LA Opera: The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw (1954), based on the novella of the same title by Henry James, is pretty awesome of its own accord, regardless of the performance it receives. The LA Opera’s rendition during the March 2011 series demonstrated just how much more awesome a successful performance can be, particularly for a first-time listener/viewer. I had listened and read through about half of the score’s piano reduction sometime last year, but never seen the opera until this production.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away because I think it is worth it for ALL of you to check out at some point, but it centers around a governess who travels to an estate far removed from the rest of society to take care of two children, Flora and Miles. The governess begins to notice an unsettling mystery surrounding the departed manservant, Peter Quint, and the former governess, Miss Jessel. Britten’s version of the original story is particularly effective because he does not cast it as specifically a ghost story or a psychological story; instead, he leaves the final interpretation to the viewer.

The orchestra is chamber-sized, using a one-on-a-part string section, flute/alto flute/piccolo double, oboe/English horn double, clarinet/bass clarinet double, bassoon, horn, harp, percussion/timpani, and piano/celesta. I found myself really enjoying this size and instrumentation. It has potential for a variety of thin and full textures, without overpowering the six-member vocal cast. Recurring motives help unify the musical structure of the two-hour opera; a spiraling theme, for example, represents “the turn of the screw.” One of the most recognizable motives is Quint’s melismatic and haunting summons to young Miles. To me, Quint had the best vocal role, which is no surprise (Britten wrote many tenor roles for his partner, Peter Pears. I’m really only mentioning this so I have an excuse to show this adorable picture of the two of them on a beach in dress clothes.)



William Burden as Peter Quint and Michael Kepler Meo as Miles were my favorite performers, and Patricia Racette as the governess was also quite good. The ingenuity of the set and lighting design really sold this production to me, however. The centerpiece was a large panel of glass with a pane that could open and close for a door; the entire panel could be raised and tilted, serving at times as a wall of the house and other times as the surface of the lake (allowing during one very cool moment for Miss Jessel to rise from the lake through the “door”). The other more permanent piece of set was a large, gnarled tree. At times, certain characters like Miss Jessel or Quint would be contorted in the background as part of the silhouette of the tree, so that the audience would only really notice them when they emerged from the silhouette.

I encourage you to look into this opera more if you’re interested, or Britten’s other fantastic operas! Here are some pictures from the LA Opera production, and a video with excerpts of music.