Gloriana
at Royal Opera House
Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana was commissioned by the Royal Opera House to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. Britten’s Gloriana in London here!
William Plomer drew on Lytton Strachey’s Elizabeth and Essex to create the libretto, which artfully combines modern and archaic forms of English. Britten’s score is similarly diverse: it mixes the sounds and manners of Tudor Eng-land – from lute songs to courtly dances – with the composer’s own dis-tinctive style. Richard Jones directs a Gloriana with resonances of the 1950s – the era in which the opera was created.
Moving from the pomp of state cere-mony to the intimacy of the Queen’s private rooms, Gloriana depicts the public and private faces of the Virgin Queen, and the deterioration of her relationship with the impulsive Earl of Essex.
Gloriana will be sung in English with surtitles.
Please note: On 22 and 24 June there will be cameras filming in the auditorium
Book tickets
Royal Opera House
Bow Street London
Booking from
2013-06-20
Booking until
2013-07-06
Running Time:
3 hours inc. intervals
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Current currency is dollars.
