We Come to the River

Opera (‘actions for music’) by Henze (libretto by E Bond); composed 1974–76, produced London, Covent Garden, 12 July 1976. After a battle, the General sentences the Deserter to be shot; he later finds the condemned man's wife trying to survive amongst the corpses. Realizing the misery he has caused, the General refuses orders and is sent to a mental asylum where the inmates imagine a river carries them to freedom.