The Turn of the Screw (opera) not to betray him. Hysterical, Miles confesses that he took the letter. The Governess demands to know who put Miles up to it. Miles blurts out Quint's name. At the mention of his name, Quint's ghost vanishes and Miles falls dead on the floor. A weeping Governess cradles the dead child in her arms, singing aloud of her grief and wondering if she did the right thing after all. For the children's music, Britten drew words and melody from a number of traditional British nursery rhymes, including "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" and "Lavender's Blue". Of particular note is Miles'
Doctor Ox's Experiment (opera) approached Blake Morrison in May 1988 with the suggestion of working on an opera based on Verne's novella. At the time Morrison knew neither the Verne story nor Bryars's music but he agreed to the proposal after a lunchtime meeting with the composer. They worked together on a concert piece which was premiered as "Doctor Ox's Experiment (Epilogue)" by the soprano Sarah Leonard and the Gavin Bryars Ensemble in November 1988. Both composer and librettist were distracted by other projects but Dennis Marks, who had moved from the BBC to become General Director of ENO, commissioned a full-scale opera to