Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.
Britten's "Prodigal Son"
Back in Bach’s day, there were churchmen aghast at the thought that composers were trying to sneak flashy opera music into Sunday services. Church music was meant to be simple, austere, and, well , NOT “operatic.” So what would they have made of the three “church parables” – mini-operas, really, composed in the 20th century by the great English composer Benjamin Britten? The third of these, “The Prodigal Son,” debuted on today’s date in 1968 at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Orford, England. All three impart Christian values and were meant for church performance – scored for a handful of soloists, modest choir, and a small ensemble that would fit in front of and on either side of a church altar where church music was normally performed. But operas they are, and Britten himself let the “o” word slip when he commented in a 1967 interview that he was (quote), “doing another church OPERA to go with the other two, ‘Curlew River’ and ‘The Burning Fiery Furnace,’ to make a kind of trilogy.’” Britten took these mini-operas seriously, and dedicated “The Prodigal Son” to his new friend, the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who in turn would dedicate his 14th Symphony to Britten.