Britten’s first screamer
RIPFrom a Guardian reader’s obituary:
My friend Valerie West, who has died aged 94, had a long and distinguished career in the theatre, first in stage management for opera and ballet at the Sadler’s Wells theatre and later for the British Council….
She took her first job as secretary and assistant stage manager at Sadler’s Wells, which reopened after the war in June 1945 with the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. During the opera’s run, Val provided the scream for the apprentice, who had lost his voice. For this she was personally auditioned by Britten.
According to documents in the archive of the Britten-Pears Foundation, the audition session did not go very well, in spite of Britten trying-out all kinds of different contraptions to get the right expressive sound. But when he, at the end of the afternoon, getting exhausted, suddenly took-off his jacket and revealed his brighty-coloured suspenders, the scream was exactly how he had it written in the score.
I trust you mean braces and not suspenders. The latter imply a very disturbing scene.
My fault, for a thoughtless moment I lapsed into N-American tongue.
British:
An elastic strap attached to a belt or garter, fastened to the top of a stocking to hold it up.
North American:
A pair of straps that pass over the shoulders and fasten to the waistband of a pair of trousers or a skirt at the front and back to hold it up; braces.
Americanism I think! Pants, trousers and knickers the same!
Hence the scream, maybe.
Suspenders?…… braces?