. Of the damned.

And that is why, to share them—[…] She wants Flora.” (54) 24In the operatic transposition of this imaginary confrontation, Miss Jessel’s words explicitly bring out the intensity of the tragic conflict: “Here my tragedy began, here revenge begins” (score 223, fig. 57). The governess, finding her own authority opposed, and Flora threatened with destruction, resists Miss Jessel’s will (“She shall not! she shall not! I won’t bear it!”, 226, fig. 60), in an act of tragic defiance which is to bring about the catastrophe. The key signature is F minor, recalled repeatedly throughout the scene by the bassoon accompaniment (F, A flat, C), and emphatically reasserted in the governess’s final descending motif: C, A flat, F, C, F above, C, A flat, F.

However, the two voices have kept deviating from the key signature, multiplying false relations, and just before she exits, Miss Jessel’s voice goes through one more of her ascending intervals, as she sings “Alas” on D followed by A natural, in a vengeful and triumphant cry, changing the key from F minor to F major. 25The last two conflictual scenes in the governess’s agon are those that follow the Miss Jessel scene, and conclude the opera on her self-confessed failure and tragic awareness. Scene 7 (“Flora”) and 8 (“Miles”) should be viewed in relation to each other, as they combine contrast and symmetry. In scene 8 (score 271), by “the sea of Azov”, as the lake is called in James’s text, the governess, as she discovers Flora, and beyond her, as she believes, Miss Jessel, aggressively asks the girl: “Where my pet is Miss Jessel?” (274, fig. 103-4). Flora shrilly replies that she “can’t see anybody, can’t see anything” (277, fig.

106), and nearly in hysterics asks to be taken away from the governess, whom she says she hates. The governess then acknowledges her failure and the “drowning” of her innocence: “But I have failed, most miserably failed, and there is no more innocence in me” (286, fig. 113). 26The very last scene leads to the finality of Quint’s farewell to Miles, whose heart is soon to stop. As opposed to the previous scene, where the name of the visitant, Miss Jessel, had been uttered by the governess, in the last scene Miles is made to articulate Peter Quint’s name in ‘Sprechstimme’ (that is a voice between singing and speaking) under the governess’s pressure: “Peter Quint, you devil”, which is a literal reproduction of the words used in James’s novella, with (ideally) the same ambiguity. Whom is Miles addressing? The governess, or Peter Quint? Michael Hampe, in his production of The Turn of the Screw, chooses to believe that the devil thus addressed is Peter Quint.

In Luc Bondy’s more recent production, first shown at the 2001 Avignon Festival, Miles looks neither at the governess nor at Peter Quint, but the former valet is distinctly more demonic than the governess. Benjamin Britten seems to have believed, in his reading of the James novella, that the words are addressed to the governess. Ideally a production of The Turn of the Screw should keep the opera as undecidable as the novella. 27There are distinct similarities in the ending of both opera and novella: the governess has sent away Mrs Grose and Flora, the visitants are also finally gone as there is no one for them to return to, and with the death of Miles, the governess is left to her tragic solitude. 28One of the noticeable differences between opera and novella concerns the expression of circularity. In the novella the major figure of circularity is of course that of a turning screw, which appears three times: in the title, on the first page, and on page 77. The image of the turning screw is related to the round of tales read round the hearth to the ring of guests.

When it recurs on page 77, it refers to the endeavours of the governess: “only another turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue”, as she is made to phrase it, while it actually refers to the overwhelming pressure she applies on the children. In the opera, the music has its own circularity, starting with the A of the twelve-note row, going through the whole range of tonal keys, then ending in A major, on the edge of silence. 29Meanwhile, a Yeatsian gyre has been completed, one in which innocence and redemption were doubtful but conceivable. As the gyre ends, it conveys, if one follows Yeats, the character of the new gyre that is beginning, one in which innocence will have ceased to be conceivable, and with nothing more positive to it than “dreadful dreadfulness” (James 1), or as the governess puts it, a “plunge into the hideous obscure” (77). Howard, Patricia. Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Palmer, Christopher. “The Colour in the Music”. In Patricia Howard, 101-125.

White, Eric Walter. Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas, 2nd ed. London: Faber and Faber, 1983. Recordings Britten, Benjamin. The Turn of the Screw. Members of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Sir Colin Davies. CD. Philips Classics Production, 1983. ——. The Turn of the Screw. Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Daniel Harding. Virgin Classics, 2002. ——. The Turn of the Screw. From the Schwetzinger Festspiele 1990. Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. Conductor: Steuart Bedford. Stage Director: Michael Hampe. DVD. Arthaus Musik, 1990. As the Screw Turns, Britten Style | San Francisco Classical Voice San Francisco Classical Voice Comments The ghosts speak up in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, a 1954 chamber opera based on the classic Henry James novella. But it’s not so much what the voluble dead valet Peter Quint and deceased governess Miss Jessel have to say that proves so haunting.

It’s the way they say it, in a sinuous, melisma-rich embodiment of the supernatural played off against the restless, eerily explicit narrative of the orchestral score. It makes no difference how stilted Myfanwy Piper’s libretto occasionally seems. Nor does the somewhat clotted staging of West Edge Opera’s production at the El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater prevent the musical and dramatic spell from taking hold. The Turn of the Screw gets under the listener’s skin and sets off shudders in the blood. West Edge mounted the two-act piece in welcome tribute to the composer’s centennial. Britten (1913–1976) poised his James adaptation on a teetering sharp edge between innocence and experience, sublimation and sexuality, optimism and despair, good and evil, tonality and dissonance. It’s an unfolding marvel, at one accessible and forbidding, seductive and grave. A torquing 12-tone Turn theme swirls up and recedes and rises again, in what musicologist Lloyd Whitesell calls the opera’s “spiraling harmonic circuits.” The timpani mutter an ominous pulse beat long before anything has gone amiss. The bassoon does the same.

A celesta and harp add shivery highlights. The story’s two children sing sweet ballads and a swordfighting song. The boy, Miles, plays an antic, skewed piano recital. The adults, alive and dead, sing over each other and into the deep-seated fears in ensembles both voluptuous and tense. The story tracks the naïve, unnamed governess (Laura Bohn), en route from a narrative prologue to her new posting at the rural Bly House. There she meets her two young charges. Larkin Barnard-Bahn played Flora on opening night. Milo Boland was Miles. (Both performers share their parts with others for the three-performance run.) Mark Streshinsky’s production makes ample use of designer Jeremy Knight’s video and still projections. There are shots of the English countryside and the imposing facade of Bly House as the governess arrives. Various rooms and assorted lake, castle, and garden vistas supply an extensive tour of the mansion and grounds.

They also conjure up the ghosts of Peter Quint (gorgeously sung and acted by Daniel Curran in video apparition form) and Miss Jessel (an overwrought performance, both vocally and video-dramatically, by Buffy Baggott). The music drama finally trumps the theatrical impediments. When it fully takes hold in the second act, Turn is transporting in every sense. The use of projections runs a considerable risk. Effective as some of the images are, as Quint and Jessel materialize and dematerialize before our eyes, the projections also both dwarf and sometimes overliteralize these ambiguous visions. Things that may or may not be the product of the governess’ fevered imagination take on a billboard-sized dimension that can actually distort and diminish their impact. Especially problematic are the slideshow recollections Miles has of his days with Quint. As he stands and stares at the huge screen, he repeatedly nullifies the three-dimensional stage space. For all the lush visual upholstery the projections provide, they also work against the psychological complexity and physical environment. In a stage that’s left cluttered with furniture, the locales blur together in not always productive ways. The lighting is moody and shadowy to a fault.

Yet the music drama finally trumps the theatrical impediments. When it fully takes hold in the second act, Turn is transporting in every sense. With the adroit woodwinds leading the way, under Jonathan Khuner’s baton, the orchestra needled and insinuated, exulted and despaired, over the proceedings onstage. The young performers … gradually owned their roles and became more natural and vocally expressive. Bohn, whose governess was too self-contained and sometimes sharp-voiced in the first act, became both deeper and more vulnerable as the night progressed. The young performers, who seemed tentative and deliberate early on, gradually owned their roles and became more natural and vocally expressive. Boland sang several of his solos with a kind of steely abstraction. His final scene was vivid and sad. Jillian Khuner was serviceable as the fretful housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. There’s a patch of syncopation near the opera’s end. The jauntiness is almost too much to take, a fateful dance of childhood’s end on the brink of the abyss. He’s growing up, Miles tells his governess. There’s so much he wants to do.

You can almost hear hearts breaking on both sides of the stage apron. Steven Winn is a San Francisco based free-lance writer and critic and frequent City Arts & Lectures interviewer. His work has appeared in Art News, California, Humanities, Manhattan, Symphony Magazine and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Question: The opera The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten is based on whose novella
Answer: Henry James