Edward Benjamin Britten (E·B· Britten,1913-1976), known as the master of English music renaissance, created a large number of high-quality music works in his life, covering 43 choral works, 24 orchestral works, more than 20 scores, 40 adaptations and1. Of course, this accomplished composer is one of the important research goals of domestic scholars, and there have been many research results, among which the research results of opera theory that laid his position in the music industry are particularly prominent. The author has collected more than 20 monographs and papers. Overall, the domestic research status is as follows:

First, the overall introduction type

As we all know, it is essential to introduce the script, plot, scene, characters, structure and band composition of an opera. These components of traditional Chinese opera are not only the first step for ordinary audience to know and appreciate traditional Chinese opera, but also the primary work of traditional Chinese opera researchers, without exception.

In this regard, domestic scholars have made many contributions. They compiled some of Britten's opera works, including Britten's Peter Grims (2), Britten's Albert Irene (3), Britten's Billy Budd (4) and Britten's The Shame of Lucretius (5). These translations appeared in 1980s and 1990s, that is, at the beginning of China's study of Britten's operas. Although they mainly introduced the opera as a whole, they didn't have a deep understanding of the drama contained in the opera, but as the first step for China people to understand Britten's opera, it was the basic data for later scholars to carry out related research.

In addition, Britten's Opera (translated by Anning, Qilu Art Garden, No.5, 2008) is translated according to the entries of Britten's opera in the New Grove Music Dictionary. This paper introduces Britten's opera creation process, the transformation of opera types, the selection of opera scripts, the arrangement of opera structure, the endowing of opera connotation and some comments, and finally points out Britten's operas. It is the most effective combination of music and drama plot on the level of psychological motivation. At the same time, the article also implies that Britten's opera world not only has a kind of inertia, but also reflects different life, society, psychology, contradictions and value orientations through drama and music. Although this article is mainly introductory, it is of great academic value.

Second, the post-event review type.

Post-criticism article is also an important part of China Britten's opera research, which is simply an article about post-criticism. Most of these commentators are good at using metaphors, lyricism and other narrative techniques to insert some wonderful stills, so this kind of articles give people a taste of "appealing to both refined and popular tastes", with pictures and texts, which are easy to understand and readable. Representative articles include Billy Budd by Britten in Santa Fe Opera House, Returning to the Opera Stage with Sticks and Screws by Markras, and The Stage of metropolitan opera by Peter Grims. As a researcher, the author can't ignore their functions and enlightening significance, because they are the most intuitive evaluation made by the audience after watching them on the spot, combining their own knowledge, life experience, ideology and related music professional knowledge. The author sometimes talks about the cast and stage setting in combination with the plot, and sometimes expresses his understanding of the characters in combination with the cast. This multi-faceted, multi-layered and even "three-dimensional" perspective of thinking interpretation is particularly worth learning and has a strong enlightening effect on our realistic interpretation.

Third, special research type.

This kind of research is the main part of domestic related research, mostly dissertations. The author has collected 1 bachelor's thesis, 3 master's thesis, 1 doctoral thesis and 1 monograph, all of which belong to this category. These achievements are focused on topics, clear arguments, highlighting the theme of drama, digging deep into the connotation of drama, and having high academic content.

Among them, Britten's opera Peter Grims (Liu Hongzhu, Bachelor's Thesis of Central Conservatory of Music, 1987) is the earliest research achievement about this opera in China. The full text mainly analyzes and explains the creation process, characterization, structural techniques and social thoughts contained in the play in detail, and mentions in the conclusion that Britten is a composer who combines European traditional techniques and modern creative techniques.

The three master's theses are "On the Image Building in benjamin britten's Opera Peter Grims" (Qin Yuan, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, 2005), "Study on Six Intervals in the Opera Peter Grims" (Zhu Houpeng, Nanjing Art Institute, 20 10) and "On benjamin britten's Opera Gloriana". The first part, through the analysis of opera scripts and musical techniques, studies the image-building process of the play, and strives to fully and meticulously show the artistic characteristics of the characters in the play, which opens the way for interpreting Britten's opera works and opera images of related themes. In addition, the author puts forward: "Opera creators observe society and life with realistic aesthetic vision, express it in their own works with realistic artistic techniques, and pin their thinking on life and profound criticism and analysis of society on their own artistic image." The author believes that this is an important, even decisive, aspect of our comprehensive understanding, understanding and interpretation of this opera. In the second part, the author focuses on the relationship between the six episodes in the play and the drama environment, drama atmosphere, drama conflict, character and opera conception, and points out that the episode is an organic part that can perfectly present and sublimate the above five parts and is the core carrier of all aspects of the play. Both articles are highly targeted and academic. The third part is the study of Gloriana's special achievements. The full text is divided into two parts, mainly focusing on the heroine of this opera. The first part introduces the background and ideas of opera creation, focusing on the interpretation of the heroine image created in the script. The second part analyzes and studies the music that shapes the protagonist in the opera to explain Britten's musical skills in shaping the image of the queen.

This doctoral thesis is a study of Britten's two operas Peter Grims and Death of Venice (Anning, Central Conservatory of Music, 2007). This paper focuses on the comparative study of the genre form, theme content, musical style, specific technical techniques and aesthetic pursuit of these two operas, and explores the "sexual orientation" that affects the composer's creation. Among them, the analysis and research on Peter Grims is highly academic. When discussing the writing of the opera "Venice at the End of Life", the author focuses on the original author thomas mann and the basic situation of the script rewriting, looking for the reasons that prompted the composer to overcome various obstacles and even devote himself to the creation, and showing the relationship between Britten's inner feelings and opera creation. Finally, the full text stays on the issue of "sexual orientation". The author thinks that Britten's "sexual orientation" is not only reflected in the two operas, but more importantly, it is the main factor affecting the creation of these two operas. At the same time, this academic paper not only shows us the latest and rich foreign research results (because the author combed a lot of foreign research results in the literature review), but also introduces the latest research method, that is, the interpretation method of "new musicology"

Wang Yang's Britten and His Music Creation {10} is the only monograph on Britten in China. Based on the composer's creative career, the author comprehensively analyzes and summarizes the main creative stages, works and creative characteristics of the composer's life. Among them, it focuses on Peter Grims. In this part, the author not only introduces the story and plot of the opera, but also makes a technical analysis and summary of the main duet, chorus, character characteristics, the characteristics and functions of interlude, some leading motives, tonality and harmony arrangement, rhythm and so on. It is of great reference value to our research. In addition, the author uses a subtitle "Aesthetic Features of Opera" in it, which is considered to be a very important aspect of a deep understanding and comprehensive understanding of opera. Unfortunately, the author did not expand it (only used nearly a thousand words), but only explained the psychological characteristics of the main characters from the lyrics, indicating that this is a work deeply influenced by realistic aesthetic thought.