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'
Grimes Poznikov lost what scraps remained of his life. He died on October 27, 2005, on a sidewalk near Cesar Chavez and Bayshore Freeway, of alcohol poisoning. Poznikov was survived by his sister, Jenny Predpelski of Overland Park, KS; girlfriend, Susan "Harmony" Tanner; and two brothers, Greg Poznik of Madison, Wis., and Sam Silver of Aurora, Colo. "Broken Jukebox: a short opera about Grimes Poznikov" for soprano, baritone, chorus, string quintet, trumpet and piano premiered January 2008 at College of Marin. Grimes Poznikov Grimes Poznikov (August 5, 1946 – October 27, 2005), known as "The Human Jukebox," was a fixture of San