The Little Sweep is the second part of a stage production entitled Let's Make an Opera!. The first part takes the form of a play in which the cast portray contemporary amateur performers conceiving, creating and rehearsing the opera. Intended as an introduction to and demystification of the operatic genre, the play also provides an opportunity to rehearse the audience in the four "Audience Songs" they will sing after the interval.

Librettist Eric Crozier
Date of composition 1949 (April - May 1949)
Premiered 1949, June 14th (Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Festival) in Aldeburgh, United Kingdom
Dedicated to 'Affectionately dedicated to the real Gay, Juliet, Sophie, Tina, Hughie, Jonny and Sammy - the Gathorne-Hardys of Great Glemham, Suffolk'
Type Opera
Catalogue BTC 1026
Approx. duration 45 minutes
Spoken language English
Instruments Voice (Bass) - Black Bob, a brutal sweep-master
Voice (Contralto) - Miss Baggott, housekeeper at Iken Hall
Voice (Soprano) - Rowan, nursery-maid to the Woodbridge cousins
Voice (Soprano) - Juliet Brook, aged 14 one of the children at Iken Hall
Voice (Tenor) - Clem, Black Bob's son and assistant
Voice (Treble) - Johnny Crome, aged 15 one of the Woodbridge cousins
Voice (Treble) - Tina Crome, aged 8 one of the Woodbridge cousins
Voice (Treble) - Gay Brook, aged 13 one of the children at Iken Hall
Voice (Treble) - Sophie Brook, aged 10 one of the children at Iken Hall
Voice (Treble) - Sam ("Sammy") Sparrow, aged 8 Black Bob's new sweep boy
Voice (Treble) - Hugh ("Hughie") Crome, aged 8 Tina's twin
Voice (Bass) - Tom, coachman from Woodbridge
Voice (Tenor) - Alfred, gardener at Iken Hall
Autotranslations beta Benjamin Britten: Let's Make an Opera (The Little Sweep), BTC 1026
Benjamin Britten: Let's Make an Opera (The Little Sweep), BTC 1026
Benjamin Britten: Let's Make an Opera (The Little Sweep), BTC 1026