Billy Budd in the Finnish National Opera, the 30th of April, 2022

One of the opera highlights of this spring was the performance of ”Billy Budd” by Benjamin Britten in the Finnish National Opera. It was a joint production of the Norwegian National Opera and the Polish National Opera. The libretto was by E.M. Forster and it was based on Herman Melville’s novel. This work is rather rare in the sense that it is a big opera but does not have any female roles.   

The original opera is happening in the 1790’s, when England is fighting against post-revolutionary France. In the beginning of the opera Captain Vere reminisces his time on the ship “Indomitable”. Many of the crewmen have been shanghaied to the vessel, but young Billy Budd has volunteered, and the rest of the crew actually like him. However, the master of arms John Claggart loathes him and tries to frame him for breaking the rules. In the middle of it all Billy Budd gets really angry and hits Claggart, who falls and dies. The officers of the ship condemn him to death. Captain Vere could have saved him, but he does not and this decision he cannot forget.

In this version of “Billy Budd” the happenings are on a vessel that is resembling a submarine and the historic era is also unclear. That didn’t have a lot of significance, since the universal themes of humanity and guilt in this work are understandable in any environment and era.

I kind of liked Annemarie Woods’ set design, even though it was necessarily partly referential. There was no intermission in the opera and the change of scenery was accomplished by raising and lowering the stage, so that the same stage functioned as a house and a submarine/ship.  

The opera has a lot of roles and there were many small, inspiring moments in the performance. The main role of Billy Buddi was sung by Ville Rusanen by aplomb. But perhaps the greatest impression to me was made by Timo Olavi Riihonen who sang the role of John Claggart. His voice rang superbly, and he literally stole the stage in his scenes.