Carmen, Cinderella, Rodelinda, Aida . . . and ALBERT?
Forgive us for such a thematic deviation . . . but we just couldn’t resist!
Besides, Benjamin Britten’s rollicking comic chamber opera actually is all about the search for a great woman—the perfect May Queen. Alas and alack however, in this rural English village, there’s no fittingly chaste young woman to be found . . . at least according to Lady Billows, who lords it over the entire town with an eye that is . . . how should we say? . . . myopically moralistic? For her, the town is awash in immorality with nary a virgin to be found. Tsk. Tsk.
The town throws off tradition and opts instead for a King of May. Amid giggles, catcalls and jibes of all kinds, our unlikely hero is crowned ... and gets the chance at long last to escape from behind his mother’s apron.
All performances are held at The Hampton Opera Center: 211 SE Caruthers Street.
Setting: Loxford, a small market-town in East Suffolk, England, in April and May of 1900.
Act I. Housekeeper Florence Pike is run ragged. Her mistress, Lady Billows, is organizing the annual May Day festival, and has gathered all the important people of the village to vet nominations for the coveted position of Queen of the May. But Florence has dug up dirt on every single girl nominated, proving that none is worthy to wear the May Queen's crown. There is, as it turns out, not one female virgin in all of Loxford. Lady Billows is depressed. Superintendent Budd suggests the solution may be to select, this year, a May King instead of a May Queen. He knows of a young man in town who is as certainly virginal as the girls are certainly not: Albert Herring.
At the grocer's, Albert is teased for his timidity by the easygoing Sid. Sid's girlfriend Nancy comes in to do some shopping, and the couple shares a tender moment while Albert eats his heart out. The lovers leave, and Albert has time to reflect on his miserable existence before the Festival Committee arrives with the news of his selection as May King. Mrs. Herring is thrilled; Albert is less so. Mother and son quarrel, to the mocking commentary of the village children.
Act II. It is the day of the festival. Sid and Nancy are preparing the banquet tent, and they take the chance to slip a little rum into Albert's lemonade glass. Albert is tongue-tied at the feast in his honor, but drinks his lemonade greedily. Together with his crown of flowers, he is awarded twenty-five pounds in prize money.
That night Albert arrives home alone, quite drunk. In the street, Sid keeps a date with Nancy, and the two discuss their pity for Albert before going off together. This is finally the breaking point for Albert. He takes the prize money and heads out looking for trouble.
Act III. The next morning Albert has not returned, and the village is in a panic. Superintendent Budd is leading a search, while the guilt-stricken Nancy tends to Mrs. Herring. A village boy shouts that a "Big White Something" has been found in a well, and the villagers file in to break the news en masse: Albert's crown of flowers has been discovered, badly smashed. Clearly, he is dead. The village joins in a chorus of grief, which is interrupted by the return of Albert. He thanks the Festival Committee for providing him with the cash for his night out. The crowd disperses, and Albert invites the village kids into the shop to sample some complimentary fruit.
DIGGING DEEPER
“Good operas are surprisingly tough and can somehow survive all kinds of treatment.”
--Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten wrote only three comedies in his career: Paul Bunyan, Albert Herring and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Given the potent combination of wit, pathos and beauty evident in each of his comedies, one wonders why he didn’t write more of them. That Albert Herring, with its rather specific material in respect to time and place, should be the most translated and possibly most often performed of Britten’s chamber works is a testament to the enduring nature of both the music and the story.
Albert Herring is a comedy, there is no doubt. But like most of the best comedies, there is a layering depth of human tragedy, speaking to larger themes than those readily apparent on the surface. Donald Mitchell, one of Britten’s publishers, calls Albert Herring a “serious comedy,” following the path of Mozart in particular, who wrote in a genre we now refer to as opera semi-seria—comedies that may make us uncomfortable or may prompt us to ask ourselves how we should interpret what we have seen. In the case of Albert Herring, Britten neither confirmed nor denied alternative interpretations or protestations of deeper meaning. And that too is perhaps fitting for a great work of art. The viewer may find deeper meaning in art than the artist intended, and that may be as legitimate as the artist’s own view.
Many critics have drawn parallels between Albert Herring and Britten’s great glowering tragedy, Peter Grimes. Certainly the two characters can be considered flip sides of the same coin, or as Roger Brunyate, Director of Opera at the Peabody Institute, likens them, the same man behind the mask of Comedy and the mask of Tragedy. Both characters find themselves on the outside of societal norms, slaves to external expectations which threaten to overwhelm their own senses of self. Most critics agree to those similarities, but from there various opinions diverge.
One opinion holds that both Peter Grimes and Albert Herring are metaphors for closeted and/or persecuted homosexuality, certainly an interesting posit given the fact that the composer was a gay man living in a country where homosexuality was outlawed. Some directors in recent times have gone so far as to take Grimes’ ambiguous sexuality and spell it out rather clearly to the audience, although, as Brunyate points out, this is unnecessary. Albert Herring is very circumspect in some ways about his evening of depravity, listing a parade of lasciviousness sure to shock and in its entirety highly improbable. Whether Albert’s awkwardness around girls is due to shyness or sexual ambiguity ultimately doesn’t matter, he finds himself freed from unreasonable constraints by the end of the opera. He must still live in Loxford, but now he can at least live there on his own terms.
Albert Herring was first performed in 1947 at Glyndebourne by the English Opera Group, formed by Britten, his partner, tenor Peter Pears, and some of their musical friends as a protest against the British opera establishment, represented by Sadler’s Wells. Eric Crozier provided the libretto which was based on Guy de Maupassant’s rather dark short story, "Le rosier de Madame Husson". The story also concerns a provincial “worthy,” Madame Husson, interested in rewarding paragons of feminine virtue with honor and a cash prize. Madame Husson, like Lady Billows, also has a housekeeper with her finger on the pulse of village pulchritude and promiscuity, and like Britten’s village of Loxford, Grison cannot seem to present a female paragon of virtue, but only a male. Since, in Maupassant’s words, “virtue is eternal; [having] neither sex nor country” a boy will receive the honor due to his clean living. Sadly, Maupassant’s Isidore does not have a happy fate, but finds his life ultimately ruined, whereas Albert Herring triumphs, freeing himself from his mother and from an oppressive society.
Albert Herring is a coming of age comedy of remarkable depth, weaving social satire with themes of freedom, oppression and growing up into a very funny, surprisingly poignant evening. Britten’s music is lively and accessible, with a broad range of sonorities one might think impossible from such a small ensemble. What makes it wonderful, though, is that it allows us to interpret its depth and take from it what we need.
About the Composer: Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
“Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly, you see more details of the house—the color of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and mortar of the house.”
--Benjamin Britten
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This quote epitomizes Britten’s practical, workman-like approach to composition. His method was disciplined and regular. To him the romantic notion of “. . . a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it [was] nonsense.” He felt that “nighttime was for sleeping”! While an idea might strike at any time, percolating on a walk or a train ride, the process of nurturing that idea was the same. Upon returning home, he would make notes fleshing out his idea, and then, when at Aldeburgh, he would write the music during carefully structured hours, a session in the morning and then in the late afternoon between “tea and dinner.” Such an organized, diligent approach may surprise the casual music-lover seized by a vision of Mozart’s divine inspiration or Beethoven’s tortured process, but, after a glance at Britten’s life and body of work, it seems to fit the man well, though his music is full of invention and surprise. Britten was born on November 22, 1913 in Lowestaft, England. Music was part and parcel of his early childhood, albeit of limited formal instruction. His mother was a talented amateur singer. At five, the boy began composing and continued to snatch time to write before school. At eleven, his prolific and precocious talent attracted the attention of Frank Bridge, a composer fluent in the emerging styles of the early 20th century. Bridge took the boy under his wing and gave him the tools and techniques to frame his inspiration. At 17, Britten entered the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano and composition. While his piano instructors made him an extraordinary pianist, his composition studies were less rewarding. Unfortunately, he found the atmosphere unfriendly to him and his music. The great English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams was a professor there and Vaughn Williams was openly derisive of Britten’s mentor, Frank Bridge. Vaughn Williams was suspicious of “brilliance” and “technical virtuosity for its own sake,” so while Britten could never be accused of needless wizardry, his exceptional talent, misperceived, may have doomed his relationship with the older composer. At any rate, Britten was dissatisfied with his time at the Royal College of Music, remarking much later that “he did not learn much.” After his “enlightened and concentrated” tutelage with Frank Bridge, his composition studies seemed stodgy. Adding to his frustration, Britten encountered resistance getting his works performed. By 1935, he began to compose music for a series of documentary films for the General Post Office. This experience provided real skills he would later use in his operas—particularly those innovations and economies demanded by the limited resources made available to him by the Post Office. On the set, he met W.H. Auden with whom he began to collaborate on a regular basis. This partnership led to works of intense political commentary, particularly Our Hunting Fathers and Ballad of Heroes. Auden’s 1939 emigration to the United States prompted Britten to confront his political stance. A passionate conscientious objector, he and his life-partner, tenor and fellow-pacifist Peter Pears, also left England for the New World. There he continued to write, producing several significant works during this period. Instrumental works were still ascendant and of particular importance were the “Sinfonia da requiem” and “First Quartet.” In addition, while in the United States, Britten made his first foray into opera with the operetta Paul Bunyan to an Auden text. It was withdrawn before it was performed however, and it wasn’t until 1976 that it made its debut. Disillusioned and dissatisfied with the American way of life, Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, and Britten began his contributions to English opera. In 1944, he began work on Peter Grimes, suggested by a poem in "The Borough" by George Crabbe. Crabbe’s poetry spoke to Britten in a profound way, just as their shared Suffolk roots entered both artists’ work. On June 7, 1945, Peter Grimes premiered at the Sadler Wells Opera Company. While the huge critical and popular success firmly established Britten as the “most gifted music dramatist England had produced since Purcell,” the hostility Britten experienced from some of the Sadler Wells Company soured him on the operatic establishment. In a country that had only two opera companies, this was something of a problem, particularly in a culture unused to supporting a repertoire of native operas. Still, Britten had determined that he liked composing operas, despite his unhappy experience, and so he pared down his efforts to chamber operas for smaller, more open companies. For Glyndebourne he wrote The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring, both using smaller casts and orchestras suitable for more provincial organizations. Evidently, Britten found Glyndebourne wanting as well, and he decided to form a new company with Pears and some other close friends and allies. The resulting organization was dubbed the English Opera Group and eventually evolved into the Aldeburgh Festival. From this point forward, the English Opera Group premiered all of Britten’s operas, with the exception of his full-scale, commissioned works, Billy Budd and Gloriana. Philosophically, Britten wanted to “restore to the musical setting of the English language a brilliance, freedom, and vitality that have been curiously rare since Purcell.” He was committed to “classical practice,” by which he meant clarity and “[the crystallization of emotion in] a dramatic situation.” This neo-classical sentiment did not eschew modern techniques—nor did it shift too exclusively into purely atonal music or even completely through-composed music, bereft of “self-contained formal units” like arias and ensembles. Britten used a musical—and dramatic—language all his own. With very rare exceptions, Britten’s operas concern the sensitive, naive outsider, corrupted or misunderstood by the greater society. There is often a sacrifice of an innocent demanded. Clear examples include Billy Budd, Milo in The Turn of the Screw, the apprentice (and arguably Peter, himself) in Peter Grimes, and Lucretia’s “virtue” in The Rape of Lucretia. Britten was ever concerned with the corruption of purity, the needs of the individual pitted against the conventions of society and the ultimate destruction of the individual who cannot (or refuses to) conform. Much has been made of Britten’s homosexuality in relation to these thematic tendencies in his operas, but just as much could be made of his political convictions, his pacifism, and his artistry. These things branded him the “sensitive outsider” too. His pacifism during World War II was possibly more unacceptable than his sexuality. Britten’s significance is hard to overstate. He was extremely prolific. In addition to his operatic writing, he composed 17 stage works, 25 orchestral works, 43 choral works, 25 chamber works, 27 works for solo voice, as well as incidental music, and arrangements. The operas, however, are what cement the importance of Britten’s contribution. The obvious love of the voice as an instrument and the seemingly endless variety of musical language certainly entitle Britten to be numbered among the great operatic masters. |
Brendan Tuohy - Pane/La Natura
Tenor
Tenor Brendan Tuohy graduated with a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and was the Southern Ohio winner of the 2007 Metropolitan National Council Auditions.
 | Brendan Tuohy - Pane/La NaturaTenorTenor Brendan Tuohy graduated with a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and was the Southern Ohio winner of the 2007 Metropolitan National Council Auditions. While at the University of Cincinnati his numerous roles included the title role in Albert Herring, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, The Doctor in The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe and Il Podesta in La Finta Giardiniera. At the University of Washington, Mr. Tuohy sang Tamino in The Magic Flute as well as tenor soloist in several concerts. During the 2007/08 Season, as a member of the Portland Opera Studio, Mr. Tuohy performed the role of Remendado in Carmen, the title role in Albert Herring, and Messenger in Aida. Mr. Tuohy also performed On Wenlock Edge by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the POSA Spring Recital. |
Sharin Apostolou - Calisto/L'Eternita
Soprano
New Jersey native Sharin Apostolou recently completed her second season at Central City Opera as a member of the Bonfils-Stanton Artist Training Program.
Sharin Apostolou - Calisto/L'EternitaSopranoNew Jersey native Sharin Apostolou recently completed her second season at Central City Opera as a member of the Bonfils-Stanton Artist Training Program, covering Annina in The Saint of Bleecker Street, performing Noémie in the youth performance of Cendrillon, and Isabelle/Madeline in The Face on the Barroom Floor. This past spring, she performed Carolina in Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda with the Tulsa Opera Studio. She made her European Operatic debut with the International Chamber Ensemble as Serpina in Pergolesi's La serva padrona as part of the Operafestival di Roma. Last year, in her debut season with Portland Opera, Apostolou sang Frasquita in Carmen, Clorinda in Cinderella, covered the title role in Rodelinda, sang Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, and performed the High Priestess in Aida. Apostolou also sang Obradors’ Canciones clásicas españolas in the Portland Opera Studio Artists’ Spring Recital. Other roles include Blanche de la Force in Dia-logues des Carmélites, Musetta in La Bohème, Virtù and Valletto in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Zemire in Spohr’s Zemire und Azor, Nora in Vaughn Williams’ Riders to the Sea, and Vera in Hoiby’s A Month in the Country. Equally at home in Musical Theater, notable roles include The Witch and Cinderella in Into the Woods, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, and Sally Bowls in Cabaret, and Phoebe in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeoman of the Guard. On the concert stage, Ms. Apostolou performed the role of First Fairy in the Oregon Symphony’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miss Silverpeal in Der Schauspieldirektor with Port-land Chamber Orchestra, and Miss Silverpeal in The Impresario with Walla Walla Symphony. She also sang in The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream and in the Fiddlesticks outreach concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She performed in the premiers of The Lost Childhood with American Opera Projects, Homeric Hymns The Lyric Theater of New York, and most recently the US premier of Johan Christian Bach’s Vaux Hall Songs with the New England Baroque Soloists in Boston, MA. Other concert works include the soprano soloist in the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Honegger’s Le Roi David, Mozart Requiem, and the Vivaldi Gloria. An avid recitalist, Ms. Apostolou has given recitals throughout Europe, the US, and the Caribbean and studied under Warren Jones, Catherine Malfitano, Martin Katz, and Marilyn Horne. Ms. Apostolou holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. |
Christopher Clayton - Mr. Gedge
Baritone
Utah native Christopher Clayton received a Master’s Degree and Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music.
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Christopher Clayton - Mr. GedgeBaritoneUtah native Christopher Clayton received a Master’s Degree and Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music. Prior to his studies at the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Clayton received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah. |
Hannah Sharene Penn - Diana
Mezzo soprano
Mezzo-soprano Hannah Sharene Penn enjoys a diverse career as a performer of recital literature, oratorio, and opera.
 | Hannah Sharene Penn - DianaMezzo sopranoMezzo-soprano Hannah Sharene Penn enjoys a diverse career as a performer of recital literature, oratorio, and opera. She has performed numerous operatic roles through Florida Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, New England Conservatory, and Indiana University. As an oratorio soloist, Ms. Penn’s performances include the Verdi Requiem, the Bach St. Matthew Passion, the Messiah, and Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. She has performed frequently with Miami’s Master Chorale of South Florida, most recently as mezzo-soprano soloist in Mozart’s C Minor Mass. A lover of new music, Ms. Penn performed in the American premiere tours of John Adam's El Nino and Sven-David Sandstrom's High Mass. She was closely involved with the composition department during her six years at Indiana University, and frequently performed songs composed for her. As a recitalist, Ms. Penn has participated in the Steans Institute’s Vocal Chamber Music program, where she performed works by Jake Heggie under the composer’s direction. Ms. Penn studied German Lied for three years with renowned collaborative pianist Leonard Hokanson, and has participated in a staged recital of Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch under the direction of the great lieder singer Hakan Hagegård. Ms. Penn recently participated in a masterclass on Schubert Lieder given by James Levine at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Penn has studied with the distinguished pedagogues Patricia Misslin, Dale Moore and Patricia Stiles, and has taught voice at both Indiana University and New England Conservatory. In the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Penn was a finalist in the Boston District. During the 2006/07 season at Florida Grand Opera, she sang the role of Teresa in La Sonnambula and covered the role of Betsy in the world premiere of David Carlson’s Anna Karenina. In the 2007/08 season, Ms. Penn joined Portland Opera’s young artist program, performing both the role of Mercedes and the title role in Carmen, the role of Tisbe in La Cenerentola, and the role of Nancy in Albert Herring. Ms. Penn also sang Respighi’s Il Tramonto in the POSA Spring Recital. |
Jeffrey G. Beruan - Superintendent Budd
Bass
A native of Shawnee, Kansas, Jeff Beruan is very excited to be singing in his second season with Portland Opera as a Studio Artist.
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Jeffrey G. Beruan - Superintendent BuddBassA native of Shawnee, Kansas, Jeff Beruan is very excited to be singing in his second season with Portland Opera as a Studio Artist. Before coming to Portland Opera, he sang for Chautauqua Opera as a Studio Artist. He sang with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City performing the role of Snug the Joiner in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where he has also been a member of the chorus for several productions. He repeated the role of Snug as a Young Artist with Opera North. He worked as a Studio Apprentice with Tulsa Opera. He also sang, as a Young Artist, the Imperial Commissioner in Madame Butterfly and the Second Armored Man in The Magic Flute with Utah Festival Opera. |
Brenda Harris - The Governess
Soprano
Ms. Harris has appeared in leading roles with many of the world's most prominent opera companies and orchestras.
 | Brenda Harris - The GovernessSopranoMs. Harris has appeared in leading roles with many of the world's most prominent opera companies and orchestras. She has been heard in a wide range of roles with companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy, the Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Pacific, the Canadian Opera Company, Edmonton Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has been praised by critics as having “drop-dead gorgeous singing, soaring on high, glowing with mezzo-ish warmth in lower registers, nearly every phrase elegantly turned” (Dallas Morning News), as well as an “unstinting intensity, brilliant high Cs, breathtaking high-note tapers, trills, elegant tone and total dramatic commitment.” (Opera News) Ms. Harris begins the current season singing the title role in Tosca with Opera Cleveland, and then joins the Austin Lyric Opera singing Wagner and Verdi selections in a Gala concert to mark the opening of their season. She sings Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Austin Symphony, and a program of Verdi selections, (including La Forza del Destino and Aida) with the Jacksonville Symphony. Upcoming engagements include singing The Governess in Turn of the Screw with the Portland Opera, both Madame Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims and Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux with the Minnesota Opera, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with the Utah Opera. In the 2006 – 2007 season Ms. Harris sang leading roles with opera companies across the continent, including the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos in a new production with the Utah Opera, and the title role of Norma with the Portland Opera, of which The Oregonian said “her 'Casta diva' had stillness and poise, and she negotiated the subsequent coloratura with splendid fury.” Additionally, she sang Lady MacBeth in Macbeth with the Arizona Opera and Edmonton Opera and Alice Ford in Falstaff with Fort Worth Opera. On the concert stage she sang Daron Hagen’s Shining Brow with the Buffalo Symphony, Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the New Haven Symphony, and Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-flat with the Music of the Baroque and Jane Glover. Under the baton of Joel Levy, Ms. Harris was presented in a Gala Concert with the Stichting Veerhavenconcert in Rotterdam. She was also featured in recital at Brenau University in Atlanta. During the 2005 – 2006 season, Ms. Harris sang the title role of Vanessa with both the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy and the Chautauqua Opera, the title role in Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi with Minnesota Opera, the title role of Norma with Michigan Opera Theatre, Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Austin Lyric Opera, and Violetta in La Traviata with Fort Worth Opera. With Maestro Keith Lockhart at the podium, Ms. Harris performed as Soprano Soloist in Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with the Utah Symphony.
Brenda Harris has recorded leading roles for Newport Classic, including Scarlatti's Ishmael, Haydn's La Cantarina and The Creation, and Handel's Tolomeo on the Vox label. |
Listen to the Music
Schedule
Mar 14, 2008
Friday 7:30 pm
Friday 7:30 pm
Mar 16, 2008
Sunday 2:00 pm
Sunday 2:00 pm
Mar 18, 2008
Tuesday 7:30 pm
Tuesday 7:30 pm
Mar 20, 2008
Thursday 7:30 pm
Thursday 7:30 pm
Mar 24, 2008
Monday 7:30 pm
Monday 7:30 pm
Mar 26, 2008
Wednesday 7:30 pm
Wednesday 7:30 pm
Mar 28, 2008
Friday 7:30 pm
Friday 7:30 pm
Mar 30, 2008
Sunday 2:00 pm
Sunday 2:00 pm