“OH HELL! TO CHOOSE LOVE BY ANOTHER’S EYES”: BRITTEN’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN TO CONDUCTOR MEREDITH DAVIES, WHO CONDUCTED THE NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

BRITTEN, Benjamin. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Opera in Three Acts. Op. 64. Libretto adapted from William Shakespeare by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Vocal Score by Imogen Holst and Martin Penny. London: Boosey & Hawkes, (1960). Quarto, original paper wrappers.

First edition of the piano-vocal score of this rich operatic interpretation of Shakespeare's classic play, warmly inscribed by Britten on the title page to Meredith Davies, who conducted the North American premiere of the opera in 1961: “For Meredith with every good wish from Benjamin Britten. Aldeburgh 1960.” With the ownership signature of Meredith Davies.

Realizing that he did not have enough time to commission a libretto for a new opera to be performed at the opening of Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh, Britten turned —with his friend and confidante Peter Pears—to Shakespeare, discarding half the text of Dream and distributing some of the rest among other parts. The opera was completed in under seven months, and first performed at Aldeburgh in 1960 with Pears as Flute and Britten conducting. "Shakespeare has suffered some terrible operatic settings, and yet he has also inspired four or five of the greatest operas ever written, Arguably, one of these is Britten's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Boyden, 594). "A magnificently rich operatic score" (New Grove 3:294). Meredith Davies, one of the great British conductors of the 20th century, worked closely with Britten over the course of two decades. In addition to presenting the North American premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he also conducted its 1961 performance at the Aldeburgh festival and was chosen to conduct (along with Britten himself) at the historic first performance of Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral in 1962. Text in German and English. This copy is inscribed by Benjamin Britten to the Meredith Davies, conductor of the North American premiere of the opera. It also bears the owner signature of Davies in pencil on the front cover and occasional pencil notations throughout, indicating that the volume was a part of Davies' personal library. "The conductor Meredith Davies was perhaps best known as an immensely sympathetic interpreter of the operas of Benjamin Britten" (The Independent). Britten and Davies were friends and collaborators, with Davies one of the most important proponents of Britten's operas.

Interior fine, light wear and soiling to original wraps. A near-fine inscribed copy with a fine association.