Punch and Judy: The Opera

The work caused great controversy with members of the audience, because of the violence of the plot and the nature of the music. Benjamin Britten was reported to have left the premiere at the interval.[3]

The composer's Wikipedia page.

Birtwistle's music is complex, written in a modernistic manner with a clear, distinctive voice, with sounds described as of "sonic brashness".[10]

Your reactions solicited.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 31, 2023
Category: Music | Avant Garde | Myths and Fairytales | 1960s

Comments

It's fine! If the original musical didn't go down well, it probably wasn't staged as well as this.

For other Punch And Judy weirdness, there was this pop tune about a woman being sexually harassed by a Punch puppet; maybe I learned about it on this blog? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJW9Nja3Vt8

Posted by Ed on 08/01/23 at 08:32 AM

I mean... it's Birtwhistle. You know what you're getting with Birtwhistle: incoherent, cacophonic shite. And guess what? That's exactly what this is.

Posted by Richard Bos on 08/19/23 at 06:01 AM

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