Cirrus@Austlit

Opera composed by Peter Sculthorpe with libretto by Brian Bell. First performed on ABC television and radio on 1 July 1982. (Film/videotape not available) Score and audio tape available from Faber Music, London.

Sculthorpe was influenced by the historical writings of Manning Clark and Kenneth Gordon McIntyre.

In an article 'Quiros Was Our First Antihero. It's a Very Australian Story' published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 14-15 October 2006, Steve Meacham writes that 'Nugget Coombs ... suggested in the mid-'60s that he [Sculthorpe] write an opera about... Spanish explorer Pedro Fernandez De Quiros. James McAuley had already written his epic poem, Captain Quiros, and there was talk of the two men collaborating, though in the end Sculthorpe felt McAuley's take on the story was too steeped in Catholic symbolism... The idea was revived when theABC approached Sculthorpe to write a televised opera to mark its 50th anniversary in 1982, with Brain Bell providing the libretto.'