King Priam King Priam King Priam is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's "Iliad", except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the "Fabulae" of Hyginus. The premiere was on 29 May 1962, at Coventry. The opera was composed for an arts festival held in conjunction with the reconsecration of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, for which Benjamin Britten also wrote his "War Requiem", which was first performed in the Cathedral the day after the premiere of "King Priam". The first Covent Garden performance was on 5 June, conducted by John
County of the City of Coventry county corporate status enabled Coventry to control its own assize and gaol, and the city's bailiffs became sheriffs – officers to the king. Coventry remained separate from the rest of Warwickshire until disputes over ratings with the villages which formed the county resulted in its abolition by the Coventry Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.110). The Act provided that from 9 November 1842 the "City and County of the City of Coventry shall... be taken to be in all respects Part of the County of Warwick, and within the Hundred of Knightlow". As well as merging Coventry with the