Peter Grimes or ambiguous the various characters are. Pears was certainly the intended Peter Grimes, and it is likely that Britten wrote the role of Ellen Orford for Joan Cross. The work has been called "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression", and one of "the true operatic masterpieces of the 20th century", but the composer's own contemporary (1948) summation of the work was simpler: a subject very close to my heart — the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual. Though as the writing of the libretto progressed, certain versions showed Grimes'
Gassaway Sellman Grimes Gassaway Sellman Grimes Gassaway Sellman Grimes (November 16, 1816 – July 3, 1875) was a physician who practiced in Maryland for several years. Dr. G. S. Grimes was born on November 16, 1816 in Maryland to Cornelius Grimes, who served in the War of 1812, and Elizabeth Sellman. He attended the old Barnesville Academy. Grimes graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1838. Grimes married Susan H. Dorsey on June 25, 1839 in Frederick County, Maryland, a descendant of Edward Dorsey. By 1840 he moved to Carroll County, Maryland. Grimes was once part of a convention in