Miss Havisham's Wedding Night opera in one act Music by Dominick Argento Libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour, after an episode in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

(U.S. Opera Home Page)

From the score:

"On the morning of her wedding day, Miss Havisham was dressing for the ceremony when a note arrived from the groom-to-be, jilting her; she smashed the clocks, blocked out the light and vowed never to leave her rooms or remove her bridal attire--complete except for the one shoe still lacking when the note was delivered. That melodramatic scene is found, of course, in Dickens' Great Expectations..."

In the opera, Miss Havisham, many years later, spends her time reliving the disastrous day of her intended wedding, something she has obviously been doing for a very long time and is a little bored of. She imagines a visit from her fiance' and wonders about what her life might have been like if their relationship had turned out differently. She is interrupted by the chambermaid bringing her morning tea and as the curtain falls, Miss Havisham prepares to tell the young Estella all about men.

A Water Bird Talk and Miss Havisham's Wedding Night. Shirley-Quick, Mabbs, Sinfonia of St. Cecilia/Watkins, 1997. Compact Disc. Koch 3-7388-2 H1.