Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Millennium Sinfonia conducted by James Kelleher. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/2ybd2wwo
I - Act I. Overture "Preludio Tragico" (0:00) - Scene I. An apartment in the Cenci palace (13:56) - Scene II. A garden of the Cenci palace (22:44) - Scene III. A magnificent hall in the Cenci palace (30:29) - Scene IV. An apartment in the castle of Petrella (40:55) - Scene V. Before the castle of Petrella (50:12) - Scene VI. An apartment in Orsino's palace (1:10:11) - Scene VII. The Hall of Justice (1:16:27) - Scene VIII. A hall of the prison (1:26:22)
Brian's "The Cenci" was composed between 1951-2, but the composer never saw the work performed in his lifetime. The overture, fanfares and a flourish can be performed as independent pieces. The opera was premiered in a concert performance on December 12 of 1997, in an occassion marking the 25th anniversary of the death of Brian. This recording was made from that performance.
Structured in a single act with eight scenes, the work is based on the 1819 verse drama "The Cenci", by English author Percy Bysshe Shelley. The story centres on Count Francesco Cenci, who is notorious for his depravity. He gives a party at which, to the horror of his guests, he gleefully announces the deaths of two of his sons. Another victim of his cruelty is his daughter Beatrice, whom he has raped. Beatrice enlists the help of Orsino, a priest and Roman nobleman whom she had once hoped to marry. With the approval of the Cenci family, Orsino plots the murder of the count. When the other conspirators are found out, Orsino evades capture; the rest are tried and executed.
Brian’s approach to "The Cenci" was to cut and omit much material, focusing on the bare essentials of the action. The numerous elisions, ranging from the wholesale omission of Acts 2 and 3 to judicious trimmings of words in many places elsewhere, have the effect of paring the drama to its essentials and drawing it tightly together. Clearly he saw his Cenci as a work into which audiences could be drawn, in very real opera houses – and with the principal characters of Cenci and Beatrice vividly etched in musical terms, with their own clearly identifiable thematic identities.
Although a continuous structure, Brian’s dramatic sequence of scenes divides in two, pivoting around the offstage murder of the Count during scene 5; indeed, all the violent or gruesome activity – including the Count’s abuse of Beatrice, the murders (scene 1 opens in the aftermath of an unspecified killing that the Count has perpetrated) and the papal court’s torturing of the criminals – takes place out of view. This mirrors the reluctance by Shelley to specify the Count’s incest, though the fact of some "ill-treatment" by her father is mentioned in the letter Beatrice requests Orsino put before the Pope; Orsino, of course, has other plans.
For a more detailed analysis of plot and music: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq
To see the libretto and lyrics: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq
Pictures: [left] "Last moments of Beatrice Cenci" (c. 1880) by Italian painter Guerrino Guardabassi. [centre] Coat of arms of the Cenci family. [right] "Woman wearing a turban" (c. 1650, sitter claimed to be Beatrice herself), attributed to Italian painter Ginevra Cantofoli.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq and tinyurl.com/26fzmysp
Unfortunately the score isn't freely available.
The Millennium Sinfonia conducted by James Kelleher. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/2ybd2wwo
I - Act I. Overture "Preludio Tragico" (0:00) - Scene I. An apartment in the Cenci palace (13:56) - Scene II. A garden of the Cenci palace (22:44) - Scene III. A magnificent hall in the Cenci palace (30:29) - Scene IV. An apartment in the castle of Petrella (40:55) - Scene V. Before the castle of Petrella (50:12) - Scene VI. An apartment in Orsino's palace (1:10:11) - Scene VII. The Hall of Justice (1:16:27) - Scene VIII. A hall of the prison (1:26:22)
Brian's "The Cenci" was composed between 1951-2, but the composer never saw the work performed in his lifetime. The overture, fanfares and a flourish can be performed as independent pieces. The opera was premiered in a concert performance on December 12 of 1997, in an occassion marking the 25th anniversary of the death of Brian. This recording was made from that performance.
Structured in a single act with eight scenes, the work is based on the 1819 verse drama "The Cenci", by English author Percy Bysshe Shelley. The story centres on Count Francesco Cenci, who is notorious for his depravity. He gives a party at which, to the horror of his guests, he gleefully announces the deaths of two of his sons. Another victim of his cruelty is his daughter Beatrice, whom he has raped. Beatrice enlists the help of Orsino, a priest and Roman nobleman whom she had once hoped to marry. With the approval of the Cenci family, Orsino plots the murder of the count. When the other conspirators are found out, Orsino evades capture; the rest are tried and executed.
Brian’s approach to "The Cenci" was to cut and omit much material, focusing on the bare essentials of the action. The numerous elisions, ranging from the wholesale omission of Acts 2 and 3 to judicious trimmings of words in many places elsewhere, have the effect of paring the drama to its essentials and drawing it tightly together. Clearly he saw his Cenci as a work into which audiences could be drawn, in very real opera houses – and with the principal characters of Cenci and Beatrice vividly etched in musical terms, with their own clearly identifiable thematic identities.
Although a continuous structure, Brian’s dramatic sequence of scenes divides in two, pivoting around the offstage murder of the Count during scene 5; indeed, all the violent or gruesome activity – including the Count’s abuse of Beatrice, the murders (scene 1 opens in the aftermath of an unspecified killing that the Count has perpetrated) and the papal court’s torturing of the criminals – takes place out of view. This mirrors the reluctance by Shelley to specify the Count’s incest, though the fact of some "ill-treatment" by her father is mentioned in the letter Beatrice requests Orsino put before the Pope; Orsino, of course, has other plans.
For a more detailed analysis of plot and music: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq
To see the libretto and lyrics: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq
Pictures: [left] "Last moments of Beatrice Cenci" (c. 1880) by Italian painter Guerrino Guardabassi. [centre] Coat of arms of the Cenci family. [right] "Woman wearing a turban" (c. 1650, sitter claimed to be Beatrice herself), attributed to Italian painter Ginevra Cantofoli.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2axqvxmq and tinyurl.com/26fzmysp
Unfortunately the score isn't freely available.
