Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from “Peter Grimes”: Atmospheric Portraits
Set in a small English coastal village, Benjamin Britten’s 1945 opera, Peter Grimes, tells the dark story of an alienated individual who falls victim to mob rule. This human struggle, with its focus on morality and punishment, plays out against the backdrop of the sea, a vast eternal presence. Throughout the opera, the action is interrupted by four orchestral interludes. Howard Posner describes them as scene changes by a master of the …