The opera from 'Let's make an Opera', an entertainment for young people
Music Text Libretto by Eric Crozier (E,Bg,Cz,F,Fn,G,I,Tk). Additional audience song translations available (Dn,N,Sw)
ScoringAdult roles:2S,A,T,B; children's roles:4Tr,2S; audience participation
perc(1):timp/BD/SD/gong/cyms/tgl/cast/lg & sm wdbl-pft(4hands)-solo string quartet
(also arranged for piano duet with or without percussion)
This work can be performed with the introductory play 'Let's Make An Opera' - see separate entry
for details.
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our
Opera section.
World Premiere6/14/1949
Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh
Basil Coleman and Stuart Burge, director / English Opera Group / Norman Del Mar
Repertoire Note Two of the major preoccupations informing Britten’s life and work, opera and music for children, come together in this ‘Entertainment for Young People’, the first part of which,
Let’s Make An Opera, consists of a play in which we see a group of children and adults write and rehearse an opera; the second part consisting of a performance of the finished opera itself. As such, the work can almost be seen as Britten’s operatic counterpart to
The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. Yet despite the light-hearted approach,
The Little Sweep is also a morality tale in which Sam the sweep boy is sold into service and bullied by his elders in a manner reminiscent of
Peter Grimes. Thus the work embodies a rounded and involving theatrical experience, introducing young audiences to the conventions of opera by means of a simple yet affecting story with which they can sympathise and identify. That Britten undoubtedly succeeded in his aim is demonstrated by the work’s universal appeal and popularity.
Reproduced by kind permission of the
Britten-Pears LibraryMore on this Composer
