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The first of Britten's 14 operas, Peter Grimes is in many ways the most successful and is definitely the most important among them. Based on George Crabbe's epic poem, The Borough, the work deals with the struggle of man versus society, an important subject for Britten and Pears. Grimes is a fisherman who has been blamed for the death of his young apprentice, who died in Grimes's boat while they were stranded at sea. Although the court decides that Grimes was not to blame, the Borough decides for itself that Grimes is not fit to have another apprentice. Despite this fact, Grimes gets another one, and the Borough's gossiping resounds with accusations and warnings. In Act II, Ellen Orford, Grimes's newfound ally and potential love interest, helps to care for the boy but succumbs to suspicion herself when she finds a bruise on the boy's neck. When she confronts Peter, he loses control, striking her to the ground and taking the boy away. The Borough collects around her, working itself into a frenzy, and forms into a mob to search for Grimes and the apprentice. Grimes tries to escape the mob by fleeing into the sea, but the boy is killed on the way, making the Borough's accusations a reality. In the third act, Grimes has lost his mind, and he takes a boat out to sea and sinks it, rather than face the Borough.
The role of Peter Grimes was composed for Peter Pears, who performed the role successfully for years. Each of the three acts is divided into two scenes, with an instrumental interlude between each scene. Four of these interludes are often performed as a set by symphony orchestras; Leonard Bernstein's final recording was of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. There is an amazing recording of the complete opera on the Philips label, recorded in 1978 by the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, and starring the world famous Canadian tenor Jon Vickers as Grimes.
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