Episode 006: Peter Grimes with Imani Mosley

Is Peter Grimes the villain, or just his town’s biggest HR violation? Musicologist and Britten scholar Dr. Imani Mosley joins us to discuss the original problematic Grimes. And since Peter Grimes is the only Britten opera on this list, it’s a jam-packed episode as we navigate both the seas of judgment in Suffolk, the work’s 1945 premiere, and the lasting influence of Britten on opera.

Follow Imani on Instagram at @idm and on BlueSky at @imanimosley.bsky.social. Listen to her talk about how much Percy Grainger sucked (and heal your inner band kid who had to play “Country Gardens” at every grade-school spring concert) over at This Guy Sucked.

Listen to the Bad Gays episode on Benjamin Britten.

Listen to Benjamin Britten as a musical theatre character in Gabriel Kahane’s February House.

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Simon says:

“It is a masterly piece of writing, but it is difficult to take warmly to one’s heart. One reason may be its sombre, rather repellent subject matter; another may be the involved, almost tortured language of the libretto, which is based on George Crabbe’s thoughtful and compassionate series of poetic letters descriptive of life in his native Aldeburgh, Suffolk.”

(100 Great Operas. and Their Stories)

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Peter Grimes: The story

• Act I

  Evening.

• Act II

• Act III

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Recordings cited

• Allan Clayton, Nicole Car, Adam Plachetka, Nicholas Carter: Peter Grimes (Met Opera on Demand, 2022)

• Peter Pears, Claire Watson, James Pease, Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes (Decca, 1958)

• Alan Oke, Giselle Allen, David Kempster, Steuart Bedford: Peter Grimes (Signum, 2013)

• Philip Langridge, Janice Watson, Alan Opie, Richard Hickox: Peter Grimes (Chandos, 1996)

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Further reading

• Philip Brett: Peter Grimes: Cambridge Opera Handbook (1983)

• Sam Kinchin-Smith: Benjamin Britten and Montagu Slater’s Peter Grimes (2018)

• Neil Powell: Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music (2013)

• Mervyn Cooke (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten (1999)

• Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007)

• Vicki Stroeher, Nicholas Clark, and Jude Brimmer (eds.): My Beloved Man: The Letters of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears (2016)

• Kate Kennedy (ed.): Literary Britten Words and Music in Benjamin Britten’s Vocal Works (2018)

• Sherill Tippins: February House (2006)

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Playlist

Prologue

Chris Thile, Aoife O'Donovan, Gabriel Kahane, Live from Here / 2019

“What Harbour Shelters Peace?”

Philip Langridge / 1996

“Now the Great Bear and Pleiades”

Allan Clayton / 2022

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“Old Joe Has Gone Fishing”

IU Jacobs School of Music / 2017

“Embroidery in Childhood”

Patricia Racette / 2008

“Look! Now’s Our Chance”

Allan Clayton/ 2022

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“Who Holds Himself Apart”

Metropolitan Opera Chorus / 2022

“Peter Grimes!” (Mad Scene)

Philip Langridge / 1994

Final Chorus

Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / 2018

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