Opera
- William Alwyn - Miss Julie
- Peter Maxwell Davies – The Martyrdom of St Magnus (premièred 18 June at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall)
- Thea Musgrave – Mary, Queen of Scots
- Michael Tippett – The Ice Break (premièred 7 July at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)
Read more about this topic: 1977 In British Music
Famous quotes containing the word opera:
“The opera house sparkled with tiers
And tiers of eyes, like mine enlarged by belladonna,”
—James Merrill (b. 1926)
“I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willfulness; it is rooted in the fact that we not only have feelings but insist upon having them at whatever cost to ourselves.... The quality common to all the great operatic roles, e.g., Don Giovanni, Norma, Lucia, Tristan, Isolde, Brünnhilde, is that each of them is a passionate and willful state of being. In real life they would all be bores, even Don Giovanni.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)