Mind games: Peter Maxwell Davies's music theatre works in context

This article contextualises the genesis and development of Peter Maxwell Davies's Music Theatre related works within the musical environment of mid-1960s Britain. Although for a time the leading composers were attracted to the idea of Music Theatre it was only Davies who continued to explore aspects of the genre throughout his compositional career. The article tracks links between works, not just in musical terms, but also in terms of the supra-musical ideas which informed Davies's dramatic output: ideas such as death, anti-clericism, betrayal and the Antichrist figure - all of which operate at some level within the dramas that are created. Davies's characters are always potentially 'real' people placed in extraordinary situations and the article suggests that at least some of Davies's dramatic work had autobiographical implications for the composer.