Noye’s Fludde is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year’s Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century Chester mystery play. Britten specified that the opera should be staged in churches or large halls, not in a theatre. A large children’s chorus represents the pairs of animals who march into and out of the ark.
About Noye’s Fludde in brief
Noye’s Fludde is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year’s Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century Chester mystery play. Britten specified that the opera should be staged in churches or large halls, not in a theatre. A large children’s chorus represents the pairs of animals who march into and out of the ark, and proceedings are directed by the spoken Voice of God. Of the solo sung roles, only the parts of Noye and his wife were written to be sung by professionals; the remaining roles are for child and adolescent performers. The opera received its American premiere in New York in March 1959, and its first German performance at Ettal in May of that year. Since then it has been staged worldwide; the performance in Beijing in October 2012 organised by the KT Wong Foundation was the first in China of any Britten opera. The occasion of Britten’s centenary in 2013 led to numerous productions at music festivals, both in the UK and abroad. The Little Sweep is a mini-opera written for young audiences, and used child performers. In 1947 Britten suggested to his librettist Eric Crozier that they should create a children’s opera, based on a bible story. Nothing came of this project, and he wrote the cantata Saint Nicolas, which combines skilled amateurs with amateurs.
The cantata involves at least two children’s choirs, two congregational hymns sung by the audience, and incorporates two Greek prayer Kyrie eleison as a children’s chant, and an Alleluia chorus. It is the first of several works in which Britten combined skilled amateur singers and choruses with amateur singers, and was first performed at Let’s Make an Opera, in which he devised an audience that sings with children. The second was The Saint Saint Nicolas, which combines professional singers and child singers. The third was The Little Sweep, which forms the second part of his entertainment for children, Let’s Make an Opera in which the audience sings with amateur singers and choruses, and is sung by child and adult choristers. The fourth is The Saint Saint Nicolas, which is a cantata that combines skilled amateurs with child singers, and incorporates two choirs. The fifth is the Little Saints, which combines professional singers and children’s choirs, and is sung by a group of adults. The last is the Canticle II, which retells the story of Abraham and Isaac, which was composed as a project for television. It was performed at the 1952 Canticle festival in London. It has since become a regular feature and tourist attraction, and has been performed at festivals across the world, including in the US, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
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This page is based on the article Noye’s Fludde published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
