Benjamin Britten the apex of his reputation: it was almost universally hailed as a masterpiece." Shostakovich told Rostropovich that he believed it to be "the greatest work of the twentieth century". In 1967 the BBC commissioned Britten to write an opera specially for television. "Owen Wingrave" was based, like "The Turn of the Screw", on a ghost story by Henry James. By the 1960s Britten found composition much slower than in his prolific youth; he told the 28-year-old composer Nicholas Maw, "Get as much done now as you can, because it gets much, much more difficult as you grow older." He did
The Turn of the Screw out scenes from a holonovel which appears to be based on "The Turn of the Screw". Pre-millennium Post-millennium Primary sources Secondary discussion The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James that first appeared in serial format in "Collier's Weekly" magazine (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898 it appeared in "The Two Magics", a book published by Macmillan in New York City and Heinemann in London. Classified as both gothic fiction and a ghost story, the novella focuses on a governess who, caring for two children at a