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Benjamin Britten

Billy Budd

Billy Budd, Op. 50, is an opera by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by the novelist E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, based on the novella Billy Budd by Herman Melville. Originally in four acts, the opera received its premiere at the Royal Opera House (ROH), London, on 1 December 1951. Britten later revised the work into a two-act opera, with a prologue and an epilogue. The revised version received its first performance at the ROH, Covent Garden, London, on 9 January 1964.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Movements

Act I

  1. Scene I. "Billy Budd, king of the birds!"
  2. Scene I. "Christ! the poor chap"
  3. Scene I. "Come along kid! Come along!"
  4. Scene I. "First man forward!"
  5. Scene I. "Guard boat! Indomitable!"
  6. Scene I. "I heard, your honour!"
  7. Scene I. "Pull, my bantams!"
  8. Scene I. "Starry Vere we call him"
  9. Scene I. "What's that? What's those whistles?"
  10. Scene I. "Your name?"
  11. Scene II. "Ay, at Spithead"
  12. Scene II. "Boy!"
  13. Scene II. "Gentlemen, the King!"
  14. Scene II. "We are, sir. Claggart is an able one"
  15. Scene III. "Billy!... Hist! Billy Budd!"
  16. Scene III. "Blow her away"
  17. Scene III. "Come here. Remember your promise"
  18. Scene III. "Dansker, old friend, glad to see you"
  19. Scene III. "Hi! You...a...a..."
  20. Scene III. "Over the water"
  21. Scene III. "We're off to Samoa"

Act II

  1. Scene I. "Deck ahoy!"
  2. Scene I. "I don't like the look of the mist"
  3. Scene I. "O this cursed mist!"
  4. Scene I. "There you are again, Master-at-arms"
  5. Scene I. "Who'll volunteer to board 'em"
  6. Scene I. "With great regret I must disturb your honour"
  7. Scene II. "Claggart, John Claggart, beware!"
  8. Scene II. "Gentlemen, William Budd here"
  9. Scene II. "God o' mercy!"
  10. Scene II. "I accept their verdict"
  11. Scene II. "Master-at-arms and foretopman"
  12. Scene II. "Poor fellow, who could save him?"
  13. Scene II. "William Budd, you are accused"
  14. Scene III. "And farewell to ye, old Rights o' Man!"
  15. Scene III. "Here! Baby!"
  16. Scene III. Interlude
  17. Scene III. “Look!”
  18. Scene IV. "According to the Articles of War"
  19. Scene IV. "Down all hands!"

Epilogue

  1. "We committed his body to the deep."

Prologue

  1. "I am an old man"

Recommended recordings

Elsewhere

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