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 in English was the first English composer to experiment with Italian-style all-sung comic opera, unsuccessfully in "The Temple of Dullness" (1745), "Henry and Emma" (1749) and "Don Saverio" (1750), but triumphantly in "Thomas and Sally" (1760). His opera "Artaxerxes" (1762) was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria in English and was a huge success, holding the stage until the 1830s. His modernized ballad opera, "Love in a Village" (1762), was equally novel and began a vogue for pastiche opera that lasted well into the 19th century. Arne was one of the few English composers of the era who, although