“Owen Wingrave” Op. 85 (1970), a television opera commissioned by the BBC from Benjamin Britten, was first broadcast in May 1971 and staged at Covent Garden two years later. Based on Henry James’ ghostly tale, the story provides the British composer—one of the most influential of the 20th century—with a perfect opportunity to voice his fervent anti-militarist stance during the height of the Vietnam War.
The central character, Owen, a young man from a long line of war heroes, rebels against his family’s military traditions, leading to a tragic ending. His journey becomes one of Britten’s most vivid and unsettling self-portraits. Having emigrated to the U.S. in 1939, Britten was called back to the UK in 1942 to defend his conscientious objection before a tribunal. His reasoning was simple yet profound: an artist must create, not destroy.
In Owen Wingrave, music embodies the sound of a man haunted by violence yet daring to envision a different path.
