Britten, Four Sea Interludes (from Peter Grimes)

I’m sitting in my son’s new apartment on the beach, a stone’s throw from Chesapeake Bay. No really, I could throw a rock from here that would land in the water. There is nothing between the window and the bay except sand. Today, however, it’s cold and rainy. You can barely see the ships through the mist, so it looks rather more like England than Virginia.

I’m not a great fan of the beach, but I find the sea endlessly fascinating. To avoid becoming envious of my son’s view, I remind myself that I have been to sea many times in the past few years, including a several transatlantic crossings. Okay, not in small wooden ships where you get the full impact of the ocean, but in luxury liners with elegant dining. Somehow I manage. And I have to remind myself that Professor Carol’s popularity is my ticket to sail.

So with the sea in mind, it seems only right to postpone what I had planned for today and write something about music and the sea. There are numerous options, but Benjamin Britten’s Sea Interludes came immediately to mind.

“Interlude,” of course, signifies something in between. In this case, the interludes come between scenes in the 1945 opera Peter Grimes. You can get some background on the opera from Professor Carol’s 2008 podcast previewing the Met HD production (esp. 4:00 – 6:45, if you’re pressed for time). The opera takes place in a fishing village, and the sea, portrayed in its various moods and colors, plays a central role. In fact, as it reflects and comments on the action of the drama, it assumes the character of a Greek Chorus.

Four of the six sea interludes from the opera (“Dawn,” “Sunday Morning,” “Moonlight,” and “Storm”) were later organized by Britten into a suite for orchestra.

The sea out my window now looks completely different from when I began writing. No doubt in another hour it will change again. Musical seascapes could be a good theme for several posts in this series, but in the meantime, you could turn to the paintings of Aivazovsky to help set the mood.

UPDATE: The video originally posted is no longer available and the one below is substituted.