A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN

A STUDY GUIDEPrepared by Virginia Opera

TABLE OF CONTENTS.Cast of Characters 2Brief Plot Summary 3Annotated Full Synopsis with Musical Highlights 5Historical Background 14The Creation of the Opera 16Notable Features of Musical Style 19Discussion Questions 20A Short History of Opera 21The Operatic Voice 23Opera Production 24Glossary of Operatic Terms 25

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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAMMusic by Benjamin Britten

Libretto by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, Adapted from William Shakespeare’s play

PremiereFirst performance on June 11, 1960 at Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, Suffolk County, England

Cast of Characters

OBERON, King of the Fairies CountertenorTYTANIA, Queen of the Fairies Coloratura SopranoPUCK or Robin Goodfellow Acrobat/speaking roleTHESEUS, Duke of Athens BassHIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus

Contralto

LYSANDER, in love with Hermia TenorDEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia BaritoneHERMIA, in love with Lysander Mezzo SopranoHELENA, in love with Demetrius SopranoNICK BOTTOM, a weaver Bass BaritonePETER QUINCE, a carpenterFRANCIS FLUTE, a bellows mender

BassTenor

SNUG, a joiner TenorTOM SNOUT, a tinker TenorROBIN STARVELING, a tailor BaritoneCOBWEB,PEASEBLOSSOM,MUSTARDSEED,MOTH, fairies serving Tytania

Trebles

Brief Plot Summary

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A wood near Athens, in ancient times. The story involves three separate groups of characters who all interact in various ways: supernatural fairies ruled by Oberon and Tytania; high-born mortals ruled by Theseus and Hippolyta (who are shortly to be wed); and a group of tradesmen called Rustics.

Announced by the mischievous Puck, Oberon and Tytania enter at odds, arguing over who should claim a changeling boy they each want. Alone with Puck, Oberon plots to defeat his wife by casting a spell on her as she sleeps, one that will cause her to fall in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening.

Lysander and Hermia enter, having fled to the wood to escape Hermia’s forced marriage to Demetrius. Prepared to defy the edict of Theseus, they pledge their faithfulness to each other. Oberon returns to observe the arrival of Demetrius, pursued by Helena. Demetrius is searching for Hermia, greatly annoyed by Helena’s repeated declarations of love. When Puck returns with the flower Oberon will use to bewitch Tytania, he is ordered to place a similar spell on Demetrius that will cause him to love Helena instead of Hermia.

We next meet the Rustics, who are gathering in the wood to begin preparing a performance of the drama Pyramus and Thisbe as part of the wedding celebration of the royal couple. After Peter Quince assigns all the roles, the friends agree to return shortly for a rehearsal.

Lysander and Hermia, exhausted and lost, fall asleep. Puck, mistaking Lysander for Demetrius, casts the love-spell on him and exits. Demetrius enters with Helena in tow; Ordering her to stop following him, he goes on alone as Helena spots the sleeping Lysander. When she wakes him, Lysander instantly declares his love for her, to her surprise and displeasure. She runs off with Lysander in pursuit. When Hermia awakes, she is frightened to find herself alone; she wanders off in search of her lover.

Tytania, ready for a night’s rest, is sung to sleep by her retinue of fairies. Once she’s asleep, Oberon enters stealthily to apply the magical flower-juice to her eyes.

The Rustics reappear to get down to the business of rehearsing their play, observed by Puck. When Bottom exits the “stage”, Puck magically transforms him into an ass. When he returns, his friends flee in terror. Bottom, confused, begins to sing loudly, causing the sleeping Tytania to awaken and become instantly infatuated with him. She commands her fairies to attend to Bottom; they obediently pamper him. Oberon enters, very pleased at the results of his spell. He is not happy, however, when Demetrius enters with Hermia, who pleads to be released from their engagement. Oberon realizes that Puck put the wrong lover under the love-spell, as Demetrius is still determined to marry Hermia. Hermia runs off; Demetrius, exasperated, decides to catch

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forty winks. Seizing the opportunity, Oberon applies the spell to Demetrius so that he will choose Helena over Hermia.

The four confused lovers meet, with Helena sure that the two men are mocking her with their joint declarations of love. Tempers flare as the two ladies hurl accusations at each other while Lysander and Demetrius prepare to fight a duel for Helena’s hand. Oberon, angry with Puck for having caused this situation, directs the fairy to lead the men away from one another until they’re too exhausted to fight. One by one, the four would-be lovers tire and fall asleep yet again. Puck applies the spell to Lysander so that his affections will return to Hermia.

Oberon comes upon the sleeping Tytania. Having taken possession of the changeling boy, he now reverses the spell on his wife. When she awakens, she no longer loves Bottom; Oberon and Tytania reconcile in a celebratory dance.

The four young nobles awaken with the sunrise, with all spells broken except for Demetrius, who will remain in love with Helena, thus allowing Lysander a clear path to Hermia. They all happily leave the wood.

Bottom wakes up, marveling at his strange dream. Quince and the other actors are relieved to see him in human form again. They leave to ready their costumes for that evening’s performance.

At the Duke’s palace in Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta greet the two pairs of lovers as their guests. Learning that Demetrius now loves Helena, Theseus agrees to overturn his previous ruling and allow the young people to marry whom they wish.

All settle in as the Rustics announce the beginning of Pyramus and Thisbe. The performance, marked by comically bad acting, draws amused comments from the audience. Following the play, there is a celebratory dance before Theseus sends the three couples off to their nuptial bed.

As midnight bells toll and the palace becomes quiet, the fairies enter to cast a spell of blessings on the household. Puck, addressing those who have watched the comedy, suggests that anyone who was offended should merely regard it as a dream.

Annotated Full Synopsis with Musical Highlights

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Act 1

We are in a forest near the city of Athens in mythical times. A brief orchestral introduction consists of a choir of strings sliding up and down between various major chords, creating a mysterious magical atmosphere presaging the appearance of fairies. The sliding effect (called portamento) also represents the sound of deep breathing or snoring, as when one sleeps and dreams.

Example 1

A chorus of fairies, led by Cobweb, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom and Moth, enter, singing of their service to Tytania, the Queen of the Fairies; their task is to bedew the Queen’s flowers. They sing a melody that will recur in various forms. It is accompanied by the sliding chords as well as the “magical” sounds of bells and the celesta.

Example 2

Robin Goodfellow (commonly called Puck), a magical boy who serves Oberon, enters with a warning: the Fairy King is very angry. Tytania has kidnapped the son of an Indian king to keep for herself. Oberon, however, also wants the boy to serve as his squire.

At that, the fairies hide as Oberon and Tytania enter; they are in the midst of a full-blown argument over the child. Their disagreement is causing havoc in Nature: fields are barren, livestock is dying, and the seasons have switched places, causing chaos. Oberon says it’s up to her to restore order by giving him the child. But Tytania refuses, explaining that the changeling’s mother was one of her worshippers whose company she enjoyed. But the mother died, and the Queen is set upon keeping him. Oberon angrily orders her away with the warning that he will torment her until she relents.

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Oberon calls for Puck, commanding him to fetch a flower, one to be used to play a prank on Tytania. The nectar of this flower, when applied to sleeping eyes, causes one to fall madly in love with the first living creature seen upon awakening. Puck flies off on his errand; Oberon disappears.

Two young citizens of Athens enter breathlessly. They are Hermia, daughter of Egeus, and her lover Lysander. Hermia is distraught because Theseus, Duke of Athens, has ruled in favor of her father’s plan that she marry Demetrius, another young Athenian. In desperation, she and Lysander have fled the city, hoping to escape the edict of Theseus by eloping in the distant home of Lysander’s aunt. Pausing to rest, they re-affirm their mutual love, ardently pledging faithfulness over and over:

Example 3

Anxious to make good their escape, they exit. Oberon re-appears just another pair of young Athenians enter. Curious, he decides to make himself invisible to overhear their conversation. The new arrivals are Demetrius (Hermia’s betrothed) and Helena, a young girl who is in love with him. Helena has told Demetrius of Lysander and Hermia’s elopement, spurring him to the woods in pursuit his fiancé. Demetrius bluntly tells Helena she should stop following him because he can never love her. However, Helena is not easily discouraged, replying (in a short solo) that, like a faithful dog, she will love him even if he abuses her.

Example 4

Exasperated, Demetrius runs off, but Helena, vowing to “make a heaven of hell”, doggedly tags along. Oberon decides to work magic on Demetrius to make him return Helena’s love.

Puck returns with the enchanted flowers. In the aria “I know a bank where the wild thyme grows”, Oberon outlines the detail of his plan to cast a spell on Tytania.

Example 5

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The forest is momentarily silent before six rough-hewn villagers enter, a group of “rustics” or simple tradesmen. They are Peter Quince (a carpenter); Nick Bottom (a weaver); Francis Flute (a bellows mender); Robin Starveling (a tailor); and Tom Snug (a joiner). They have met in the forest to work in secret on a theatrical project: they hope to present a performance of the tragedy Pyramus and Thisbe at the imminent royal wedding of Theseus to his bride Hippolyita, the Queen of the Amazons. Quince describes the play and assigns a role to each man. Bottom, a loud-spoken man with large ambitions, is to play Pyramus, but as Quince mentions the roles of Thisbe and the Lion, Bottom complains that he would be the best choice for those roles also. Quince puts his foot down: Bottom will have to content himself with playing Pyramus. Flute is assigned the role of Thisbe, though he is somewhat dismayed to learn that the role is the female lead. Complaining that his beard is just coming in, Flute accepts Quince’s dictum and begins practicing a high-pitched woman’s voice. Snug is to play the Lion. Rather slow-witted, Snug frets about learning his lines until Quince explains the entire role is nothing but roaring.

Quince hands out each actor’s part, directing them to learn all their lines. They agree to return later that day for a rehearsal.

Lysander enters with Hermia. They have lost their way in the woods and, exhausted, they stretch out on the ground to rest, quickly falling fast asleep. Puck enters; seeing the sleeping Lysander, he concludes that this must be Demetrius, the man to whom he is to administer the flower nectar as Oberon ordered. Quietly, he sprinkles the love-nectar on Lysander’s eyes, then leaves to report to the Fairy King.

As Lysander and Hermia sleep, Demetrius and Helena return. She is still begging for his affection, but Demetrius, at the end of his rope, commands her to stop following him and runs off. Helena unhappily wishes that she were as pretty as Hermia when, suddenly, she spots Lysander on the ground.

Unsure whether he is asleep or dead, Helena calls out to him. Lysander sit up, wide awake now and under the spell of Puck’s flower nectar. To Helena’s great surprise, he immediately declares his passionate love for her. Helena not only is concerned at Lysander’s apparent betrayal of Hermia; she also angrily assumes that he is mocking her with false words of love. She exits in a huff, but Lysander follows after.

Hermia now awakens, confused and frightened to find herself all alone. Calling out for Lysander, she sets out in search of her lover.

As afternoon shadows lengthen, Tytania enters with her retinue of fairies, ready to rest. Cobweb, Mustardseed and the rest of the fairy chorus sing her gently to sleep with a lullaby, the melody of which is that of “Over hill, over dale” (Example 2), but in inverted motion: ascending/descending rather than descending/ascending. The “sleeping harmonies” (Example 1) once again accompany them.

Once Tytania is asleep, Oberon approaches her as the fairies disperse. He squeezes the flower-nectar into her eyes, ensuring that she will fall in love with the next living thing she sees.

ACT 2

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An orchestral introduction depicts the enchanted forest at night, with various mysterious sonorities suggesting Tytania’s sleep, the sprinkling of the magic flower nectar and the impish movement of the fairies.

Example 6

Later that night, the rustics return to the forest to begin rehearsing. Bottom, having looked over his script, is worried that the play contains too much violence for the ladies in the audience. He suggests a Prologue in which he, Bottom, can reveal that he is not really Pyramus but Nick Bottom the weaver. Other technical problems of stagecraft ensue. The problem of how to display moonshine will be solved by having an actor enter holding up a lantern. When Quince puzzles over how to suggest the stone wall that separates the two lovers, it’s decided to have an actor represent the wall; he can hold his fingers in a circle to make the hole in the wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe kiss.

As the rehearsal proper begins, Puck flies in, greatly interested in these mortals’ strange doings. Bottom declaims his lines, occasionally mis-pronouncing words; Quince patiently corrects him. Bottom exits as the script indicates, wandering off for a moment. Puck is struck with inspiration: he is going to cast a spell on the weaver. Meanwhile, Flute makes a mess of his role. Quince points out with some irritation that Flute does not wait for cues, but says all his lines at once, including the stage directions.

Bottom, again on cue, re-enters, only to find that his companions staring at him open-mouthed before fleeing in terror. Unbeknownst to Bottom, Puck has changed his head into that of an ass. Half-man and half-ass, Bottom supposes that Quince and the rest are playing a trick on him, trying to give him a scare. Certain that they’re nearby and determined not to give them any satisfaction, he launches into a raucous folk-song, singing at the top of his lungs in a voice that occasionally emits an involuntary “hee-haw”

Example 7

Bottom’s off-key braying performance awakens Tytania who, under Oberon’s spell, begins doting on him, praising his voice, his wisdom and his beauty. Bottom, seemingly unaware of his changed

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appearance, is rather sanguine about this unexpected attention from the Fairy Queen, who calls for Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mustardseed and Moth. In a lilting aria of comic grace and delicacy, she bids them wait on the object of her affection.

Example 8

Bottom and the four fairies have a bit of cordial conversation, with the ass asking two of them to scratch his hairy hide. Tytania calls for music; as the fairies play upon pipes and drums, Bottom dances with gusto.

Example 9

Bottom is overcome with sudden exhaustion. The fairies lead him to a bed of honeysuckle and ivy, where he falls asleep in Tytania’s arms. Puck and Oberon enter; the Fairy Kind is delighted with Puck’s choice of a love-object for his wife. But when Demetrius enters with Hermia, Oberon asks if he too has been enchanted, his delight turning to dismay when a greatly confused Puck says this is a different Athenian.

Thus, Demetrius is still in love with Hermia and not, as Oberon wished, Helena. Hermia begs him to allow her happiness with Lysander, but Demetrius threatens violence against his rival. Hermia, saying she never wants to see him again, exists furiously. Demetrius, muttering that there’s no use following her in such a mood, lies down and falls asleep. Oberon, greatly annoyed, orders the chastened Puck to go fetch Helena. Alone with the sleeping Demetrius, Oberon produces the magic flower and applies the nectar to his eyes, ensuring he will transfer his love to Helena when he awakens.

Puck directs Helena to enter, with the love-struck Lysander in tow, thus bringing both couples together in the forest for the first time. Helena is still upset with Lysander’s unwanted wooing. For his part, Lysander reminds her that Demetrius doesn’t love her. At that moment, Demetrius wakes up, sees Helena and, to everyone’s surprise, instantly begins declaring his passionate love for her.

This is too much for Helena, who concludes that all of them are amusing themselves by tormenting her. A scene of comic misunderstandings ensues. Helena, assuming that Hermia is in on the joke, attacks her friend, hurling accusations of betrayal. Lysander and Demetrius begin arguing over which of them loves

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Helena more. Hermia, shocked and hurt by Helena’s accusations, turns on her, accusing her of having stolen Lysander. Hermia, who has always been self-conscious of her short stature, now accuses Helena of having used her taller stature to attract Lysander. Helena, picking up on this, rubs salt in the wound by repeatedly calling Hermia “little” and “low”. Lysander and Demetrius resolve to fight with swords to win Helena’s hand’ they stalk off to do battle. Hermia, now at the boiling point, chases Helena, with the latter boasting that her longer legs will keep her from being caught.

Oberon and Puck, having witnessed all this, form a plan. Puck, who is amazed by the foolishness of these mortals, is to keep the two men separated so that they cannot hurt each other. Puck, imitating first one’s voice and then the other’s, leads them further and further apart. Once the urge to fight has been replaced by weariness, Puck lures all four to gather: first Lysander, followed by Demetrius, Helena and Hermia. Exhausted from all the discord and confusion, each falls deeply asleep. The chorus of fairies enters, singing sweetly that all will be well when they awaken.

Example 10

ACT 3

Dawn of the following morning. Oberon tells Puck that, as he has now taken possession of the changeling boy, it is time to remove the spell from Tytania. As the Fairy Queen rouses, she tells her husband of the strange dream she had of being in love with an ass. Seeing the sleeping Bottom at her side, she expresses revulsion at the sight of him. Oberon calls for music to lull Bottom and the four Athenians into an even deeper sleep. He and Tytania, now fully reconciled, dance as Oberon declares that the fairies will do a dance of blessing at the palace of Theseus that very evening following the wedding of the three couples. While they dance, Puck removes the spell from Bottom, returning him to human form.

The three fairies exit as the sleeping couples begin to stir. Sitting up groggily, the young people are unsure whether they are awake or still dreaming. Lysander’s spell has been broken, meaning that he is once again in love with Hermia. However, Demetrius, now permanently under Oberon’s spell, is in love with Helena for the first time. Each couple exchanges rapturous words of love; they arise to make their way back to Athens.

Bottom, too, awakens, wondering whatever happened to his fellow thespians. With a sense of awe, he recalls having had a strange dream; a dream so bizarre he cannot find the words to describe it. In an addled mis-quote of a passage from I Corinthians, Bottom declares that “the eye of man hath not heard,the ear of man hath not seen…” such a dream. He wanders off, musing that the dream ought to be set down as a ballad.

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Quince, Flute and the other rustics now enter, distraught over the mystery of Bottom’s transformation and disappearance. They fret that if he is not available to play the part of Pyramus, the performance cannot go on. They are greatly relieved when Bottom now joins them, bringing them news: the Duke’s dinner has concluded and they have been invited to perform their play. They set out for the palace.

At the Duke’s palace, Theseus and Hippolyta happily anticipate their wedding-day, Theseus remarking that though he conquered the warrior-princess in violent combat, their marriage will be joyous and triumphant.

The two couple enter, kneeling before the Duke. When Thesus observes the obvious happiness of Hermia and Lysander, he generously reverses his prior ruling, allowing them to wed in spite of Egeus’s wishes. Calling for after-dinner amusement, Quince enters with a playbill for Pyramus and Thisbe. Hippolyta and Lysander register amusement at the unintentional wording of Quince’s description of the play, which calls it “tedious and brief” as well as “tragically comical”. Theseus commands the performance to begin, and the actors take the makeshift stage, Throughout the rustic’s performance of Pyramus and Thisby, the composer employs a deliberately anachronistic musical style, with constant parody of Italian bel canto. The drama begins with the entire cast reciting the Prologue in unison. Their listeners observe that the recitation completely disregarded punctuation, rushing headlong from beginning to end. Snout begins the drama’s action, announcing that he is the Wall separating the forbidden lovers of the title. He makes a circle with his fingers, explaining that it is the “chink” in the Wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe speak. In contrast with the “human” characters, the Wall sings with the Expressionistic device of Sprechstimme.

Bottom now enters in his role as Pyramus, emoting for all he’s worth in a highly melodramatic monologue beginning “O grim-look’d night” and going on to implore the Wall to reveal its chink. The melody is very much in the style of Verdi:

Example 11

Next to enter is Flute, made up in gown and wig to portray Thisbe. He sings to the accompaniment of solo flute in a melody similar to the style of Donizetti:

Example 12

As “Thisbe” begins her aria, she is dreadfully sharp, a full step above the flute, before settling down and finding the right key. At the climax of her scene, the two “lovers” exchange a quick kiss through the

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Wall’s chink, Flute quickly denying he kissed Bottom at all, but rather the chink in the Wall. The three couples in the audience make continual sardonic comments.

Snug, as the Lion, and Starveling, as the Moon, now enter. Snug takes pains to assure his audience that he is not a real lion, but merely Snug the joiner. Starveling tediously explains that his lantern is the moon, he, the man in the moon, and the dog, a dog.

Thisbe enters, only to be chased off by the “roaring” of the Lion, dropping her mantle as she departs. Pyramus enters; finding the mantle “stained with blood”, he assumes his lover is dead, lamenting his loss in a thunderous G minor accompanied by trombones.

Example 13

After Pyramus kills himself in a death scene to end all death scenes, Thisbe enters. Beholding the corpse of her lover, she expresses her grief in an aria sounding suspiciously like Edgar’s Tomb Scene in the finale of Lucia di Lammermoor. To make the reference to that work even clearer, Thisbe interpolates a cadenza recalling Lucia’s Mad Scene in its simultaneous scales for flute and voice, though the effect is distorted a bit by Flute having once again lost the key:

Example 14

Thisbe’s suicide ends the play. When Bottom offers an Epilogue, Theseus quickly declines, requesting instead a Bergomask dance to bring the evening to an end:

Example 15

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As the hour of midnight is tolled, Theseus invites suggests all couples retire to bed. When they have exited, the woodland fairies make a stealthy entrance, singing that though the night is their time to frolic, the household will not be disturbed. Puck joins them, followed by Oberon and Tytania. The fairies unite in a song of blessing to Theseus, his bride and their guests.

Example 16

All the fairies leave except for Puck, who addresses all those who have watched the events of the story unfold. His advice: anyone who has been offended should just consider all that’s happened to have been a mere dream. Asking for applause, he bows and disappears.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Historical Background

Shakespeare’s comedyThough we know that William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (AMND) was first printed in 1600, it is impossible to establish the exact year in which it was written with certainty.

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When scholars attempt to form a chronology for Shakespeare’s works for the stage, various factors are taken into consideration, including:

Mentions of the play in contemporary sources and documents of the period; References in the script to actual persons or events of Shakespeare’s day; Aspects of style, as Shakespeare’s writing went through various stages of development

throughout his career; Records of public performances;

and others.

In this context, many believe that AMND was written around 1595, possibly following the tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Like Romeo, it is in a lyrical style. Another factor is the play-within-a-play Pyramus and Thisbe, presented by Bottom and the other “mechanicals” at the court of Theseus in Act V.

Pyramus and Thisbe is a classic tale of doomed lovers. The oldest surviving version dates from the year 8 A.D. in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. There are later adaptations by Boccaccio and Chaucer. Given the basic elements of the plot (lovers separated by a family feud ending in dual suicides resulting from misunderstandings), it is obvious that Shakespeare used it as the basis for Romeo and Juliet. It is reasonable to assume that with Pyramus still fresh in his mind, he decided to follow his tragedy by including a parody of the story in his next project. This became the mechanical’s comically absurd re-telling in AMND. (Note: Shakespeare’s parody inspired a classic 1960 American musical comedy, The Fantasticks. It, too, features young lovers uniting despite their father’s feud. It also includes a character taken directly from Shakespeare: as in AMND, the lovers are separated by a wall portrayed by a human actor.)

There is no particular source for the main plot of AMND; it appears to be largely the work of Shakespeare’s fertile imagination, although some characters are not original. For example:

Puck, also called Robin Goodfellow, is a traditional character thought to date back some one thousand years with roots in Norse and Celtic mythology. Variously termed a spirit, a hobgoblin or pixie, Puck is a mischievous entity whose trick and pranks range from innocent to evil depending on the story being told, similar to Til Eulenspiegel, a character of German folklore. Puck/Robin appears in English literature as early as 1531 in the Oxford English Dictionary, as well as other sixteenth-century dramas.

Oberon, the Fairy King, is a character dating from thirteenth-century French literature and song. Interestingly, his origins indicate he is also a variant of the mythical character Alberich, who would later play a central role in Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung operas. Oberon’s wife Titania is a creation of Shakespeare, although the name was also borrowed from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where it was used in association with daughters of the Titans.

Theseus is an important figure in Greek mythology, the hero of many tales. His exploits include slaying the Minotaur on the island of Crete in the kingdom of King Minos. Aided

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by Minos’s daughter Ariadne, he became her lover, later abandoning her on the island of Naxos, an event re-told in operatic form in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. Theseus, in his deeds of strength and combat, resembles such heroes as Hercules and Samson.

Hippolyta, in mythology, is the Queen of the Amazons, a race of powerful female warriors. Theseus, as Shakespeare recounts in AMND, conquered Hippolyta and married her, one of his many romantic escapades.

It is often observed that, while AMND is ostensibly set in ancient Greece, the play clearly depicts contemporary English society and mores. This is thought to be a deliberate device of Shakespeare’s; a way of distancing his characters from the present, thus allowing social commentary without giving offence to living persons or institutions.

The structure of the play maximizes the contrast between the everyday civilized world of Athens, symbolizing “reality” (ruled by Theseus), with the magical, ethereal world of the Woods symbolizing “dreams” (ruled by Oberon and Titania). The comedy begins and ends in Athens, with the adventures in the Woods occurring in between. Thus, the impression is given of the characters passing from one day into a night’s sleep and then leaving the world of dreams to return, however transformed, to reality. As explained below, Britten’s opera departs from this structure.

THE CREATION OF THE OPERA

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was already an established operatic composer of high international standing when he undertook an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (AMND). His successful operas included such widely admired masterworks as Peter Grimes (1945), Albert Herring (1947), Billy Budd (1951) and The Turn of the Screw (1954).

AMND was written for a special occasion, in celebration of the opening of Jubilee Hall, a newly-rebuilt venue of the Aldeburgh Festival. The composer began work on the piece in the summer

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of 1959 for its premiere at the 1960 festival, a relatively brief span of time in comparison with his usual pace. Britten jokingly remarked that the short turnaround time prompted his choice of subject in that “a libretto was already at hand” with Shakespeare’s play. The irony of his quip lies in the fact that a Shakespearean play cannot function as an operatic libretto by simply setting it to music; such an opera would be several times normal operatic length. Any play by Shakespeare must be subjected to massive editing: characters must be cut or compressed, speeches truncated and entire scenes deleted or combined.

Britten set to work on the task of re-shaping the original comedy with the help of his collaborator and partner, the tenor Peter Pears. Their major alterations include these:

The expository material in Shakespeare’s Act 1, scene 1 was cut. Britten wanted the action to begin in the wood, to allow the music to establish an aura of magic and enchantment. The audience gradually infers the dilemma of Hermia’s forced engagement as the action unfolds.

The frequent comings and goings of the two couples in the play are condensed, with various scenes combined.

About one half of the 72,679 words in Shakespeare’s play are cut altogether. Of the words retained, they remain as Shakespeare wrote them word-for-word, with no updating or re-writing. (Britten inserted one short phrase not found in the play to clarify the reason for Hermia’s elopement with Lysander.)

In a few cases, lines spoken by one character in the play were re-assigned to another in the opera.

In the play, the action takes place over a span of four days; the opera compresses the action into a little over twenty-four hours.

The effect of these and other changes, while retaining the story-lines of the major characters, result in a fundamental restructuring. Some of Shakespeare’s structure is abandoned, but in its place, Britten finds his own unique structure.

For example, the structure of the complete play has a logical symmetry forming an arch shape to the whole:Theseus Quince Fairies Quince TheseusThis frames the comedy with the court at Athens, representing “reality” and the “conscious world”, with the mechanicals (or, in Britten’s term the “rustics”) providing a transition to and from the enchanted world of dreams. The work as a whole takes on a pleasing symmetry.

With the wholesale removal of Shakespeare’s first act, the opera loses any vestige of that symmetry. However, Britten/Pears find new symmetries in their re-ordered action. Here is the outline of the action in Act 1 of the opera:Fairies Lovers Rustics Lovers FairiesThus, one element of symmetry is replaced by another.

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The libretto does contain some flaws, as two details seem not to conform to logic. In the final scene of the opera, where we meet Theseus and Hippolyta for the first time,

Britten transplanted their dialogue from the opening scene of the play as the characters discuss their upcoming marriage. Theseus’s lines include these:

Now fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hourDraws on apace: this happy day brings inAnother moon: But oh, methinks, how slowThis old moon wanes; she lingers my desires… (etc.)

When uttered at the outset of the play, in which the wedding is still four days away, we understand Theseus’s unhappiness with how slowly time is passing. But in the opera, this scene occurs literally on the wedding-day, making his impatience difficult to understand. In a related problem of logic,

Following the Rustic’s performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, Theseus invites all the couples to bed to consummate their marriages. However, there hasn’t yet been time for any of the weddings to take place. The two young couples have only just arrived at the palace for the performance, and by Theseus’s own admission, his nuptials still await. Commentators and critics of the opera are in general agreement that, perhaps owing to the speed at which they had to work, Britten and Pears may not have realized this error. Some have speculated that perhaps this was the composer’s nod to the freer sexual climate of the 1960’s in which the opera was first performed, but this idea has been largely discredited. And finally,

Theseus and Hippolyta have been reduced to mere cameos, far less important to the plot than in the play. It is true that the opera allows Theseus to announce the reversal of his earlier command that Hermia obey her father, but by cutting the play’s opening scene, that issue is made less important.

Nevertheless, the opera’s libretto stands as a remarkably clear and concise version of Shakespeare’s comedy with its extremely complex texture of plots and sub-plots. Almost all characters are retained, and the language is faithful to Shakespeare.

Themes of the operaThe more one knows about Benjamin Britten, the easier it becomes to understand why AMND would have attracted him as operatic material; it treats a number of themes which recur throughout his career. They may be summarized as follows:

A. Night, sleep and dreams. Ironically, for a man who admitted he disliked working late at night and admitted “By midnight, all I want to do is sleep”, as an artist he was fascinated with darkness and sleep. Previous works in this category include:

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The Serenade, Op. 31 (1943) for tenor voice, horn and strings. This cycle of six songs on the subject of night is framed by a Prologue and Epilogue for solo horn. The poems are from various English poets.

The Nocturne, Op. 60 (1958): for tenor voice, a chamber ensemble of obbligato instruments, and strings. The texts for this cycle of eight songs are drawn from classic English poets (including a sonnet of Shakespeare’s) and all deal directly with night-time and sleep.

In the opera The Turn of the Screw (1954), the children Miles and Flora run into the woods in the night, where they encounter malevolent ghosts.

B. Young boys. The plot of AMND hinges on two boys: the Indian changeling child (who is discussed but never seen), and Puck, who is one of the catalysts of the action. Britten’s interest in the depiction of boys is a feature of many of his operas, including:

Peter Grimes (1945), in which the title character, a fisherman in a small coastal village, is suspected of having killed his young apprentice as the curtain rises. When he takes on a second boy as apprentice, he too meets an untimely end, causing Grimes, now driven mad, to take his own life.

Albert Herring (1947), a coming-of-age comedy in which the title character is an adolescent boy experiencing sexual awakening.

Billy Budd (1951) features a title character who, while being an adult sailor, is considered of such pure and innocent character by his ship’s crew that he is called “Baby Budd”.

The Turn of the Screw (1954), as mentioned above, centers on the efforts of the ghost of the evil Peter Quint to take possession of the young boy Miles. Despite the efforts of the Governess to protect him, Miles dies in the opera’s final scene.

Death in Venice (1973), Britten’s final opera, is about an elderly man’s obsession with a beautiful young Polish boy named Tadzio.

Taken as a whole, the five operas above plus AMND can possibly be viewed as Britten’s reflections on his own attitude toward boys, with both wholesome and unwholesome aspects combined in his psyche, adding up to a revealing self-portrait.

AMND was an immediate success upon its premiere production at Jubilee Hall and has remained a staple of the twentieth-century repertoire around the world ever since. It ranks with Peter Grimes and Billy Budd as Britten’s most-performed operas, ensuring his position as the most important English operatic composer since Henry Purcell

NOTABLE FEATURES OF MUSICAL STYLE

Britten’s choice of counter-tenor to portray the role of Oberon is noteworthy. Counter-tenors were seldom if ever used in the opera world in 1960. The unique timbre of the counter-tenor

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voice is apt for a male character who is neither a mortal man nor a god; the ethereal nature of Oberon’s vocal range effectively suggests the unsettling effect Britten clearly desired. Tytania, on the other hand, is written for a conventional operatic soprano. Some critics find that her more powerful voice leads to problems of balance in Tytania’s duets with Oberon.

Another feature of Britten’s musical characterization of Oberon involves the orchestral accompaniment. Oberon’s lines are generally accompanied by the celesta. Interestingly, the celesta was also used as instrumental color for the role of Quint in The Turn of the Screw.

Puck is a speaking role. Britten remarked that his conception of Puck was inspired by a performance he saw by a troupe of young Swedish acrobats. Having Puck speak his lines also conveniently avoided the challenge of finding an appropriate singing voice. Making him another counter-tenor would detract from Oberon’s uniqueness. A treble voice, as assigned to Mustardseed, Moth and the other solo fairies, would make Puck seem too young, whereas any standard male operatic voice (bass, baritone or tenor) would make him sound too mature. As with Oberon, Puck’s distinctive vocal style helps him stand out in the fairy world.

When the chorus of fairies sings alone in passages such as “Over hill, over dale” or the opening of the lullaby ending Act 1, Britten deliberately chooses a comparatively lively, essentially rhythmic style, avoiding any suggestion of the cuteness or sweetness associated with popular images of fairies from the Victorian era or the Disney canon. Harmonies are often astringent and harsh, and words are set in irregular patterns with odd syllabic stress. The intention, once again, appears to depict fairies as somewhat disturbing alien creatures. Their richest and most lyrical musical passage occurs in the final moments of the opera, when all the fairies are bestowing blessings on Theseus and his household.

The humorous use of musical parody in the Pyramus and Thisbe scene has been described above.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical Into the Woods depicts standard fairy tale characters from “Rapunzel”, “Cindereella”, “Jack and the Beanstalk” and others as they find themselves going to the woods to resolve various issues in their lives. Do you find any relationship in this theme to A Midsummer Night’s Dream? In what sense? Is it possible that Sondheim had Shakespeare in mind as an inspiration for his work?

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2. The discussions in this guide have documented Britten’s interest in the subject of night-time, sleep, and dreaming. How would you sum up his attitude toward these aspects of the human experience? Be as specific as you can.

3. Why do you think the counter-tenor voice was not used in opera prior to A Midsummer Night’s Dream? What characteristics make it problematic or suitable for this art form?

4. In both the opera and the original play, the role of Puck has been played by boys as well as grown men. Is there anything about the character that suggests one or the other as being more appropriate?

5. Compared to the hundreds of operatic adaptations of Shakespeare that have been created throughout the history of opera, only a handful have been found successful enough to remain in the repertoire. What, in your opinion, might account for this small percentage? Is there something about the nature of Shakespeare that presents challenges to opera composers?

6. Listen to a recording of the Overture to Felix Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Compare his concept of “fairy music” to Britten’s. What, if anything, do Britten and Mendelssohn have in common in their conception of the story? What are the biggest differences?

A SHORT HISTORY OF OPERA

The word opera is the plural form of the Latin word opus, which translates quite literally as work. The use of the plural form alludes to the plurality of art forms that combine to create an operatic performance. Today we accept the word opera as a reference to a theatrically based musical art form in which the drama is propelled by the sung declamation of text accompanied by a full symphony orchestra.

Opera as an art form can claim its origin with the inclusion of incidental music that was performed during the tragedies and comedies popular during ancient Greek times. The tradition

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of including music as an integral part of theatrical activities expanded in Roman times and continued throughout the Middle Ages. Surviving examples of liturgical dramas and vernacular plays from medieval times show the use of music as an “insignificant” part of the action as do the vast mystery and morality plays of the 15th and 16th centuries. Traditional view holds that the first completely sung musical drama (or opera) developed as a result of discussions held in Florence in the 1570s by an informal academy known as the Camerata, which led to the musical setting of Rinuccini’s drama, Dafne, by composer, Jacopo Peri in 1597.

The work of such early Italian masters as Giulio Caccini and Claudio Monteverdi led to the development of a through-composed musical entertainment comprised of recitative sections (secco and accompagnato) which revealed the plot of the drama; followed by da capo arias which provided the soloist an opportunity to develop the emotions of the character. The function of the chorus in these early works mirrored that of the character of the same name found in Greek drama. The new “form” was greeted favorably by the public and quickly became a popular entertainment.

Opera has flourished throughout the world as a vehicle for the expression of the full range of human emotions. Italians claim the art form as their own, retaining dominance in the field through the death of Giacomo Puccini in 1924. Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Leoncavallo developed the art form through clearly defined periods that produced opera buffa, opera seria, bel canto, and verismo. The Austrian Mozart also wrote operas in Italian and championed the singspiel (sing play), which combined the spoken word with music, a form also used by Beethoven in his only opera, Fidelio. Bizet (Carmen), Offenbach (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Gounod (Faust), and Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots) led the adaptation by the French which ranged from the opera comique to the grand full-scale tragedie lyrique. German composers von Weber (Der Freischütz), Richard Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Wagner (Der Ring des Nibelungen) developed diverse forms such as singspiel to through-composed spectacles unified through the use of the leitmotif. The English ballad opera, Spanish zarzuela and Viennese operetta helped to establish opera as a form of entertainment which continues to enjoy great popularity throughout the world.

A SHORT HISTORY OF OPERA (continued)

With the beginning of the 20th century, composers in America diverged from European traditions in order to focus on their own roots while exploring and developing the vast body of the country’s folk music and legends. Composers such as Aaron Copland, Douglas Moore, Carlisle Floyd, Howard Hanson, and Robert Ward have all crafted operas that have been presented throughout the world to great success. Today, composers John Adams, Philip Glass, and John Corigliano enjoy success both at home and abroad and are credited with the infusion of new life into an art form which continues to evolve even as it approaches its fifth century.

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THE OPERATIC VOICE

A true (and brief) definition of the “operatic” voice is a difficult proposition. Many believe the voice is “born,” while just as many hold to the belief that the voice is “trained.” The truth lies somewhere between the two. Voices that can sustain the demands required by the operatic repertoire do have many things in common. First and foremost is a strong physical technique that allows the singer to sustain long phrases through the control of both the inhalation and exhalation of breath. Secondly, the voice (regardless of its size) must maintain a resonance in both the head (mouth, sinuses) and chest cavities. The Italian word “squillo” (squeal) is used to describe the brilliant tone required to penetrate the full symphony orchestra that accompanies

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the singers. Finally, all voices are defined by both the actual voice “type” and the selection of repertoire for which the voice is ideally suited.

Within the five major voice types (Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Bass) there is a further delineation into categories (Coloratura, Lyric, Spinto, Dramatic) which help to define each particular instrument. The Coloratura is the highest within each voice type whose extended upper range is complimented by extreme flexibility. The Lyric is the most common of the “types.” This instrument is recognized more for the exceptional beauty of its tone rather than its power or range. The Spinto is a voice which combines the beauty of a lyric with the weight and power of a Dramatic, which is the most “powerful” of the voices. The Dramatic instrument is characterized by the combination of both incredible volume and “steely” intensity. Below is a very brief outline of voice types and categories with roles usually associated with the individual voice type.

Coloratura Lyric Spinto Dramatic

SopranoNorina (Don Pasquale)Gilda (Rigoletto)Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor)

Liu (Turandot)Mimi (La Bohème)Pamina (Magic Flute)

Tosca (Tosca)Amelia (A Masked Ball)Leonora (Il Trovatore)

Turandot (Turandot)Norma (Norma)Elektra (Elektra)

Mezzo-Soprano

Rosina (Barber of Seville)Angelina (La Cenerentola)Dorabella (Così fan tutte)

Carmen (Carmen)Charlotte (Werther)Giulietta (Hoffmann)

Santuzza (Cavalleria)Adalgisa (Norma)

Azucena (Il Trovatore)Ulrica (A Masked Ball)Herodias (Salome)

TenorCount Almaviva (Barber of Seville)Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni)Ferrando (Così fan tutte)

Alfredo (La Traviata)Rodolfo (La Bohème)Tamino (Magic Flute)

Calaf (Turandot)Pollione (Norma)Cavaradossi (Tosca)

Dick Johnson (Fanciulla)Don Jose (Carmen)Otello (Otello)

BaritoneFigaro (Barber of Seville)Count Almavira (Le nozze di Figaro)Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale)

Marcello (La Bohème)Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni)Sharpless (Madama Butterfly)

Verdi BaritoneGermont (La Traviata)Di Luna (Il Trovatore)Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

Scarpia (Tosca)Jochanaan (Salome)Jack Rance (Fanciulla)

Bass Bartolo (Barber of Seville)Don Magnifico (Cenerentola)Dr. Dulcamara (Elixir of Love)

Leporello (Don Giovanni)Colline (La Bohème)Figaro (Marriage of Figaro)

Buffo BassDon Pasquale (Don Pasquale)Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte)

Basso CantateOroveso (Norma)Timur (Turandot)Sarastro (Magic Flute)

OPERA PRODUCTION

Opera is created through the collaboration of different artists. First and foremost are the actors who portray characters by revealing their thoughts and emotions through the singing voice. The next very important component is a full symphony orchestra that accompanies the singing actors and actresses, helping them to portray the full range of emotions. The orchestra performs in an area in front of the singers called the orchestra pit while the singers perform on the open area called the stage.

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The creation of an opera begins with a dramatic scenario crafted by a playwright or dramaturge who alone or with a librettist fashions the script or libretto that contains the words the artists will sing. Working together, the composer and librettist team up to create a musical drama in which the music and words work together to express the emotions revealed in the story. Following the completion of their work, the composer and librettist entrust their new work to a conductor who assumes responsibility for the musical preparation of the work. The conductor collaborates with a stage director (responsible for the visual component) in order to bring a performance of the new piece to life.

Set, lighting, and costume designers, wig and makeup designers and even choreographers must all work together to participate in the creation of the new production. The set designer combines the skills of both an artist and an architect using “blueprint” plans to design the physical set which will reside on the stage, recreating the physical setting required by the storyline. These blueprints are turned over to a team of carpenters who are specially trained in the art of stage carpentry. As the set is assembled on the stage, the lighting designer works with a team of electricians to place light onto both the stage and the set in an atmospheric as well as practical way. Using specialized lighting instruments, colored gels and a state of the art computer, the designer creates a “lighting plot” by writing “lighting cues” which are stored in the computer and used during the actual performance of the opera.

During this production period, the costume designer in consultation with the stage director has designed appropriate clothing for the actors and actresses to wear. These designs are fashioned into patterns and crafted by a team of highly skilled artisans called cutters, stitchers, and sewers. Each costume is specially made for each singer using his/her individual measurements. The wig and makeup designer, working with the costume designer, creates wigs which will complement both the costume and the singer as well as represent historically accurate “period” fashions.

As the actual performance date approaches, rehearsals are held on the newly crafted set, combined with costumes, lights, and orchestra in order to ensure a cohesive performance that will be both dramatically and musically satisfying to the audience.

GLOSSARY OF OPERATIC TERMS

ALTO (It.)The lowest female voice. Also called contralto.

ARIA (It.)pronounced (AH-ree-ah) - A song for solo voice.

BARITONE pronounced (BARR-ah-tone) - The middle range male voice, between tenor and bass.

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BASSpronounced (BASE) - Lowest of the male voices.

COSTUME Clothing a singer wears to portray a character.

COMPOSER The person who writes the music.

DESIGNER The person who creates the scenery, costumes and lights.

DUET pronounced (do-ET) - Music written for two people to sing together, usually to each other.

ENSEMBLE Two or more singers singing at the same time to express their emotions and tell the story.

LIBRETTO (It.) pronounced (lih-BRET-oh) - The word literally means “little book.” Thetext or words of an opera.

MELODY A series of musical tones that make up a tune.

MEZZO-SOPRANO (It.)pronounced (MEDZ-oh soh-PRANH-oh) - The middle female voice, between soprano and contralto.

OPERA pronounced (AH-per-ah) - A play that uses singing instead of speaking and is accompanied usually by piano in rehearsals and orchestra in performances.

PIANO (It.) pronounced (pee-AN-oh) – A musical instrument used to accompany singers in rehearsals when there is no orchestra. The orchestral score is reduced from parts for many instruments to one part for the pianist, which combines all the important music that must be played to give a complete sound for the singers.

RECITATIVE

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pronounced (ress-it-uh-TEEVE) - A type of music using words sung with the rhythm of natural speech with some melody added. Recitative can come before an aria or stand alone and it gives information or moves the story along.

REHEARSAL The time singers and musicians spend practicing before a performance.

PROPS Objects placed on the stage, excluding scenery. Short for “properties.”

SCORE The book which contains both the music and the text of the opera.

SET The scenery used on the stage to show location for the action.

SOPRANO (It.)pronounced (soh-PRANH-oh) - The highest female voice.

STAGE DIRECTOR The person who decides how the singers will move on stage and how they will act while they are singing their parts.

TENOR pronounced (TEH-nor) - The highest male voice.

TRIO (It.)pronounced (TREE-oh) - Music written for three characters to sing together.

VIBRATO (It.)pronounced (vi-BRAH-toe) - The natural way for a voice or instrument to enlarge its sound through a very rapid but very tiny waver in pitch.

VOCAL RANGEThe scope of the human voice from its highest to its lowest sounds. Voices fall into these categories:

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