ABSTRACT
This chapter is set out to place the work in its historical and generic contexts and to opera composed within the tradition of religious and liturgical drama. In Robert Saxton's case, it seems that it was the assimilation of a number of varied operatic conventions rather than the legacy of a single composer or 'school' that provided the basis for the structure and choice of musical techniques in this, his first 'major' theatre work. Alan Bush's opera Wat Tyler deals with the peasants' rebellion against State authority, but Saxton would have learned little from its sweeping dramatic arch or its rather simplistic depiction of 'primitive' England through the use of parallel fourths and a predominantly diatonic language. Saxton's skill in orchestration and word-setting will be highlighted, as will his transformation of the conventions of staged-drama into opera where narrative and action can be sustained in the orchestra as well as through the spoken or sung word and gesture.
