Rape of Lucretia, The

Chamber opera by BENJAMIN BRITTEN, 1946, first performed at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Based on an ancient legend, the opera glorifies the "Christian" virtue of the heroine. Lucretia, awaiting her husband returning from war, is confronted by Tarquinius, the Roman commander. Imperiously he demands that she submit to him. Whe n she refuses, he rapes her. Later, when her husband returns, she recounts her tragedy and shame to him before sinking a dagger into her breast.

The score is philosophically restrained, quite in opposition to the melodramatic Italian style of treating similar subjects.