by Liesl Graz

The English composer Benjamin Britten, once wrote that, of all his operas, "The Turn of the Screw" was the one whose subject-matter was the closest to own pre-occupations. Since, besides being a masterwork, it is also an ambiguous and troubling music drama of the presence of evil, of childhood sexuality -- and probably, but not explicitly, the arch-taboo of paedophilia -- he was probably wise to add, immediately, that he did not mean that it revealed his own personality. This said, the opera, based on Henry James's novella of the same name, is the most frequently performed of Britten's seventeen stage works, more often than "Billy Budd" or "A Midsummer Night's Dream.". The music is hauntingly beautiful, and in combination with the excellent libretto, has been known to reconcile sceptical members of the public to the musical aesthetics of the 20th century. Not quite "contemporary"; "The Turn of the Screw "was written in 1954..

The stunning current revival in Geneva is a brilliant example of how all the components of opera, that most complete of all the stage arts, can work together to produce a complete aesthetic experience. Everything is in shades of grey and beige and white in a landscape of mirrors and shadows, where real people -- or are they real? -- step through closed doors and walls sketched out in light and the rare pieces of -- highly symbolic -- stage furniture move by themselves. We in the audience are destablised along with the personae of the drama, and the musical symbolism -- with each of the short scenes written in another tone -- is constantly present, without being overweening. The name of the drama is taken from the extra turn of horror given to a story of the supernatural by the inclusion of children, victims or agents, or both, of the evil lurking all about.

Henry James's novella was first published in 1898, too late for the gothic tales of the earlier 19th century, and befoe Freud became a household word. The building-blocks of psychoanalsysis were, however, beginning to appear, often cloaked in metaphor. The original story took the form of a narrative, told by one person; Britten's librettist, Myfanwy Piper, did a superb job of turning it into a full-fledged stage drama with six characters , including the pivotal roles of the two children around whom all the drama of innocence and evil turns. The four 10 to 13-year olds, who sing on alternate evenings, are amazing; three of them are veterans of other productions of the opera and the youngest, a little girl of ten, is no less impressive.

The Turn of the Screw is a true chamber opera, with only 13 instrumental musicians, and, of course, the six singers. The Geneva production was conducted by Sir Jeffrey Tate. But it would not have produced its magic without the work of the stage director Nicolas Brieger, and the lighting director, Alexander Koppelmann, working with the stage designer Mathias Fischer-Dieskau. The production will go on from Geneva to Nancy, in Lorraine (France); it would merit being seen further afield.

--- Liesl Graz