Curlew River: A Parable for Church Performance, Op. 71

London: Faber and Faber. 1965. "Rehearsal score" (short score rather than piano-vocal score) by Imogen Holst. Folio. 14 x 10.75 inches (35.5 x 27 cm). 123 pp. of music; front and back matter unpaginated. [PN] F&F2. Printed "Production Notes" by Colin Graham, 20 pp., 11 x 8.5 inches (28 x 21.5 cm), inserted in a pouch to the inside of the lower wrapper. The edition (except the "Production Notes") is bilingual, with title page, text underlay and most of the front matter in English and German. Wrappers somewhat worn, with loss to foot of spine and stains to back cover; pouch for "Production Notes" torn open; score in very good condition, with occasional marks in pencil.

The libretto by William Plomer (1903–1973) is based on the medieval Japanese No-play Sumidagawa of Judo Motomasa (1395–1431). "This is the first of Britten’s three ‘parables’, single-act chamber operas of about an hour’s duration for a small group of male singers and instrumentalists (23 performers in all, in the case of Curlew River), dressed as monks or lay brothers, and performing without conductor. Though inspired by Japanese noh theatre (Curlew River derives its plot from the play Sumidagawa, which Britten saw in Tokyo in 1956), the parables are made specifically Christian by their texts and modes of presentation. They are notable for their close coordination of movement, gesture and music, and provide clear evidence of Britten’s disenchantment, in the 1960s, with many aspects of conventional opera. The music, deriving from the plainchant of a framing processional hymn, is both more concentrated in form and less dependent on conventions of tonal harmony than in Britten’s earlier operas." Arnold Whittall in Grove Music Online. (22012)

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