Albert Herring is an opera in three acts by the British composer Benjamin Britten (see Britten, Benjamin ). Its libretto (text) by Eric Crozier is based on Madame Husson’s Rose Bush (1888), a story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant. Britten conducted the first performance of the opera at Glyndebourne Opera House, England, on June 20, 1947.
The story is set in a small town in Suffolk, England, where the organizers of the May Day festivities are trying to find a May Queen. Unfortunately, none of the local girls can be offered the honor because they are not chaste (virtuous) enough. So Albert Herring, a hen-pecked young man under the thumb of his mother, is chosen to be May King instead. Unfortunately, after accepting his prize money, he then scandalizes the organizers by spending it on a night of sex and riotous living. The experience helps free him from his mother’s domination.
