Sometimes Christianity creeps into opera in unwelcome ways. A notorious example is Benjamin Britten’s Rape of Lucretia which tells the ancient story of a Roman matron violated by an Etruscan soldier – the same story you find in Shakespeare’s long lyric poem – but with commentary from a chorus who invite the audience to read the piece in Christian terms and draw some kind of parable from what they’ve witnessed.
It’s a disconnect that bothered critics when the opera premiered in 1946 and bothered them again the other month when a new production opened at Snape Maltings as part of its annual Britten Weekend, before transferring to Covent Garden. Tacking on a Christian “meaning” to a narrative that happens in pre-Christian times seems phoney. It’s always been a stumbling block in the reception of an otherwise alluring score.
