85, is an opera in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James.
A large tuned percussion section anticipates the musical treatment of his next (and last) opera, Death in Venice.
In addition to its being an expression of Britten's own pacifism, he was reported as saying that this opera was partly a response to the Vietnam War.
A new production by The Royal Opera opened in April 2007 in the Linbury Studio Theatre, with a reduced orchestration by David Matthews.
[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] It was performed in May 2009 at the Chicago Opera Theater[15] as well as the Wiener Kammeroper in Vienna directed by Nicola Raab with English baritone Andrew Ashwin in the title role.
Visser also directed the opera at Theater Osnabrück in Germany; this production premiered on 16 January 2016 under the baton of Daniel Inbal.
Owen tells Coyle of his disdain for war, which is contrary to the family history of the Wingraves as soldiers.
Miss Wingrave asserts that Owen will change his mind once he returns to his family at Paramore.
Scene 5 Over the space of a week, Sir Philip, Kate, Miss Wingrave and Mrs Julian continually express their contempt for Owen.
Coyle himself confesses unease, and hints about ghosts in the house, of past Wingrave ancestors.
Coyle reveals that he has not visited on a friendly call, but rather to try to persuade Owen to renounce his new thinking.
Scene 1 Owen and Coyle are in the ancestral hall at Paramore, recalling this story and walking by the same room where the two deaths had occurred.
Mrs Julian cries at this news, and reveals that she had hoped that Kate and Owen would be married to be able to preserve their social status.
Kate momentarily encourages him, and asks Lechmere if he would even sleep in the "haunted room" for her sake.
Owen makes a motion to light the ladies' candles, but Miss Wingrave deliberately snubs him and turns to Lechmere for this task.
Left alone after Coyle has said goodnight, Owen soliloquises in the ancestral hall that he has found his strength in peace rather than war.
He tells Coyle that he heard Kate's taunting of Owen to sleep in the "haunted room".
The opera closes with the ballad singer intoning the steadfastness of the Wingrave boy against his foe.