Peter Grimes relations with his apprentice to be bordering on paederastic, Pears persuaded Slater to cut the questionable stanzas from the final version. The opera was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundations and is "dedicated to the memory of Natalie Koussevitzky", wife of the Russian-born American conductor Serge Koussevitzky. When Joan Cross, who was then manager of the Sadler's Wells company, announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells Theatre with "Peter Grimes" with herself and Peter Pears in the leading roles, there were many complaints from company members about supposed favouritism and the "" of Britten's score. Yet when "Peter Grimes" opened
Peter Cornelius (opera singer) Peter Cornelius (opera singer) Peter Cornelius (4 January 1865 – 30 December 1934) was a Danish opera singer. Born in 1865, Cornelius made his professional opera debut at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1892 as baritone in the role of Escamillo in Georges Bizet's "Carmen". He was a member of that theatre until his retirement from the stage in 1922. In 1899, he began performing tenor roles while still performing many roles from the baritone repertoire. After 1902 he was heard frequently in the leading Wagnerian heldentenor parts such as Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegfried, Siegmund, Walther, Tannhäuser and Tristan. He appeared