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| Powder Her Face | |
|---|---|
| Chamber opera by Thomas Adès | |
 Scene in a production by Pier Luigi Pizzi at the Teatro Comunale Bologna, 2010 | |
| Librettist | Philip Hensher |
| Based on | life of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll |
| Premiere | 1 July 1995 |
Powder Her Face, Op. 14 (1995), is a chamber opera in two acts by the British composer Thomas Adès, with an English libretto by Philip Hensher. The opera is 100 minutes long. It was commissioned by the Almeida Opera, a part of London's Almeida Theatre, for performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival.
The subject of the opera is the "Dirty Duchess", Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, whose sexual exploits were the stuff of scandal and gossip in Britain in 1963 during her divorce proceedings. The opera is explicit in its language and detail.
It was first performed on 1 July 1995 in Cheltenham, with Jill Gómez in the leading role. Reviews were generally good, but the opera became notorious for its musical depiction of fellatio: British radio station Classic FM considered it unsuitable for transmission.