| The Lighthouse | |
|---|---|
| Chamber opera by Peter Maxwell Davies | |
&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Peter_Maxwell_Davies.jpg) The composer in 2012 | |
| Premiere | 2 September 1980 |
The Lighthouse is a chamber opera with words and music by Peter Maxwell Davies.
The scenario was inspired by a true story. In December 1900 a lighthouse supply ship called the Hesperus, based in Stromness, Orkney, went on its routine tour of duty to the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The lighthouse was empty - all three beds and the table looked as if they had been left in a hurry and the lamp, throughout, was in perfect working order, but the men had disappeared into thin air. The composer has taken liberties, and changed the name of the lighthouse to Fladda, this being not a usual name in the Western Isles of Scotland, to avoid offence or distress to any relatives of those concerned in the original incident.