Peter Maxwell Davies, Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969)

Here's Profiles in Integrity for you: Per wikipedia,

Davies's appointment to the post of Master of the Queen's Music was initially controversial, as he had expressed republican views. However, he confirmed in 2010 that contact with the Queen had converted him to monarchism. He told The Daily Telegraph, "I have come to realise that there is a lot to be said for the monarchy. It represents continuity, tradition and stability."

Hmm. Rather than "converting him to monarchism," I think we can safely say that she converted him to really wanting this position. But that is neither here nor there. It is sort of surprising to me that they would want such an avant-garde musician for their official post. You'd think they'd go with someone more, I dunno, traditional and stable. Not that I am objecting! The weirder our "official" artists are the better.

This is a short monodrama about George III in his madness: the libretto consists, I think, mainly of his real demented ranting. There's really not a lot more I can say about the "plot," which doesn't exist. It's a depiction of one man's breakdown.

But I really wanted to talk about this as a contrast with Punch and Judy, below. As you can see, the two pieces were written and presented at about the same time, and they are in extremely similar challenging atonal idioms with similarly stylize singing. And yet...while I hated Birtwistle's work, I actually more or less liked this. True story. I felt that the music here really enhanced the drama. Obviously, it represents the king's internal state, all the more so because the "songs" are sort of loosely based on original folk music, sometimes bubbling to the surface in kind of a mutated way. For me, it worked (and it certainly helps that it's only a half hour long).  It's unnerving, as it's meant to be. No, it's never going to be my favorite thing, but I can appreciate it, which makes me more confident about not liking Punch and Judy, so that's cool. You can watch it here; Kelvin Thomas is very effective as the singer.