An Introduction to Albert Herring

In a small Suffolk town, a May Queen must be chosen. However, the townspeople are convinced that none of the girls are still virgins. So they pick someone who definitely is – the painfully shy Albert Herring – so the town will this time have a May King.

The opera is peopled by eccentric inhabitants that you’d imagine lived in 1900s England when the opera was originally set. The town has a local aristocrat, a vicar, a police officer, the mayor, a school teacher, a young woman from the bakery, a boy from the butchers. And the titular Albert is himself the son of the local greengrocer.

Albert feels humiliated at being chosen as The May King so he disappears on a wild night of drunkenness and disorder. Leaving the townspeople to think about what they’ve done.

Benjamin Britten was probably the most remarkable English composer of the 1900s. He changed the face of British opera and composed brilliant choral works.

Whether it was A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra or the opera Noye’s Fludde, both specifically written for children; Or any of his 15 operas – from his first, Peter Grimes, through A Midsummer Night’s Dream based on Shakespeare’s play to his last, Death in Venice, Britten wrote emotive and very accessible music.

In Albert Herring, listen out for the musical themes for each of the characters. These themes are quoted from other styles of music.

• For the lady of the manor, there’s a theme that echoes grand baroque opera;
• For the vicar there’s a theme that echoes Victorian hymns;
• For the schoolteacher has a classic ballad-style theme.