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6 & 7. The Turn of the Screw. This page covers classes 6 and 7, both of which are devoted to the same opera: The Turn of the Screw (1954), by Benjamin Britten (1813–76). Its libretto by Myfanwy Piper (1911–97) makes a fascinating comparison to its source material, the novella of the same title by Henry James (1843–1916), published serially in 1898.

We will begin with the story, looking at how James frames it, and some of the devices he uses to tell it. We look briefly at non-musical adaptations in the cinema, then turn to the opera, first scene by scene, and then in more continuous stretches. In each case, we will look what prose can do that the camera or composer cannot, and what needs to be changed or indeed invented to create a taut drama that uses speech or singing in place of the author’s inner narratives. rb.

PREPARING FOR THE CLASS. If possible, read the Henry James novella, which is available in numerous editions (about a three-hour read); you can get it free (but less attractively) online though Standard e-Books. There is also a five-hour audiobook. Alternatively, you might like to watch either Jack Clayton's classic 1961 B&W film The Innocents with Deborah Kerr, or enjoy the rich settings of Ben Bolt's 1999 Turn of the Screw with Jhodi May. There are other versions out there, but I cannot guarantee that they are equally faithful to the book. The links marked "Book synopsis" and "Opera synopsis" under the picture above give you printable booklet synopses of each medium.

The script, images, and video links will be posted immediately after the first class.
 

Handout        Book synopsis        Opera synopsis        Class 6 Script        Class 7 Script Return to Index

 
We do well for texts and films: the novella, the libretto, and the two films that we sampled are all available complete online. The opera, however, is a different story. Neither the Glyndebourne production that I showed in class, nor the BBC film, nor the Brussels production that we sampled, is available other than in a few isolated scenes and trailers. But I did come across an interesting 21-minute set of excerpts from a production at Bury Court in England, several shots from which I showed as stills.

I have, however, added four links to other complete performances of the opera, but none has titles and all have other downsides. The Schwetzingen Festival production by Michael Hampe may be the best traditional production out there, but it is spoiled (for me) by cutting to pictures of the rather prissy conductor for all the interludes. The 1982 film conducted by Sir Colin Davis is superb musically, and might have been as good in its day as the more recent Katie Mitchell one, but it shows its age and is marred by intrusive Dutch titles. The 1991 Australian production seems fine, but the video is dark and marred by a continuously-running time-stamp at the top left. The 2014 production by Valentina Carrasco in Lyon may be the most inventive of the lot, but the video is even darker and the sound is shrill. Oh dear!

*Asterisks in the listings below indicate videos not shown in class.

TEXTS
  The Henry James Novella   * Complete eBook (from Standard e-Books)
* End of Chapter VI (scene discussed in class)
  The Britten Opera   * Libretto by Myfanwy Piper
 
FILMS
  The Innocents (1961)   * Opening sequence (Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave)
* Lake scene (Jack Clayton, director)
  The Turn of the Screw (1999)   * Opening sequence (Jhodi May, Colin Firth)
* Lake scene 1 (Ben Bolt, director)
* Lake scene 2
 
OPERA, COMPLETE
  Schwetzingen, 1990   * Act One complete
* Act Two complete
  Film, 1982   * Complete opera (12 linked sections; Dutch titles)
  Australian Opera, 1991   * Complete opera
  Lyon, 2014   * Complete opera (interesting, but very dark)
 
OPERA, EXCERPTS
  Glyndebourne 2011   * Miles' Malo song (I/6) (with titles)
* Miss Jessel (II/3) (with titles)
* Promo (3-minute compilation)
  Katie Mitchell film, 2005   * Act I finale (short clip only)
* Piano scene (II/6) (complete scene, Spanish titles)
  Brussels, 2021   * Bedroom scene (II/4)
* Trailer (directed by Andrea Breth)
  Bury Court, 2019   * Excerpts (21 minutes of excerpts, with titles)

           
IMAGES
The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in the two classes. Note that the images come from a variety of sources, not just the featured productions. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image.
Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.
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