Claggart

Ever think that Charles Krauthammer read Billy Budd and rooted for Claggart?

Eschaton 2008

Peter Rose powerfully portrayed Claggart as both malevolent and troubled.

On War and Motherhood 2008

Billy's red neckerchief became a symbol of the feelings that both Claggart, the sadistic master-at-arms, and Vere, the enlightened captain, have for Billy.

On War and Motherhood 2008

But it was the bully Claggart - a charismatic Gidon Saks - and the bullied but attractive Billy Budd - a flirtatious Nathan Gunn - who conveyed the crisis of the opera with a few almost instinctive gestures and emphatic singing.

Billy Budd at the Barbican Jack of Kent 2007

In particular, Nathan Gunn's Billy Budd managed to do more with a couple of sideways smiles at Claggart than I can remember many opera companies doing over an entire evening.

Billy Budd at the Barbican Jack of Kent 2007

Though it must be said too that Claggart is as gay as the night is long.

"We have to be very careful. We want professors to speak with what they see as their truths." Ann Althouse 2007

In particular, Nathan Gunn's Billy Budd managed to do more with a couple of sideways smiles at Claggart than I can remember many opera companies doing over an entire evening.

Archive 2007-12-01 Jack of Kent 2007

But it was the bully Claggart - a charismatic Gidon Saks - and the bullied but attractive Billy Budd - a flirtatious Nathan Gunn - who conveyed the crisis of the opera with a few almost instinctive gestures and emphatic singing.

Archive 2007-12-01 Jack of Kent 2007

In 2004, the San Francisco Opera produced a fine version of "Billy Budd," an opera from the 1950s composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by E.M. Forster that includes the phrase "beauty, handsomeness, goodness" being addressed to the angelic Billy by the demonic Claggart.

Archive 2006-05-01 sfmike 2006

Forster that includes the phrase "beauty, handsomeness, goodness" being addressed to the angelic Billy by the demonic Claggart.

Beauty, Handsomeness, Goodness and Mortality sfmike 2006