close as it is possible to get to Handel's castrati of the 18th century.: "There is an air of baroque fantasy in the music." Britten's treatment of Puck also suggests parody. In opera, the hero's assistant is traditionally sung by baritones, yet here we have an adolescent youth who speaks, rather than sings. Britten thought the character of Puck "absolutely amoral and yet innocent." Describing the speaking, tumbling Puck of the opera, Britten wrote "I got the idea of doing Puck like this in Stockholm, where I saw some Swedish child acrobats with extraordinary agility and powers of mimicry, and suddenly realised we could do Puck this way." Recordings There are many recordings available, including two conducted by the composer, one a live recording of the 11 June 1960 premiere with the complete original cast, the second a studio recording made in 1967 with some of the original cast, Deller as Oberon, Owen Brannigan as Bottom, and Peter Pears elevated from Flute to Lysander, which omits some music from the lovers' awakening early in act 3. Notes and references Notes References Further reading Holden, Amanda (ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. Warrack, John and West, Ewan, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera New York: Oxford University Press: 1992 External links Synopsis of Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream from the English Touring Opera Midsummer Night's Dream from the Britten-Pears Foundation with audio clips Benjamin Britten's manuscript score for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the British Library Operas by Benjamin Britten English-language operas Operas 1960 operas Operas set in Greece Operas based on A Midsummer Night's Dream