Talk:Peter Pears
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[edit] Themes of Pears roles' in Britten's operas
A couple of times, people have deleted descriptions of Pears' roles in Britten's operas as including pedophilia or violence toward young men. Well, this page needs more detail and better sources, but there is considerable critical writing about the fact that the common theme of the destruction of innocence (violent, sexual, or both) runs through most of the roles Britten wrote for Pears (in which Pears often took a hand in shaping the libretto). This is amply documented in the biography by Humphrey Carpenter, the critical study by Peter Evans, and other books.
It's true that the discussion of Pears' career needs to be better referenced. However, there is no reason to repeatedly bowdlerize the article of reference to the dark subject matter of Britten's and Pears' collaboration--it's not OR or a smear on their characters, it's the critical consensus.
Dybryd 08:09, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Removal of assertions about two of Pear's roles
I have again deleted the references to pedophilia. First there is no evidence that Pears had a hand in the libretto of Death in Venice or Turn of the Screw. If you know of any evidence then please cite it exactly with page references. Secondly I think it is simplistic to describe Quint or Aschenbach as pedophiles. Both these characters are drawn with great subtelty and complexity. There may be a case to assert that Quint abuses Miles but the sexual side is more hinted at than explicit and your bald assertions may mislead those who do not know the work to have a quite distorted view of the work. Quint exercises enormous power over those in the house. Surely turn of the screw is as much about power and responisbility as anything else. To characterise pedophilia simply as an exercise of power or to characterise any exercise of power as ultimately abusive is absurdly reductionist. Thirdly I have difficulty in seeing the pedophilia in Death in Venice. Pedophilia is more properly a description of abusive relationships between an adult and a child (and usually we are considering prepubescent children.) In death in Venice such a relationship does not exist. I think that maybe the Visconti has a lot to answer for!
To characterise the corruption of innocence as being the same as pedophilia is also reductionist. In pedophilia innocence ( aloaded term anyway ) may be corrupted but it is not the same. Surely you would not characterise Billy Budd's relationship with Claggart as pedophilic?
The assertions that you make need to be expressed with greater nuance. I consider that the proper place for comments about the roles in Britten's operas should be on the relevant page deleaing with Britten's operas not here where it adds little and confuses the neophyte.
- You're right that it's sloppy to put stuff in without references. Dybryd 19:57, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Gay
Shouldn't there be something here mentioning the nature of the Britten/Pears relationship? I feel this is similar to the Britten page, in that it does not make their homosexuality clear. Can something be done about this?
[edit] WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 01:58, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
