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 Winter 1803, "Il ratto di Proserpina" in 1804 (both to libretti by Lorenzo Da Ponte), and "Zaira" in 1805, with great success. "Maometto" (1817) is probably his most famous opera, still performed sometimes and it exists in an excellent recording on CD. His last opera, "Der Sänger und der Schneider", was produced in 1820 at Munich, where he died. Besides his dramatic works he composed concertos for wind and orchestra and some sacred music, including 26 masses. Peter Winter Peter Winter (baptized 28 August 1754 – 17 October 1825) was a German opera composer who followed Mozart and preceded Weber, acting