Peter Grimes, Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's long narrative poem The Borough. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional small town that bears some resemblance to Crabbe's – and later Britten's – home of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on England's east coast.
The composer in 1968
George Crabbe
Scene from 1945 production
The quay, Aldeburgh (late 19th century photograph)
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).
Britten in 1968, by Hans Wild
Britten's birthplace in Lowestoft, which was the Britten family home for more than twenty years
Frank Bridge, Britten's teacher (photographed in 1921)
Early influences, clockwise from top left: Mahler, Ireland, Shostakovich, Stravinsky