Baa Baa Black Sheep--A Jungle Tale, opera

• Date: 1993
• Composer: Michael Berkeley
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

Michael Berkeley composed this major three-act opera in 1993, and received overwhelming applause from the audience and acclaim from the critics. Written in a style of extended tonality, it combines two tales by Rudyard Kipling, his famous The Jungle Book, and a short story, "Baa Baa Black Sheep," an autobiographical account of a young boy named Punch who with his sister, Judy, is left at the age of five with a highly abusive "Aunty Rose" and her bullying thirteen-year-old son, Harry.

Kipling later acknowledged that the dreariness and torture of this upbringing caused him to withdraw into the world of his imagination, reaching back to his childhood memories of India (to which his parents returned after parking their children with the aunt). This led to his inventing stories of life in India, and obviously inspired Mowgli, the lost boy who is raised by animals into the Law of the Jungle. Librettist David Malouf blended these two worlds in an exceptionally creative and insightful manner. ~ Joseph Stevenson, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Baa Baa Black Sheep	1995
Michael Berkeley: Baa Baa Black Sheep	2004

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