Billy Budd (opera)

Billy Budd (opera)

Billy Budd, Op. 50, is an opera by Benjamin Britten from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville. It was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951.

It premiered in the United States in 1952 in a production by the Indiana University Opera Company, and has become part of the repertory of the New York Metropolitan Opera.