from Act III of the English opera Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten

Libretto: Eric Crozier

Role: Albert Herring, clerk in his mother's grocery store

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: Mrs Herring's greengrocery, Loxford, East Suffock, England, May 2nd, 1900

Synopsis: The whole town has been looking for Albert, who disappeared after being named the King of May the day before. He finally shows up and, when asked where he was, replies that he stayed out all night. He says that he decided that it was time he experienced some of the more sinful parts of life. He explains that he went to several pubs and got roaring drunk and eventually got into a fight. He finishes it all by explaining that he did it because of the unrealistic expectations of virtue that his mother and the town had of him.