Editing Alan Bush (section)

====Opera ventures====
[[File:DeathWatTyler.jpg|thumb|The death of Wat Tyler: a 14th-century depiction]]
Since his youthful ''Last Days of Pompeii'', Bush had not attempted to write opera, but he took up the genre in 1946 with a short operetta for children, ''The Press Gang (or the Escap'd Apprentice)'', for which Nancy supplied the libretto. This was performed by pupils at [[St Christopher School]], [[Letchworth]], on 7 March 1947.<ref name= Children>{{cite web|title= Compositions: Children's Operetta|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/compositions/CO.asp?room=Music|publisher= The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> The following year he began a more ambitious venture, a full-length grand opera recounting the story of [[Wat Tyler]], who led the [[Peasants' Revolt]] of 1381.  ''Wat Tyler'', again to Nancy's libretto, was submitted in 1950 to the Arts Council's [[Festival of Britain]] opera competition, and was one of four prizewinners – Bush received £400.<ref>N. Bush, pp. 61–62</ref>{{refn| £400 has a purchasing power equivalent to about £12,500 in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title= Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present|url= https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/|publisher= Measuring Worth|access-date= 6 June 2017}}</ref> |group= n}} The opera was not taken up by any of the British opera houses, and was first staged at [[Leipzig Opera]] in 1953. It was well received, retained for the season and ran again in the following year; there was a further performance in Rostock in 1955.<ref name= OMO/>   ''Wat Tyler'' did not receive its full British premiere until 19 June 1974, when it was produced at [[Sadler's Wells]]; as of 2017, this remains the only professional staging of a Bush opera in Britain.<ref name= OMO/>

Bush's second opera, ''Men of Blackmoor'', composed in 1954–55 to Nancy's libretto, is a story of [[Northumberland|Northumbrian]] miners in the early 19th century; Bush went down a mine as part of his research.<ref name= Ford/> It received its premiere at the German National Theatre, Weimar on 18 November 1956. Like ''Wat Tyler'' in Leipzig, the opera was successful; after the Weimar season there were further East German productions in [[Jena]] (1957), Leipzig (1959) and [[Zwickau]] (1960).   In Britain there were student performances at Oxford in 1960, and Bristol in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|title= Background to the Opera Men of Blackmoor|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/blackmoor.asp?room=Music|publisher=  The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> In December 1960 David Drew in the ''New Statesman'' wrote: "The chief virtue of ''Men of Blackmoor'', and the reason why it particularly deserves a [professional] performance at this historical point, is its unfailing honesty ... it is never cheap, and at its best achieves a genuine dignity."<ref>{{cite web|last= Drew|first= David|title= Opinions and Commentary on Men of Blackmoor|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/blackmoor.asp?room=Music|via= The Alan Bush Music Trust|work=New Statesman|date=18 December 1960|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref>

For his third opera, Bush chose a contemporary theme – the struggle against colonial rule. He intended to collect appropriate musical material from [[Guyana|British Guiana]], but an attempt to visit the colony in 1957 was thwarted when its government refused him entry.<ref>Craggs, p. 21</ref> The ban was rescinded the following year,<ref>{{cite news|title= Mr Alan Bush|newspaper= The Manchester Guardian|date= 22 May 1958|page= 5|id= {{ProQuest|480265630}}}} {{subscription required}}</ref> and in 1959 Bush was able to gather and record a great deal of authentic music from the local African and Indian populations.<ref name= Jones/> The eventual result was ''The Sugar Reapers'', premiered at Leipzig on 11 December 1966. ''The Times'' correspondent, praising the performance, wrote: "One can only hope that London will soon see a production of its own".<ref>{{cite web| title= The Sugar Reapers|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/reapers.asp?room=Music|via= The Alan Bush Music Trust|work=The Times|date=17 December 1966|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> With Nancy, Bush wrote two more operettas for children: ''The Spell Unbound'' (1953) and ''The Ferryman's  Daughter'' (1961).<ref name= Children/> His final opera, written in 1965–67, was ''[[Joe Hill (opera)|Joe Hill]]'', based on the  life story of [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]], an American union activist and songwriter who was controversially convicted of murder and executed in 1915. The opera, to a libretto by Barrie Stavis, was premiered at the German [[Berlin State Opera]] on 29 September 1970, and in 1979 was broadcast by the BBC.<ref>{{cite web|title= Background to the Opera Joe Hill|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/jhill.asp?room=Music|publisher= The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160412140116/http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/jhill.asp?room=Music|archive-date= 12 April 2016|df= dmy-all}}</ref>