Peter Pears had been specifically composed for the soprano voice. For Pears, Britten composed one of his most popular works, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943). In early 1943 Pears joined Sadler's Wells Opera Company. His roles included Tamino in "The Magic Flute", Rodolfo in "La bohème", the Duke in "Rigoletto", Alfredo in "La traviata", Almaviva in "The Barber of Seville", Ferrando in "Così fan tutte" and Vašek in "The Bartered Bride". His growing operatic experience and expertise affected the composition of Britten's opera "Peter Grimes". The composer had envisaged the central figure, based on Crabbe's brutal fisherman, as a
Jack Grimes (actor) a week. In 1944, Grimes moved to California to work for Universal. His credits include "Fairytale Murder", "Lady on a Train", and "Week-End at the Waldorf". In the early 1950s, he switched to television. His credits include "Alcoa Presents", "Love of Life", "The Aldrich Family", "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet", "Maude", "On the Rocks", and "All in the Family". In 1962, Grimes and Peter Fernandez worked together on a series of records for MGM. Five years later, Fernandez hired him to do the voices of Sparky and Chim Chim on "Speed Racer". Grimes died in Queens, New York in 2009 at