Six Metamorphoses after Ovid

Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49, is an unaccompanied piece for solo oboe written by English composer Benjamin Britten. The work was composed in 1951 as a means of relaxation while Britten was working on his opera Billy Budd. It was written for oboist Joy Boughton, a member of the orchestra for the English Opera Group whom Britten admired; Boughton premiered the work at the 1951 Aldeburgh Festival on 14 June 1951 in an outdoor concert at the Thorpeness Meare. Since its premiere, Six Metamorphoses has come to be regarded as a staple of oboe literature and one of the most significant works for solo woodwind.

Six Metamorphoses is based on the epic poem Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso. The piece is composed of six movements, each drawing from a single narrative of Ovid's poem. The first movement, "Pan", follows the tale of the namesake satyr's attempted rape of the nymph Syrinx. The second movement, "Phaeton", concerns the catastrophic attempt of Apollo's son to drive the chariot of the sun. The third movement, "Niobe", concerns a Phrygian queen whose fourteen children are vengefully killed by Apollo and Diana. The fourth movement, "Bacchus", depicts a conventional Bacchic feast. The fifth movement, "Narcissus", depicts how the title character fell in love with his own reflection. The final movement, "Arethusa", tells of the title nymph's flight from an attempted rape by the river-god Alpheus. Britten's score provides a brief epigraph for each movement, in addition to the titles.

The piece is published by Boosey and Hawkes. Its combined six movements last approximately 13 minutes.