Insights into The Royal Opera s new production of Billy Budd

Join the cast and creative team behind The Royal Opera s new staging of Britten s Billy Budd as they explore the production. Subscribe to our channel and find out more at http://www.roh.org.uk Includes footage from the DVD release of Billy Budd. Directed by Jérémie Cuvillier (c) Teatro Real Madrid - Bel Air Media - France 2018. DVD and Blu-Ray (c) Bel Air Classiques 2018 Britten wrote Billy Budd to a commission from the Arts Council of Great Britain for the 1951 Festival of Britain. It is based on the American writer Herman Melville s novel Billy Budd, Sailor, which was particularly popular in England. Britten and his librettists E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier collaborated in crafting the opera s text, and gave greater prominence to Captain Vere - the role Britten wrote for his partner Peter Pears - than in Melville s novel. Billy Budd s premiere was at the Royal Opera House in 1951. It was initially in four acts. Britten subsequently created a two-act version, which was given its stage premiere at the Royal Opera House in 1964 and is the one usually performed today. Billy Budd is Britten s grandest opera, particularly in its use of the male chorus in numbers such as Act I s playful sea shanties and the rousing Act II chorus This is the moment . Others of the many highlights include Claggart s aria of malevolence O beauty, handsomeness, goodness! , Billy s poignant monologue (Billy in the Darbies) as he awaits execution and Vere s morally tortured opening and closing monologues. Deborah Warner s tender, character-focused staging and Michael Levine s semi-abstract sets give a sense of the intimacy that develops among men living at close quarters at sea, and highlights the contrasting lives of the officers above decks and the men below.