Eric Crozier

Eric Crozier OBE (14 November 1914 – 7 September 1994) was a British theatrical director, opera librettist and producer, long associated with Benjamin Britten.

Early life and career Crozier was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and at the British Institute in Paris, working as a translator and giving English lessons. In Paris he joined Jacques Copeau's La Compagnie des Quinze, known for championing experimental drama. Productions during that time included Turn Round (1937) and Telecrime (1938). Crozier joined the Old Vic theatre, working with Tyrone Guthrie, then moved during the war to the Sadlers Wells Opera Company where he directed Smetana's The Bartered Bride in 1943 with Peter Pears in the lead role.

Association with Britten The association with Benjamin Britten began when Crozier directed his first opera, Peter Grimes, which had its world premiere at Sadler's Wells on 7 June 1945. Although this was both a critical and a commercial success there were many difficulties over its staging, including objections both to the music and to Britten's pacifism. Crozier fiercely defended the opera, and after the premiere he resigned from the company due to the lukewarm support he had received from the management. This, claims Jim Coyle, "not only calls into question Holst's objectivity; it serves to illustrate Britten's implacable lack of forgiveness on occasions". Something very similar happened to another Britten librettist, Ronald Duncan.

Other work Crozier wrote the libretto for Ruth, a 1956 sacred opera by Lennox Berkeley, after the Old Testament Book of Ruth. He also worked closely with Arthur Bliss, contributing the words for his Cradle Song for a Newborn Child (1964) as well as helping him with the proofs and advising on the content of his biography As I Remember (1970). Crozier translated many opera librettos into English, including The Bartered Bride, La Traviata, Otello and Falstaff (with Joan Cross), and Idomeneo, Salome and Die Frau ohne Schatten. In retirement he and Nancy lived at Great Glemham, not far from Snape Maltings, and they were both appointed OBEs in the 1991 New Year Honours list. The Eric Crozier and Nancy Evans archives are preserved at Aldeburgh. He died after a long period of ill-health at Granville in France.