Historic Budd Telecast NBC Opera 1952

[jserraglio]

qtd from YT: This modern opera composed by Benjamin Britten is based on the novel by Herman Melville. This early live TV production has never been reissued. Presented here in memory of Charles Polacheck, the producer of the program, who considered his work with the NBC Opera Theater to be one of his proudest professional achievements.

[John F]

Wow! Thanks for finding that. It's "Scenes from Billy Budd," with a timing of 1½ hours it includes only half, but I look forward to viewing it this weekend.

[stenka razin]

OMG.................Thank you, thank you, thank you.........!

Regards,
Mel

[jbuck919]

A nice find, I suppose, but the problem with Billy Budd and other Britten operas is that they are all about young boys. Biily Budd, from the novella by Herman Melville who was beyond a doubt an ephebophile himself, is probably no older than 16. Tadzio from Death in Venice, also written by a lover of adolescent boys, is probably not older than 13. Need I go on? Almost all of Britten's operas are forced fantasies. They are not to be compare with the legitimate use of boy singers in operas like The Magic Flute and Pélleas et Mélisande.

[John F]

"nicaree"?

You'd better not go on, because you're wrong about Britten's operas, and your open implication about the composer is wrong too. Young boys as significant dramatic characters figure in three of Britten's 16 operas, plus the two composed for children of both sexes. (In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Puck is spoken by a dancer or acrobat, often a boy, but the character is not a boy or even human.) "Billy Budd," as Britten composed it and as we invariably see it, is not about a young boy, it's about a strapping young man - a baritone! - who kills Claggart with a single blow of his fist. As for "forced fantasies," what can you mean by that?

Britten himself was homosexual but not a pederast; his lifelong lover was a man several years older than himself. He enjoyed working with children but was always scrupulously correct toward them, with no known personal relationship of any kind. We're not talking Michael Jackson here. More generally, it's a simplistic fallacy to suppose a direct relationship between a dramatist's personal life and his works. Wagner was an antisemite but that doesn't make "Der Ring des Nibelungen" antisemitic; "The Merchant of Venice" is antisemitic, that can't be explained away, but that doesn't make Shakespeare an antisemite.

[jbuck919]

"nicaree"?

You'd better not go on, because you're wrong about Britten's operas, and your open implication about the composer is wrong too. Young boys as dramatic characters figure in three of Britten's 16 operas, plus the two composed for children of both sexes. (In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Puck is sung by a boy soprano but the character is not a boy or even human.) "Billy Budd," as Britten composed it and as we inevitably see it, is not about a young boy, it's about a strapping young man - a baritone! - who kills Claggart with a single blow of his fist. As for "forced fantasies," what can you mean by that?

Britten himself was homosexual but not a pederast; his lifelong lover was a man several years older than himself. He enjoyed working with children but was always scrupulously correct toward them, with no known personal relationship of any kind. We're not talking Michael Jackson here. More generally, it's a simplistic fallacy to suppose a direct relationship between a dramatist's personal life and his works. Wagner was an antisemite but that doesn't make "Der Ring des Nibelungen" antisemitic; "The Merchant of Venice" is antisemitic, that can't be explained away, but that doesn't make Shakespeare an antisemite.

I did not intend to coin a word with "nicaree." In fact, I am laughing myself silly over it and have gone back to change it. I don't know whether it is my typing or my computer that has failed me. Please let it not be my brain. As for the rest, I originally posted a long response but have retracted it. It is not a matter worth pursuing beyond your post.

[jserraglio]

A nice find, I suppose, but the problem with Billy Budd and other Britten operas is that they are all about young boys. [snip]

All?
______________________

Rape of Lucretia?
Gloriana?
Paul Bunyan?
Albert Herring?
A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Owen Wingrave?

[lennygoran]

A nice find, I suppose, but the problem with Billy Budd

No it's a wonderful opera. And the Met's production is right on! Regards, Len

PS-not like the crummy Peter Grimes production they put in a while back.