20 Jul 2006

Previews: Betrothal in a Monastery, Glyndebourne, East Sussex

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article1187667.ece

By Michael Church [The Independent, 20 July 2006]

Based on Sheridan's comedy The Duenna, Prokofiev's opera Betrothal in a Monastery was described by Shostakovich as one of his "most radiant and buoyant" works. Yet it was composed in the dark days of the Second World War: good therapy, but at the same time reflecting sinister undercurrents.