Miss Julie is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in two acts by William Alwyn

William Alwyn

William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...

 with a libretto by the composer, based on the play Miss Julie

Miss Julie

Miss Julie is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg dealing with class, love, lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them...

by Swedish playwright August Strindberg

Strindberg

Strindberg may refer to:People* August Strindberg , Swedish dramatist and painter* Nils Strindberg , Swedish photographer* Anita Strindberg , Swedish actor* Henrik Strindberg , Swedish composerOther...

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Performance history

The opera was premiered as a BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...

 broadcast on 16 July 1977. It received its staged premiere on 23 January 1979 at Kingsway Hall

Kingsway Hall

The Kingsway Hall, Holborn, London, built in 1912, was the home of the West London Mission of the Methodist Church, and eventually became one of the most important recording venues for classical music and film music...

 in London. This production run was recorded by Lyrita (see section recordings). More recently, the opera was performed at the Norwich Triennial Festival in October 1997.

Roles

One addition that Alwyn made to the Strindberg original was the creation of the character of Ulrik, the gamekeeper

Gamekeeper

A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...

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Role	Voice type	Premiere cast BBC broadcast, 16 July 1977 (Conductor: )	Premiere cast Kingsway Hall, 23 January 1979 (Conductor: Vilem Tausky Vilém Tauský Vilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer.-Life:Vilém Tauský was from a musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at... )
Miss Julie	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Jill Gomez Jill Gomez Jill Gomez is a Trinidadian and British soprano of Hispanic origin.She was born in Guyana to a Trinidadian father and British mother; was raised in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and has made her career primarily in the United Kingdom. After studying briefly at St...	Jill Gomez
Jean, manservant of the Count, Miss Julie's father	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Benjamin Luxon Benjamin Luxon Benjamin Matthew Luxon CBE is a retired British baritone.-Biography:He studied with Walter Grünner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established an international reputation as a singer when he won a third prize at the 1961 ARD International Music Competition in Munich...	Benjamin Luxon
Kristin, the cook	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Della Jones Della Jones Della Jones , is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.-Life and career:Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales...	Della Jones
Ulrik, the gamekeeper	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Anthony Rolfe Johnson Anthony Rolfe Johnson Anthony Rolfe Johnson, CBE was an English operatic tenor.-Life and career:Born in Tackley in Oxfordshire, Rolfe Johnson studied with Ellis Keeler and Vera Rosza at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He first appeared in opera in the chorus and in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festival...	John Mitchinson John Mitchinson (tenor) John Mitchinson is an English operatic tenor. He made his début singing the role of Jupiter in Handel's Semele. From 1972 to 1978, he was associated with the Sadler's Wells opera company; during that time, he created the role of the Poet in Joseph Tal's opera Massada 967...

Synopsis

The action is set on an estate of a Swedish count, during Midsommarafton (Midsummer's Eve). The count's daughter, Miss Julie, is attracted to her father's valet, Jean, in spite of the differences in their social stations. Jean is nominally involved romantically with the estate's cook, Kristin. The sexual tension between Miss Julie and Jean builds to the point where they consummate their relationship one evening. Miss Julie has dreams of her and Jean escaping from the estate to live their lives together, but the differences between their social classes are too much to overcome. At one point, Ulrik, the gamekeeper, shoots Miss Julie's dog. Jean eventually turns harshly on Miss Julie, to the point where he tells her to slit her wrists, as her mother had committed suicide prior. The opera ends as Miss Julie leaves the scene, presumably to take her own life.

Recording

In 1992 Lyrita re-released on CD the recording made during the Kingsway Hall premiere production run on 23, 24, 25 and 26 January 1979. Vilem Tausky conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

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