E. M. Forster had an interest in the novella, which he discussed in his Clark lectures at Cambridge University. Having admired Britten's music since attending a performance of "The Ascent of F6" in 1937, Forster first met Britten in October 1942, when he heard Peter Pears and Britten perform Britten's "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo" at the National Gallery. In 1948, Britten and Forster discussed whether Forster might write an opera libretto. They had agreed on "Billy Budd" as a work to be adapted into an opera, with a formal meeting in January 1949 to discuss the project. Forster worked with Eric Crozier, a regular Britten collaborator, to write the opera's libretto. Scholar Hanna Rochlitz has studied the adaptation and collaboration in detail.