One of Walton’s late works, The Bear is small of scale when compared with his previous and only other opera. Troilus and Cressida had been a huge undertaking with a large cast, full orchestra and chorus, and one that had met with mostly tepid responses. So it was little surprise that when commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation to write an opera (eventually dedicated ‘to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky’) he produced a compact threehander. Perhaps it was that great conductor’s Russian background that inspired Walton to turn to Chekhov as the source for The Bear.