Arden Must Die

Arden Must Die (German: Arden muss sterben) is an opera by Alexander Goehr. It premiered on 5 March 1967 at the Hamburg State Opera,^[1] conducted by Charles Mackerras and directed by Egon Monk.^[2] It was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera.^[3]

Arden Must Die
Opera by Alexander Goehr
Other title	Arden muss sterben
Librettist	Erich Fried
Language	German, translated to English
Premiere	5 March 1967 (1967-03-05) Hamburg State Opera

The German libretto was written by Erich Fried, with an English version by Geoffrey Skelton.^[1] It tells the story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife Alice and her lover Mosbie. The libretto draws on two sixteenth-century accounts of the murder, namely the version by chronicler Raphael Holinshed and the anonymous play Arden of Faversham.^[1]

The British première was at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, on 17 April 1974, conducted by Meredith Davies.^[1]