Britten’s ‘Albert Herring’ to Debut at San Diego’s Civic Theatre : Opera: The British composer’s piece was a flop when it made its premiere at England’s Glyndebourne Opera House in 1947, but it has since become his most popular work.

Historically, the opening night verdict has seldom accurately predicted the eventual success of a new opera. Bizet’s “Carmen” and Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly,” to cite the most obvious examples, flopped at their respective premieres, only to become among the four or five most popular operas in the entire repertory.

When Benjamin Britten’s comic opera “Albert Herring” made its debut at England’s prestigious Glyndebourne Opera House in 1947, its reception by the public was also unenthusiastic.

“Back in 1947, nobody in the public really wanted to hear modern music of any kind,” said English stage director Colin Graham, although Britten’s idiom was never avant-garde. And the composer’s decision to write on the scale of chamber opera, according to English conductor Steuart Bedford, did not measure up to the average opera-goer’s expectation of stage spectacle.

“You have to remember that ‘Albert Herring’ came after the success of ‘Peter Grimes,’ ” Bedford noted, referring to Britten’s first opera triumph on both British and international stages. “And everybody wanted another ‘Peter Grimes’--a grand opera house piece. What did they get? They got nothing for large orchestra or large chorus: They got a piece for nine singers and an orchestra of only 12 players.”

“Albert Herring,” which eventually became the most frequently performed of Britten’s 15 operas, will make its San Diego Opera debut at Civic Theatre at 7 tonight. Based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant, “Albert Herring” is about a shy lad who is crowned King of the May because the pompous small-town gentry cannot find a suitable young woman of untainted virtue. Set in a late Victorian milieu, the opera is a comic sendup of middle-class respectability. But stage director Colin Graham was quick to point out that Britten had a serious purpose behind his affable comic opera.

“The serious subtext that pervades all of Britten’s operas--with the possible exception of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’--is the plight of the outsider in society, with which (Britten) identified very strongly himself. In this particular case, the outsider theme involves the emancipation of this young man Albert, who is so restricted by society’s perception of respectability. Which is something else that Ben had a lot (of) fault to find with himself,” Graham explained.

Graham will direct and Bedford will conduct the four performances of San Diego’s “Albert Herring” production. Before Britten’s death in 1976, both men had worked with the composer on opera projects. In 1961 Graham became the director of productions at the English Opera Group, the company Britten founded, and Graham directed the premieres of “Curlew River” (1964), “The Prodigal Son” (1968) and “Owen Wingrave” (1971). Bedford conducted the premiere of Britten’s valedictory opera “Death in Venice” in 1973.

In the operas Britten wrote immediately after World War II, “The Rape of Lucretia” and “Albert Herring,” the composer attempted to revive the native British opera tradition, which had not flourished since the time of 17th-Century composer Henry Purcell. Britten was also keenly aware of the social and economic conditions of postwar England.

“In 1946, the year after the war had ended, it was not considered expedient to have a whole lot of Germans around singing in Glyndebourne, which was the opera house created by John Christie,” Bedford said. “Known for its Mozart productions, Glyndebourne was the only international house in England at the time. And so John Christie had this idea of inviting this young composer to put on an English opera.”

According to Bedford, Britten’s opera subjects and musical style never pleased Christie.

“He would meet patrons in the parking lot as they arrived for ‘Albert Herring’ saying, ‘This isn’t our kind of thing at all, you know!’ ” Graham mused.

Britten found creative use for some of the criticisms of his operas. After the premiere of Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia,” the composer’s clergyman attacked the opera’s subject matter from the pulpit, according to Graham.

“ ‘Why do we have to have an opera on the subject of rape?’, the local vicar complained.” The unsophisticated preacher was apparently unaware that Britten’s treatment of the tale from Roman antiquity had been recast as a Christian morality play, an anachronistic change for which Britten had been criticized by the secular music press.

“So when he wrote ‘Albert Herring’, he depicted the town’s vicar as a character who was always spouting some platitude at the wrong time in a nervous, high-pitched voice,” Graham said.

If Britten’s fame was eclipsed in the postwar years, by the time of “Turn of the Screw” in 1954, Graham noted, the British public had become attuned to the composer’s musical style.

“It just took time,” Graham said. “The fact that he finished up virtually a millionaire as a result of his royalties and performances proved that the tide did turn in his favor eventually. Before accepting his peerage, he was offered a knighthood, and he turned it down. He was a friend of the royal family and was in demand for everything. But it didn’t in any way weaken his attitude towards things like phony respectability and his pacifist feelings--anything he really believed in.”