Britten-san

During a tour of Tokyo eight years ago, Composer Benjamin Britten was introduced to "a totally new operatic experience"--a Japanese No drama. Fascinated by the stark economy of style and the eerie mixtures of guttural chants, drums and flute, Britten decided that it might be interesting to give an English background to the simple tale of Sumida-gawa-- a demented mother seeking her lost child.

Britten finally brought East and West together last week in a 14th century Norman church near his home in Aldeburgh, a tiny (pop. 3,000) fishing village on the windswept east coast of England. The occasion was the 17th Aldeburgh Music Festival, where right from the start the main attraction has always been Townsman Britten. The premiere was just about to begin when a thunderstorm knocked out the electricity. When light was restored, Britten unfolded his hour-long opera, Curlew River, a moving parable patterned after an English medieval mystery play, but with strong No overtones in its echoes of Sumidagawa, its incantatory music and its austere dramatic styling. Did it mark a new "Oriental period" for Britten? Press and public agreed that Curlew River may not be a major work, but it may well mark a turning point in Britten's creative career.

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