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
Opera North: history and repertoire, seasons 1978–79 to 1980–81 English National Opera North (ENON) was established in late 1977, with Lord Harewood as Managing Director and Graham Marchant as General Administrator. Its first performance (of Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila") was given on 15 November 1978. The opera was conducted by the founding Music Director of the company, David Lloyd-Jones. In the inaugural 1978–79 season, 11 operas were performed. Six were new productions, four of them directed by Patrick Libby, ENON's Director of Productions. The remaining five productions comprised one from Scottish Opera (Colin Graham's "Peter Grimes") and four from ENO. Before the end of the season, the company toured