Miss Havisham's Fire Miss Havisham's Fire Miss Havisham's Fire is an opera in 2 acts by composer Dominick Argento with an English language libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour. The work is loosely based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel "Great Expectations", and centers on an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Aurelia Havisham. Commissioned by the New York City Opera, the work premiered on March 22, 1979, at the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. "Miss Havisham's Fire" was initially intended to be a farewell vehicle for soprano Beverly Sills, but she pulled out of
Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens wedding in Toorak, Victoria, and with whom he had two daughters, Kathleen Mary (1874 – 1951) and Violet Georgina (1875 – 1952). Jessie Dickens died from her injuries on 14 December 1878 after having been thrown out of her carriage when a pony bolted. Alfred Dickens then moved to Melbourne, where he was persuaded by his younger brother Edward Dickens to start up their own stock and station agency, 'EBL Dickens and Partners'. In Melbourne on 22 June 1888 Alfred married again, his new wife, Emily Riley (1863–1913), being 17 years his junior. The marriage was not a happy one,