Programs · Episode

BRITTEN: Death in Venice

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, February 25, 2023 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Bleak, beautiful and extraordinarily moving, Britten’s final opera is one of his most remarkable works.  Based on a novella by Thomas Mann, Britten’s drama is deeply personal, yet also reflects profound and universal truths. As Aschenbach, the opera’s dominant role, the recordings we’ll hear feature tenors Philip Langridge and Peter Pears, the singer for whom that role was written.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

English Chamber Orchestra, English Opera Group;  Steuart Bedford, conductor
CAST:  Peter Pears (Aschenbach); John Shirley-Quirk (Traveller, Fop, Gondolier, Hotel Manager, Barber, Leader of the Players, Voice of Dionysus); James Bowman (Voice of Apollo); Kenneth Bowen (Hotel Porter)
London 425669

City of London Sinfonia, BBC Singers; Richard Hickox, conductor
CAST:  Philip Langridge (Aschenbach); Alan Opie (Traveller, Fop, Gondolier, Hotel Manager, Barber, Leader of the Players, Voice of Dionysus); Michael Chance (Voice of Apollo); Andrew Murgatroyd (Hotel Porter)
Chandos 10280

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

At the turn of the 20th century, Western literature was going through a kind of identity crisis. Many writers were examining themes of chaos, personal and political decadence, and social decline. Oscar Wilde, André Gide and Thomas Mann were just a few of them. The element of homoeroticism was also present in many of these works. One of the most profound and enduring of these was Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, which was published in 1912 in Germany, then quickly translated into other languages and published all over the world.

Mann based the novella on his own experiences. In 1905, during a cholera outbreak, Mann was staying on an island just outside Venice. Years later, he visited the city once again. During that stay, in May 1911, he read an newspaper account of the death of composer Gustav Mahler.  The central character of Death in Venice, a man named Gustav von Aschenbach, is based on both Mahler and Mann himself. The haunting story — of an aging writer and his obsession with a boy's beauty — has remained perennially popular, inspiring a play, a movie, a song by Rufus Wainwright (“Grey Gardens”), and today's opera.

Mann's interest in the ancient classical themes of Apollonian discipline and Dionysian abandon are especially evident in Death in Venice. Mann revealed that he had been smitten with a young boy when he was in Venice a few years before the publication of the book. And in Benjamin Britten, Mann's preoccupation with beauty, yearning and obsession found a sympathetic ear. Britten, too, experienced passionate attachments to adolescents, though those attachments perhaps owed as much to nostalgia for the innocence of youth as they did to eros. Such sentiments often brought out the best in his music.

Benjamin Britten completed Death in Venice in 1973. The role of Aschenbach he wrote specifically for his longtime partner, tenor Peter Pears. Pears' unique, hauntingly delicate voice was perfectly suited to the intense, intimate atmosphere of the work. Because of failing health, Britten wasn't able to attend the premiere. He died just a few years later, leaving Death in Venice as his last opera.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone showcases two recordings, one made just a year after the opera’s premiere.  That one, from 1974, features Peter Pears, along with the English Chamber Orchestra and members of the English Opera Group, led by conductor Steuart Bedford.  Also, from a 2004 release, we’ll hear tenor Philip Langridge, with Richard Hickox leading the City of London Sinfonia.

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