Mr Emmet represents an enigma: is he a business man with briefcase and umbrella pursuing the ultimate commercial contract, a double agent extorting a much shadier deal from a foreign power, or a tragicomical everyman sifting through the flotsam and jetsam of a lifetime to prepare himself for death? A one-hour opera for three singers and small instrumental ensemble, with a libretto by David Pountney, premiered in 2000.