Peter Grimes

We saw our fourth opera in three weeks last night. As Nathan says, when you see the opera this often, it stops being a hobby and becomes a lifestyle. Of course it is about to stop being a lifestyle as our next and final opera of the season is about a month from now. This time we saw Peter Grimes, an English opera about a psychologically troubled fisherman in Suffolk and what happens in a small community when tragedy strikes.

English operas are interesting - English isn't exactly as pretty-sounding as Italian and it is a little weird to actually understand the lyrics. To be honest though, I depended on the subtitles a good deal anyway because comprehending lyrics is not my strong point. Often Nathan will love (or hate) some song because of the lyrics, while I am completely clueless as to what they are singing about unless they happen to sing with crystal clear and slow enunciation.

Anyway, I have similar trouble comprehending opera lyrics in English. So when the e-libretto went all flaky during the second act, it was as if Ellen Orford's character was singing in Gaelic for all I knew. Sure I caught some words - just like I catch some words in Italian operas as well. Plus I am not exactly used to hearing words like "fisticuffs".

This is one of those operas where it is a bit of a struggle to not leave before the third act. But this opera was amazingly good if you kept at it, and battled the forces of sleepiness. I highly recommend seeing it in August, when the curtain time is a full hour earlier. When the characters just start singing about the bad state of affairs in a slow dirgeful way, it is hard to not to succumb to your desire to close your eyes. But the third act was more forceful and dramatic, and perhaps the caffeine I drank in copius amounts during intermissions finally kicked in as well, because i had no trouble giving it my full attention.

The actor playing the title character was amazing - his role is so different from most opera leading roles. He was a big, kind of clumsy guy who you had the feeling was just not meant to be a fisherman. The actor had recently played Lenny in an operatic version of Mice and Men, and there were many similiarities in the two characters. He is also reminding me of the big dentist McTeague:

McTeague's mind was as his body, heavy, slow to act, sluggish. Yet there was nothing vicious about the man. Altogether he suggested the draught horse, immensely strong, stupid, docile, obedient.

McTeague, Frank Norris

That was my impression of what Peter Grimes was like before his apprentice dies at sea. And like McTeague, Grimes descends into anger. Grimes becomes an angry man during the course of the opera - he is angry that the town gossips about him, angry that life dealt him a bad hand, angry that he doesn't have enough money to give Ellen the life she deserves.

His first fishing apprentice boy died of thirst out at sea and he was acquitted of any wrongdoing in a hearing. The local community, a character in its own right, was highly suspicious and rumors flew around town about him, about how he murdered the boy despite the ruling. Peter can get a new apprentice as long as he lets a woman help look after him, so Ellen Orford, Peter's would-be love interest, and widowed school-marm, volunteers. The new boy shows up with Ellen during a very stormy night after an arduous journey. Peter bursts in from the storm, and immediately drags the boy out to his hut despite the huge storm raging outside. This pisses off the townsfolk, who are all at the tavern where this scene takes place.

They decide to go after Peter, mob-style. Peter and the boy leave his hut and the boy accidentally falls off the cliff that collapsed near the hut recently. Another accident. Once the crowd learns of this a few days later, when Peter returns to town in his boat, without the boy, they assemble a bigger, nastier crowd. The local retired sea captain tells Peter to take his boat out of the harbor and sink it. Peter sang the most amazing song in the third act - the range of emotions and the his voice was full of pain and rage. Often you don't notice the acting very much in the operas, or it is just adequate - but he was a great actor as well as gifted with a beautiful voice. The poor guy - he obviously had some mental issues - hearing voices in his head, for one, and had a tendency towards violence, but you also got the distinct impression that the apprentices died accidentally and not by his hand. But the crowd was unforgiving, and Peter had no choice but to take the sea captain's advice and sink slowly into the dark sea.

Peter Grimes Performance Dates: July 23, 27; August 5, 11, 17