Let's Make an Opera

Opera dates
Title:	We're doing an opera
Original title:	Let's Make an Opera
Shape:	Children's opera with a play
Original language:	English
Music:	Benjamin Britten
Libretto :	Eric Crozier
Literary source:	Charles Dickens
Premiere:	June 14, 1949
Place of premiere:	Aldeburgh

Let's Make an Opera Opus 45 (German: We make an opera ) with the contained The Little Sweep ( Der kleine Schornsteinfeger ) is the combination of a play with a children's opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten based on the libretto by Eric Crozier , which is based on one Novella based by Charles Dickens .

The work was performed for the first time during the Aldeburgh Festival on June 14, 1949 in the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh .

layout

The Entertainment for Young People (German: An entertainment for the youth ) consists of three parts. The first two are pure drama with few musical interludes. The third part includes the children's opera The Little Sweep , which contains the actual story. It can also be listed separately due to its independence.

Britten's intention here was to show children how to produce a small opera. The audience is also allowed to take part and in the drama that introduces the opera, the choirs are rehearsed that will later be sung in the children's opera.

Both adult singers and children take part. Some of the children's roles, including the little chimney sweep, are solo singing roles.

content

Place and time of the foreplay - on the stage of a community hall, 1949

First part

Elisabeth Parrish tells the children present the story of Sam, the little chimney sweep. She had heard this story from her grandmother herself: While her mother was away to check on the father's arriving ship, the three children of the Brook family were visiting Iken Hall from their three cousins ​​from the Crome family and theirs Nanny. The visit, during which they experienced the adventures of the chimney sweep boy Sam, lasted until the following day.

The children are so enthusiastic about the story that they want to turn it into an opera.

Second part

The opera performance with contemporary amateur actors is prepared with singing and costume rehearsals.

Now follows the actual opera about the groomed and socially disadvantaged little chimney sweep apprentice Sam.

third part

Place and time of the opera - The Nursery by Iken Hall, 1810

The chimney sweep Black Bob, his assistant Clem and the new chimney sweep boy Sam let the housekeeper Miss Baggott explain the upcoming work to them in Iken Hall. Black Bob and his assistant delegate all work to be carried out to Sam. When he climbs into a chimney for the first time, the crying boy gets stuck in it. Iken Hall's children Johnny, Tina, Gay with their cousins ​​Sophie, Sammy and Hughie hear Sam's screams.

After the children have freed Sam from the chimney, they want to free him from sweeping the chimney as well. They pretend Sam ran away and are hiding him from Black Bob, Clem and Miss Baggott. They later initiate the nanny Rowan. Then the chimney sweep boy is washed and dressed again. The next day, Rowan and the children smuggle Sam hiding in a chest out of Iken Hall.

roll

Role in acting	Role in the opera	Pitch	Original cast
Adults
Norman Chaffinch an avid amateur actor and producer	Black Bob a brutal master chimney sweep and Tom coachman from Woodbridge	bass	Norman Lumsden
Gladys Parworthy, a maternal neighbor of his with great experience as an amateur actress	Miss Baggott housekeeper from Iken Hall	Old	Gladys Parr
Elisabeth Parrish teaches English and music at home school and helps the children write their opera; tall, pretty and eager	Rowan nannies of Woodbridge's cousins	soprano	Elisabeth Parry
Anne Dougall recently left school and works in the bank; friends with Elisabeth Parrish	Juliet Brook , 14 years old, one of Iken Hall's children	soprano	Anne Sharp
Max Westleton Office boy and casual worker at the Leiston print shop	Clem Black Bob's son and assistant and Alfred the gardener of Iken Hall	tenor	Max Worthley
The conductor organist of the local church	conductor		Norman Del Mar
children
Johnnie Chaffinch, 15 years old at math, knows all about fuses and circuits	Johnny Crome , one of Woodbridge's cousins ​​for 15 years	Boy soprano	Peter Cousins
Tina Chaffinch, 9 years old, small, calm and shy	Tina Crome , 8 years old, one of Woodbridge's cousins	soprano	Mavis Gardiner
Gay Denton, aged 13 home from school on vacation	Gay Brook , 13 years old one of Iken Hall's children	Boy soprano	Bruce Hines
Sophie Stevenson, 11 years old happy girl with a big smile	Sophie Brook , one of the children of Iken Hall for 10 years	soprano	Monica Garrod
Sammy Fisher, 8 year old church choirboy; one of Miss Parrish's students	Sam Sparrow ("Sammy"), 8 years old Black Bob's new chimney sweep boy	Boy soprano	John Moules
Hugh Lark, 8 years old, also a choirboy and student	Hugh Crome ("Hughie"), 8 years old Tina's twin brother	Boy soprano	Ralph Canham

Music numbers

number	title	occupation
I.	The Sweep's Song, audience song I.	Audience, later Clem and Bob
II	Quartet "Sweep the chimney!"	Miss Baggott, Rowan, Clem and Bob
III	Duet "Now the little white boy"	Clem and Bob
IIIa	Hide and seek. “Juliet! Juliet! "	The children
IV	Shanty "Pull the rope gently"	The children
V	Ensemble "Is he wounded?"	Sam and the kids
VI	Marching song	The children, later Miss Baggott, Bob and Clem
VII	trio	Miss Baggott, Bob and Clem
VIII	Aria "Run the poor sweep boy"	Rowan and later the children
IX	Sammy's Bath, audience song II	Audience, later Rowan and the children
X	Ensemble "O why do you weep?"	Sam, Rowan and the kids
XI and XII	Mime and Scena	Miss Baggott
XIII	Finale “Help! Help! She's collapsed! "	Rowan, Miss Baggott and the children
XIV	The Night Song, audience song III	audience
XV	Aria "Soon the coach will carry you away"	Juliet
XVI	Ensemble "Morning Sammy"	Sam and the kids
XVII	Trio and Ensemble "Ready, Alfred?"	Alfred, Tom, Miss Baggott, later Rowan and the children
XVIII	Coaching Song, Audience Song IV	Everyone and audience

Recordings

conductor	Juliet	Rowan	Sam	Miss Baggott	Alfred	Tom	year
Benjamin Britten	April Cantelo	Jennifer Vyvyan	David Hemmings	Nancy Thomas	Peter Pears	Trevor Anthony	1956, Decca
Jirí Kares	Jitka Pokorná	Nadezda Sormova	Miroslav Prusek	Ivana Mixová	Lubomir Procházka	Karel Hanus	1975 (in Czech), Supraphon
Philip Ledger	Catherine Benson	Mary Wells	Sam Monck	Heather Begg	Robert Tear	Robert Lloyd	1977, HMV
Patrick Juzeau	Joëlle Vautier	Sylvie Kapeluche	?	Maria Murano	André Battedou	Claude Legendre	1979 (in French), Adès
Simon Halsey	Lisa Milne	?	Edward Yeo	Felicity Palmer	John Graham Hall	Stephen Richardson	1996, film by Petr Weigl , Arthaus

Sheet music and libretto

• Benjamin Britten : Vocal score. The Little Sweep (Let's Make an Opera!) Boosey and Hawkes, London 1950 (piano reduction).
• Benjamin Britten: We're doing an opera and the children's opera Op. 45 “The little chimney sweep”. (Notes) Ullstein-Taschenbuchverlag, Frankfurt / Main 1959
• Eric Crozier : We're doing an opera. Entertainment for the youth. Together with the children's opera: “The little chimney sweep”. (German translation by Bettina Hürlimann-Kiepenheuer, music by Benjamin Britten), Ullstein Taschenbücher-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1959

literature

• David Herbert, Janet Baker (Eds.): The Operas of Benjamin Britten. The complete librettos ill. with designs of the 1st productions. Hamish Hamilton, London 1979, ISBN 0-241-10256-1 .

Web links

• Discography of The Little Sweep at Operadis

Individual evidence

1. ^ Benjamin Britten: Vocal score. (Piano reduction).
2. ↑ The role of the "small, quiet and shy" 8-year-old Tina Crome was played in the television premiere by the later Bond girl Shirley Eaton , then 12 years old; see. The Little Sweep op.45: Performance Information ( Memento from October 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ).
3. ↑ There are 5 recordings of The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten on file at www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk, accessed on June 25, 2015.