Benjamin Britten
The Turn of the Screw

A thing from another world, in more ways than one. This, more or less, was the first, rudimentary thought of my ecstatic, excited, and tumultuous mind at the end of listening to this masterpiece by that solitary giant, Benjamin Britten. Neither avant-garde nor rearguard, simply a sum of musical culture from which an equally great musicality derives, a complex stylistic research always at the service of melody and an anguished, dirty, deliberately undefined psychological drama. The Turn of the Screw is a chamber opera; that is, with reduced orchestration and theoretically destined for more "intimate" stages, even though its premiere (1954) was at La Fenice in Venice, certainly not a small theater, and still today remains, together with Peter Grimes, much more relatively "conventional", the most celebrated and most performed opera of the greatest British opera composer of all time.

Based on the eponymous novel by Henry James, heavily edited and revised by librettist Myfanwy Piper, The Turn of the Screw makes extensive use of recurring themes linked to situations and characters, a solution already widely used by Wagner, Strauss, and many others, but in the context of a "fragmented" structure in brief scenes, which generally conclude in a few minutes and are separated by even shorter instrumental passages, with the exception of the three crucial moments of the drama. Britten thus finds an effective dialectic synthesis between open and closed forms, thus obtaining the subliminal nature of the former and the dramatic effectiveness of the latter; a perfect structure for an opera whose ambiguous and sinister charm lies more in what is unspoken, alluded to, hidden between the lines than in what is openly shown. And the symbolism of TTOTS, so apparently obvious, is so concealed between allusions, vagueness, and cryptic passages that at the end of the listening, one is left with more questions than at the beginning: given that the core of the drama revolves around the relationship between Miles and Quint, what precise role does the parallel subplot between Flora and Miss Jessell play, whose relationship is even more vague and undefined? And what is the exact dynamic in the relationship between the two ghosts, Quint and Miss Jessell? And, perhaps the most crucial question, how much weight do the well-intentioned pressures of the governess have in the tragic conclusion of the story? Personally, I have formed my own idea: perhaps the corruption of innocence, however one wants to interpret it, apparently seeming to be the central theme of the opera, is yet another false lead. Perhaps Quint is nothing more than a personification of the dark sides, or simply more "abnormal" or perceived as such inherent in every person, from childhood, and Miles's death could symbolize that the pedagogical imposition of "normality" leads to the impoverishment and destruction of the personality; therefore, according to this interpretation, the corrupting agent would not be Quint but the governess. Just my 2 cents.

But, fortunately, The Turn of the Screw is not just a riddle to rack one's brains over; it is above all a masterly, spectacular demonstration of its author's genius, who here displays great eclecticism and even greater dramatic sensitivity; resulting in a restless and unpredictable opera, thanks also to carefully selected instrumentation: strings, flutes, harp, piano, celesta, prominently emphasized percussion at certain moments, and almost non-existent brass, a perfect mix to create a tense, nervous, spectral sound, devoid of the musclarity and concreteness typical of any opera with traditional orchestration. And in this, the vocal cast also plays a decisive role: three sopranos, two treble voices, and only one tenor, moreover a part decidedly atypical in every possible aspect. Interesting is the vocal contrast between the two spectral roles, Miss Jessell and Quint; the first is a classic dramatic soprano part, announced in her scenes by sharp gong blows, the second, like almost all Britten's male protagonists, was written for Peter Pears, and can only be interpreted with that type of vocal setting: nasal, insinuating, vocalises alternating with sharp passages, more actor-like than singer-like; after all, the chamber dimension was the natural habitat of Peter Pears, and this is certainly one of the main reasons why Britten repeatedly engaged in this type of composition. The governess, on the other hand, is almost a "carbon copy" of Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, also a teacher, driven by good intentions, who ultimately fails in her intent; compared to Ellen, it is a more extensive, more introspective part, richer in dramatic passages, but basically the vocal quality required is identical, that is, a lyric-dramatic soprano timbre rich in sweetness and melodiousness but at the same time endowed with a certain power and temperament.

Among the many, disorienting strokes of genius offered by The Turn of the Screw, how can one not mention "Malo", the hypnotic and alienating lullaby of Miles, whose Arabic-style vocalization directly references Quint's call, his persecuting demon or perhaps secret subconscious, depending on the listener's interpretation. And the "great scene" that closes the first act, where the ghosts call the children to themselves, with those sick and seductive vocal harmonies, the Quint-Miss Jessell duet, the darkest, most decadent, and above all cryptic scene of the opera, the finale, with that airy, elegant melody, exquisitely Strauss-like in its design, which disintegrates in the confrontation between the governess and Quint, with Miles falling, a victim of the "crossfire." Sublime dramatic effectiveness, which resolves with the governess intoning "Malo," transforming it into an intense, heartfelt lament. This trick (ending with a previously introduced theme) is typically Britten, already heard in Peter Grimes, and it works magnificently again this time. In short, with The Turn of the Screw, Britten intensifies many of his compositional and thematic styles, without losing touch with his original style, and the result you can evaluate for yourselves; simply, one of the most beautiful gifts bestowed to humanity by this unique, inimitable creative genius.