Investigates cinematic qualities in opera and reveals why Benjamin Britten’s operas lend themselves to TV and film interpretations.
Benjamin Britten’s 1954 opera
The Turn of the Screw, based on Henry James’s ghost story, has been described by many critics and commentators as cinematic. Along with
Peter Grimes,
The Turn of the Screw is one of the most frequently televised or filmed of Britten’s operas. Some of these productions have used location footage and/or studio work, and others are based on theatrical settings. This book explores the notion of cinematic opera in the context of
The Turn of the Screw and filmed opera in general, and questions what inherent cinematic qualities exist in the work which make it particularly conducive for screen interpretation, an aspect of Britten’s compositional style which has rarely been examined in detail before.
Contrary to the prevailing narrative around Britten’s disdain for cinema and television, the composer engaged with film as both a cinemagoer and film music composer early in his career and these experiences informed his compositional and dramatic choices. Archival research reveals clues to the composer’s adaptation process. By tracing the progress from Henry James’s original novella to operatic stage and screen production, via the development of Myfanwy Piper’s libretto and Britten’s score, the journey of adaptation is discussed in detail. A key part of the book looks at the subsequent interpretation of the opera on screen. Case studies evaluate eight directors’ interpretations of the opera ranging from 1959 up to the 2020s. Included is a special study of Peter Morley’s 1959 ITV version, which had previously been thought lost. This reveals the roots of Britten’s subsequent engagement with screen media, culminating in his television opera
Owen Wingrave. The book also briefly explores the influence of cinema on stage productions of the opera which have not been filmed.
Table des matières
Introduction
1. Britten and Film
2. Britten and ‘Cinematic Opera’
3. Turning the Screw: Creating a Stage Opera
4.
The Turn of the Screw from Stage to Screen: Peter Morley’s Television Production
5. Analysing Opera on Screen
6.
The Turn of the Screw under the Microscope: Examples from Screen Media Productions
7. Britten and TV Opera after
The Turn of the Screw
8. Summary and Conclusions
Appendix One: Glossary of Film Terms
Appendix Two: Extract from
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Chapters IV, V and VI (referred to in Chapter 3).
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
A propos de l’auteur
PETER AUKER has a Masters degree from the University of Sheffield, and subsequently graduated with a Ph D in Music from the University of Nottingham.
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