The Turn of the Screw (opera) used in the lesson scene have been examined in more detail for their paedophilic innuendos. The line "The ceremony of innocence is drowned" sung by Quint and Miss Jessel is taken from the poem "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats. Notes Cited sources Other sources The Turn of the Screw (opera) The Turn of the Screw is a 20th-century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto
The Black Spider (opera) The Black Spider (opera) The Black Spider is an opera in three acts by Judith Weir with a libretto by the composer. The work is loosely based on the 1842 novella "Die schwarze Spinne" by Jeremias Gotthelf. Norman Platt, director of Kent Opera, described how his finance director Robin Jessel lent him a recording of "King Harald's Saga" by Weir; Platt was much impressed by its originality and having listened to more of her music, met with her, and commissioned a young people's opera with funds from the Arts Council. The work was first performed in the crypt of Canterbury