ABSTRACT
The opera Caritas was commissioned in 1987, jointly by Opera North and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, with funds provided by Yorkshire Arts and The Arts Council of Great Britain. Bearing in mind that Lebrecht's article was focused on the politics of opera production and set in the context of a domestic meal at Wesker's home, one should, perhaps, not attach too much weight to his comments about the composer's response to the commission. In the evolution of Caritas from play to opera, Saxton's musical language and compositional techniques will be examined with particular attention to the works cited by Paul Griffiths article– which itself followed on from an interview with the composer, published in New Sounds and New Personalities. In general, however, Saxton stressed that he hoped to have assimilated such musical memories, following Schoenberg's dictum that 'one must learn from the masters, but then take the essence and create something new.
