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
Bryan Grimes in a foot, on May 3. During the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, Grimes' regiment was the first organized Confederate unit to enter the streets of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was in charge of the rear guard during a part of the army's retreat into Virginia following the three-day battle. On September 15, 1863, he married Charlotte Emily Bryan, and they eventually had ten children together, including John Bryan Grimes, who would become North Carolina's secretary of state. Again, another son named Bryan Grimes died in childhood. During the 1864 Overland Campaign, Grimes was promoted to the rank of brigadier general