The Love Triangle in Billy Budd
Posted by Timothy M. Ballard at 9:07 AM |
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Beauty – Handsomeness – Goodness
So much has been written about the “interview Chords” in Billy Budd and although one is loath to revisit such an apparently dead horse. For this topic the meaning of those chords must be assumed to be love, a love that leads to a tragic fate. However, the love that Vere and Billy share I believe transcends the earthly or eros (erotic) type of love and is a love on a higher plane above the mundane. It is this very love that frustrates Claggart so, for he cannot understand it. In that very sense Claggart, Vere and Billy step into the spiritual roles of God the father, (Vere) Christ (Billy) and Satan/Lucifer (Claggart). Billy is the light that Claggart cannot comprehend, and thus seeks to destroy.
I believe that an argument can be made for a triangle of a Spiritual, Sexual and Social Trinity with in this opera.
Spiritually
Billy is a type of Christ (although referred to as an Angel – Christ appeared as an Angel in Christophonic form). He is a “foundling” so in his lack of parentage is Christ-like and also would tie him to the King of Salem, Melchizedek, mentioned in Hebrews. (Heb. 5:6 NKJV).
Billy’s death can be seen as Christ-like. Although Billy cries out for Vere to save him or spare him (much like Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane), Billy resigns him self to his death as what is best for Vere.
Billy’s only imperfection, his stutter, is that which reveals the inner nature of a faultless man.
Socially
The contradictions of the opera are best seen in Vere. He is the only character that is shown as capable of intelligent thought (besides Claggart – of course). Vere is neither victim or criminal, yet he is led by his perceptions of the crew. The crew is “sheep-like” in its wavering devotion to Vere. In one scene they sing “Bless You” of the Captain and in another they “rumble” with mutiny!
Vere’s heart and emotion is perhaps best portrayed in his Prologue and Epilogue – the pathos of his music and the passion of his words are interestingly juxtaposed to his calmness in his music inside his memory of Billy.
Sexually
The sexuality of Billy Budd is deliberately ambiguous. Britten spent quite some time estranged from Crozier (the librettist) over Claggart’s aria. Crozier and Forster wanted the aria much more passionate and overt in its homosexual nature. Britten wrote the work with subdued passions and foreboding.
Does Vere feel the same attraction to Billy that Claggart does? Vere echoes Claggart’s words “O beauty, o handsomeness o goodness!” I think there is definitely and very deep love and respect between Vere and Billy. Consequently, the way that Britten writes the scenes between the two the “love that dare not speak its name,” is told in the music.
Billy is the quasi-spiritual visitor who because of his beauty and goodness – threatens to destroy Claggart’s world. Although the question of homosexuality should not be approached in respect to its explicitness, it is a consideration that might be implied by the opera but never realized!
Zambello’s production that begins on what seems initially to be a stark minimal set, I think, explores the psychology of Melville, Crozier and Forster, and Britten equally well. Certainly the homoerotic nature of an all male cast on a ship is explored. Equally done is the conflict that Vere still feels as an old man and his assimilation of those past events into his ultimate salvation. Dewayne Croft was as stunning as Billy, as Ramey was a purely evil Claggart.
The set appears quite stark initially, basically a raked set that represents the bow of a ship. By utilizing lighting effects Zambello dispenses with the usually scene changes and Britten’s music for these changes seems all the more powerful and realistic.
Beauty – Handsomeness – Goodness
So much has been written about the “interview Chords” in Billy Budd and although one is loath to revisit such an apparently dead horse. For this topic the meaning of those chords must be assumed to be love, a love that leads to a tragic fate. However, the love that Vere and Billy share I believe transcends the earthly or eros (erotic) type of love and is a love on a higher plane above the mundane. It is this very love that frustrates Claggart so, for he cannot understand it. In that very sense Claggart, Vere and Billy step into the spiritual roles of God the father, (Vere) Christ (Billy) and Satan/Lucifer (Claggart). Billy is the light that Claggart cannot comprehend, and thus seeks to destroy.
I believe that an argument can be made for a triangle of a Spiritual, Sexual and Social Trinity with in this opera.
Spiritually
Billy is a type of Christ (although referred to as an Angel – Christ appeared as an Angel in Christophonic form). He is a “foundling” so in his lack of parentage is Christ-like and also would tie him to the King of Salem, Melchizedek, mentioned in Hebrews. (Heb. 5:6 NKJV).
Billy’s death can be seen as Christ-like. Although Billy cries out for Vere to save him or spare him (much like Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane), Billy resigns him self to his death as what is best for Vere.
Billy’s only imperfection, his stutter, is that which reveals the inner nature of a faultless man.
Socially
The contradictions of the opera are best seen in Vere. He is the only character that is shown as capable of intelligent thought (besides Claggart – of course). Vere is neither victim or criminal, yet he is led by his perceptions of the crew. The crew is “sheep-like” in its wavering devotion to Vere. In one scene they sing “Bless You” of the Captain and in another they “rumble” with mutiny!
Vere’s heart and emotion is perhaps best portrayed in his Prologue and Epilogue – the pathos of his music and the passion of his words are interestingly juxtaposed to his calmness in his music inside his memory of Billy.
Sexually
The sexuality of Billy Budd is deliberately ambiguous. Britten spent quite some time estranged from Crozier (the librettist) over Claggart’s aria. Crozier and Forster wanted the aria much more passionate and overt in its homosexual nature. Britten wrote the work with subdued passions and foreboding.
Does Vere feel the same attraction to Billy that Claggart does? Vere echoes Claggart’s words “O beauty, o handsomeness o goodness!” I think there is definitely and very deep love and respect between Vere and Billy. Consequently, the way that Britten writes the scenes between the two the “love that dare not speak its name,” is told in the music.
Billy is the quasi-spiritual visitor who because of his beauty and goodness – threatens to destroy Claggart’s world. Although the question of homosexuality should not be approached in respect to its explicitness, it is a consideration that might be implied by the opera but never realized!
Zambello’s production that begins on what seems initially to be a stark minimal set, I think, explores the psychology of Melville, Crozier and Forster, and Britten equally well. Certainly the homoerotic nature of an all male cast on a ship is explored. Equally done is the conflict that Vere still feels as an old man and his assimilation of those past events into his ultimate salvation. Dewayne Croft was as stunning as Billy, as Ramey was a purely evil Claggart.
The set appears quite stark initially, basically a raked set that represents the bow of a ship. By utilizing lighting effects Zambello dispenses with the usually scene changes and Britten’s music for these changes seems all the more powerful and realistic.
