Benjamin Britten not his own in which Britten was a somewhat dazzled accomplice". The American public liked it, but the critics did not, and it fell into neglect until interest revived near the end of the composer's life. Britten's subsequent operas range from large-scale works written for full-strength opera companies, to chamber operas for performance by small touring opera ensembles or in churches and schools. In the large-scale category are "Peter Grimes" (1945), "Billy Budd" (1951), "Gloriana" (1953), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1960) and "Death in Venice" (1973). Of the remaining operas, "The Rape of Lucretia" (1946), "Albert Herring" (1947), "The Little
Opera Ebony (Benjamin Matthews 1991); and The Meetin' (Pamela Baskin Watson, commissioned by Opera Ebony and the Jerome Foundation, 1998). Current projects include Harriet Tubman by Leo Edwards (commissioned by Opera Ebony and the Linda Gale Sampson Charitable Trust) and the remounting of The Meetin' for touring throughout North America. Opera Ebony is the longest surviving African-American opera company in American history. Opera Ebony Opera Ebony is an African-American opera company, which have performed Mozart in Harlem to African-American Heritage concerts in Iceland. Gershwin in Moscow to Duke Ellington in the Caribbean. Benjamin Matthews, Sister M. Elise Sisson, SBS (1897–1982), and Wayne