The Little Sweep op. 45
the opera from Let's make an Opera, an entertainment for young people
Dedication
'Affectionately dedicated to the real Gay, Juliet, Sophie, Tina, Hughie, Jonny and Sammy - the Gathorne-Hardys of Great Glemham, Suffolk'
Publisher
B&H 1949 (libretto, audience songs); 1950 (piano duet vocal score), 1965 (study score), 1968 (piano solo vocal score)
Formats and Availability
Study score, vocal score (for solo piano and perc: Martin Penny), libretto (English, German), audience songs (words and melody: English, Danish, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish), audience songs (words only) on sale; full score, orchestral parts, vocal score (for piano duet and perc: Arthur Oldham) for hire (complete translations into Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish, French and Turkish are also available)
Cast
Black Bob/Tom bass, Clem/Alfred ten, Sam trbl, Miss Baggott contr, Juliet Brook (aged 14) sop, Gay Brook (aged 13) trbl, Sophie Brook (aged 10) sop, Rowan sop, Jonny Crome (aged 15) trbl, Hughie Crome (aged 8) trbl, Tina Crome (aged 8) sop
Orchestra
pf (four hands)-perc (timp, bd, sd, gong, cymb, trgl, castanets, large and small wbs)-string quartet
Performance Information
First performance
14 June 1949, Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, Aldeburgh Festival. Norman Lumsden Black Bob/Tom, Max Worthley Clem/Alfred, John Moules Sam, Gladys Parr Miss Baggott, Anne Sharp Juliet Brook, Bruce Hines Gay Brook, Monica Garrod Sophie Brook, Elisabeth Parry Rowan, Peter Cousins Johnny Crome, Ralph Canham Hughie Crome, Mavis Gardiner Tina Crome, EOG Orchestra Basil Coleman and Stuart Burge prod, John Lewis design, Norman Del Mar cond
First broadcast
7 October 1949, BBC Third Programme. Norman Lumsden Black Bob/Tom, Max Worthley Clem/Alfred, John Moules Sam, Gladys Parr Miss Baggott, Anne Sharp Juliet Brook, Bruce Hines Gay Brook, Monica Garrod Sophie Brook, Pamela Woolmore Rowan, Brian Cole Jonny Crome, Ralph Canham Hughie Crome, Mavis Gardiner Tina Crome, EOG Orchestra, Norman Del Mar cond The radio version was by Eric Crozier, and the broadcast was produced by Eric Crozier and Basil Coleman. First television production 5 February 1950, BBC Television Programme (relay from the Theatre Royal, Stratford). Norman Lumsden Black Bob/Tom, Max Worthley Clem/Alfred, Alan Woolston Sam, Gladys Parr Miss Baggott, Anne Sharp Juliet Brook, Michael Nicholls Gay Brook, Jean Galton Sophie Brook, Pamela Woolmore Rowan, Paul Medland Jonny Crome, Clive Wyatt Hughie Crome, Shirley Eaton Tina Crome, EOG Orchestra, Norman Del Mar cond Basil Coleman and Stuart Burge prod; presented for television by Michael Henderson
Britten recording
1955 (Decca). Trevor Anthony Black Bob/Tom, Peter Pears Clem/Alfred, David Hemmings Sam, Nancy Thomas Miss Baggott, April Cantelo Juliet Brook, Michael Ingram Gay Brook, Marilyn Baker Sophie Brook, Jennifer Vyvyan Rowan, Robin Fairhurst Jonny Crome, Lyn Vaughan Hughie Crome, Gabrielle Soskin Tina Crome, Choir of Alleyn's School, EOG Orchestra, Benjamin Britten cond
Notes
The planning of the entertainment Let's Make an Opera began in August 1948[Music Survey, 1950, p. 282], when, as Eric Crozier explained the idea of an opera for children and audience to perform seemed highly original. To fill out the evening, we resolved to preface The Little Sweep with a play showing children and grown-ups getting ready to perform the opera that they had supposedly written - which would have the added advantage of allowing time for the conductor to rehearse the audience in their songs. This preliminary play served its purpose well at the time, but it does not wear so well as the opera. Ideally it should be rewritten to suit the local circumstances and characters of any group performing The Little Sweep. Revised versions of the play were prepared in 1955 and 1965, and an alternative sequence of music and readings, The Climbing Boy, was compiled by Paul Johnson in 1971 (available on hire). [BB to B&H 03.09.1971; B&H to BB 02.04.1974] A politically correct version of the libretto of the opera is also available on hire. Until 1968 the only published vocal score was the piano duet and percussion version prepared by Arthur Oldham. Planning began at least as early as October 1948 (letter to Hawkes, 27.10.48).The composer's note in the study score states It will be easily seen that professionals or very gifted amateurs are needed to play the grown-up parts and also the part of Juliet (provided, of course, that she can look convincingly youthful). It is essential that real children should play the children's parts - the boys with unbroken voices who shouldn't be scared of using their chest voices. In 1965, with the publication of the full score, 'Hugh Crome' became 'Hughie' for the first time in printed copies of the music, though the longer form of the name had been used in libretti and programmes from 1949; 'Jonny' is mis-spelt 'Johnnie' in many sources. The transmission of the first televised production (an outside broadcast) was interrupted for five minutes, during which the Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams (arr. Gordon Jacob) was broadcast from a gramophone recording. The original vocal score (Arthur Oldham) was published in the German-only paper-back publication of Wir machen eine Oper (Frankfurt am Main: Ullstein Taschenbücher-Verlag GmbH, 1959). A Hebrew version of the audience songs was published by Israeli Music Publications (Tel Aviv, n.d.). [Sammy's Bath may have been published in a recorder method by Peter Wastall (B&H ca. 1973) [see B&H to BB, 29.06.1973; BB/RS to B&H 06.08.1973: it was not; see Works File]