The Little Sweep - Background

Composer Benjamin Britten and librettist Eric Crozier had discussed the idea of a children’s opera for several years before putting pen to paper in the autumn of 1948 in preparation for the second Aldeburgh Festival, founded by Britten, Crozier, and singer Peter Pears to showcase the work of Britten and young composers. Throughout his lifetime Britten would show aT commitment to writing not only for the leading soloists and ensembles of the day, but also for children and amateur performers with works including The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra (1945) and Noye’s Fludde (1958).

After some debate, Britten and Crozier selected as inspiration two works entitled “The Chimney Sweeper” from William Blake’s 1789 illustrated collection of poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. They also sought to harness the positive response to the congregational hymns in their Saint Nicholas cantata within the new piece. According to Crozier “by that evening we had planned the structure, action and characters of a short opera in three scenes.”

Similar to Britten and Crozier’s opera Albert Herring which opened the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, the action was set in Suffolk. Unlike the congregational hymns in Saint Nicholas which relied on an ensemble of singers to help lead concertgoers, Britten chose to have the audience perform the chorus selections on their own. A play to be performed before the opera brought it all together, providing the opportunity to rehearse the four “audience songs” with patrons and explain what opera is to those who may be experiencing the art form for the first time. In a final nod to the local community, the names and personas of the child characters were borrowed from the children and nephews of Britten’s personal friend and chairman of the festival, Lord Cranbrook.

First performed by Sarasota Youth Opera in 2005, our production includes an original prologue by conductor Jesse Martins and director Martha Collins and sets the opera in Boston during the 19^th century. Our young singers also perform music originally intended to be sung by the audience.

Ben Jewell-Plocher was formerly Sarasota Opera’s Director of Education.

The Little Sweep - Story of the Opera

Boston in the early 19^th century

While their parents are away, Juliet, George, and Sophie are being visited by their cousins Johnny, Tina, and Hughie Crome and their nursery maid, Rowan.

Big Bob and Clem, cruel chimney sweeps, and their young apprentice Sammy arrive to clean the chimneys at a Boston home. Though the governess, Rowan, begs that Sammy should not have to do such dangerous work, he is forced up the chimney where he later gets stuck.

The children hear Sammy’s cries for help, and they free him. They decide to fool his cruel employers by making it seem as if he has escaped through the window. The sweeps and the housekeeper, Miss Baggott, angrily run out to follow the trail of footprints while Rowan worries for Sammy’s safety. Hearing that Rowan is on their side, the children reveal Sammy and ask for her help. Sammy explains he was apprenticed to the sweeps because his family needed money but that he misses them greatly. They decide to hide Sammy in a traveling trunk so that he can escape when the Cromes depart the next day.

At dawn he is given breakfast and money for his family and hidden in the trunk. Tom, the coachman, and Alfred, the gardener, arrive to carry the trunk out to the coach. The children celebrate as the carriage departs and Sammy begins his journey to freedom.

World Premiere – Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, England, June 14, 1949