After having composed and staged The Rape of Lucretia, Britten decided he should attempt a comedy, preferably set in England. Crozier suggested adapting the Maupassant short story Le rosier de Madame Husson and transplanting it to the Suffolk landscape already familiar to Britten from his home in Snape. Britten composed Albert Herring at his home, The Old Mill at Snape, in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947. He scored the opera for the same instrumental forces he had used in his first chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia, intending it like the earlier opera for performance by the English Opera Group.
Librettist | Eric Crozier (The libretto, by Eric Crozier, was based on Guy de Maupassant's novella Le Rosier de Madame Husson, with the action transposed to an English setting.) |
Date of composition | 1947 (December 1946 - April 1947) |
Premiered | 1947, June 20th (Glyndebourne) in Sussex, WI, United States |
Dedicated to | 'Dedicated to E.M. Forster, in admiration' |
Type | Opera |
Catalogue | BTC 1011 |
Approx. duration | 137 minutes |
Spoken language | English |
Instruments |
Voice (Soprano)
- Lady Billows, an elderly autocrat
Voice (Contralto) - Florence Pike, her housekeeper Voice (Soprano) - Miss Wordsworth, a schoolteacher Voice (Baritone) - Mr. Gedge, the vicar Voice (Tenor) - Mr. Upfold, the mayor Voice (Bass) - Superintendent Budd Voice (Baritone) - Sid, a butcher's assistant Voice (Tenor) - Albert Herring, from the greengrocer's Voice (Mezzo-Soprano) - Nancy, from the bakery Voice (Mezzo-Soprano) - Mrs. Herring, Albert's mother Voice (Soprano) - Emmie Voice (Soprano) - Cis Voice (Treble) - Harry |
Autotranslations beta |
Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring, BTC 1011 Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring, BTC 1011 Benjamin Britten: Albert Herring, BTC 1011 |