Dive in to Britten’s Sea Interludes
The Sea Interludes are some of Britten’s most renowned works and are excellent examples of dramatic musical story telling. These orchestral pieces are heard during scene changes, and in total make up a fifth of the running time of the opera. Each of them paint a different striking picture of the sea, and they are named after the different states of sea that they represent- Dawn, Sunday Morning, Moonlight and Storm, and Britten expertly uses these interludes to paint images of the sea and to foreshadow the drama of the upcoming scene, as well as providing listeners with hints of Peter Grimes’ mental state.
Dawn
In Dawn, Britten paints an image of the calm break of day. The piece is the first interlude heard, and it features soaring violin melodies, glistening woodwind moments and a deep brass accompaniment to show listeners that it’s a serene day at sea, and that all is calm in the borough as a new day begins. Its use at both the beginning and end of the opera reminds audiences that whilst the drama and people in the village may come and go, the sea is an unchanging force that remains forever.
Sunday Morning
The second interlude, Sunday Morning, is identifiable by the church bells and bright fleeting melodies. The image that Britten paints here is of a bustling town where all is well, but as the music builds to have a more dissonant harmony, Britten gives listeners a taste of the fact that in the scene that follows, nothing has changed, and Grimes is continuing to mistreat his apprentices.
Moonlight
The long string melodies and warm chords in Moonlight show audiences that it's a warm summers night in the village, but it’s not long before Britten suggests that in the scene that follows, there will be great unease in the Borough. He shows us this by subtly introducing more dissonance to the chords and underscoring the warm strings with sharp flute stabs. These features in Moonlight show instability in Grimes’s mental state, and that jabs of doubt are creeping in.
Storm
In Storm, the most dramatic of the four interludes, a storm arrives at sea, and the force of rain, wind and waves descending on the Suffolk village is shown with rumbling percussion and thunderous brass, as well as racing, fast paced melodies and rich harmonies. There is no subtlety to the image of unease that he paints this time, and listeners can hear the Borough go into disarray. Grimes’s instability is obvious, with the piece showing his mental battle between his desire to marry Ellen and his concerns about the gossip in the Borough.
We hope you have enjoyed diving intoBritten’s SeaInterludes with us. Our WNO Orchestra will bring the interludes to life as a part of WNO’s brand-new production of Peter Grimes in our Spring 2025, opening in Cardiff on 5 April and heading out on touruntil 7 June 2025.