Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten,
OM CH (
November 22,
1913 –
December 4,
1976) was a British
composer,
conductor, and
pianist.
Britten was born in
Lowestoft in
Suffolk, the son of a dentist and a talented amateur musician. His birthday, November 22, is the feast-day of
Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, and he showed musical gifts very early in life. He began composing prolifically as a child, and was educated at
Gresham's School. In 1927, he began private lessons with
Frank Bridge. He also studied, less happily, at the
Royal College of Music under
John Ireland and with some input from
Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although ultimately held back by his parents (at the suggestion of College staff), Britten had also intended to study with
Alban Berg in Vienna. His first compositions to attract wide attention were the
Sinfonietta (Op.1) and a set of choral variations
A Boy was Born, written in 1934 for the
BBC Singers. The following year he met
W. H. Auden with whom he collaborated on the song-cycle
Our Hunting Fathers, radical both in politics and musical treatment, and other works. Of more lasting importance was his meeting in 1936 with the
tenor Peter Pears, who was to become his life-partner and musical collaborator. In early 1939, the two of them followed Auden to America. There Britten composed
Paul Bunyan, his first
opera (to a libretto by Auden), as well as the first of many
song cycles for Pears; the period was otherwise remarkable for a number of orchestral works, including
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (for string orchestra) and
Sinfonia da Requiem (for full orchestra).
Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, Britten completing the choral works
Hymn to Saint Cecilia (his last collaboration with Auden) and
A Ceremony of Carols during the long sea voyage. He had already begun work on his opera
Peter Grimes, and its premiere at
Sadler's Wells in 1945 was his greatest success so far. Britten was however encountering opposition from sectors of the English musical establishment and gradually withdrew from the London scene, founding the
English Opera Group in 1947 and the
Aldeburgh Festival the following year, partly (though not solely) to showcase his own works.
Grimes marked the start of a series of English operas, of which
Billy Budd (1951) and
The Turn of the Screw (1954) were particularly admired. These operas share common themes, with that of the 'outsider' particularly prevalent. Most feature such a character, excluded or misunderstood by society; often this is the protagonist, such as Peter Grimes and
Owen Wingrave in their eponymous operas. An increasingly important influence was the music of the East, an interest fostered by a tour with Pears in 1957, when Britten was much struck by the music of the
Balinese
gamelan and by Japanese
Noh plays. The fruits of this tour include the ballet
The Prince of the Pagodas (1957) and the series of semi-operatic "Parables for Church Performance":
Curlew River (1964),
The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966) and
The Prodigal Son (
1968). The greatest success of Britten's career was, however, the musically more conventional
War Requiem, written for the opening of the rebuilt
Coventry Cathedral in 1962.
Britten developed close friendships with
Dmitri Shostakovich and
Mstislav Rostropovich in the 1960s, composing his
Cello Suites for the latter and conducting the first Western performance of the former's
Fourteenth Symphony; Shostakovich dedicated the score to Britten and often spoke very highly of his music. Britten himself had previously dedicated 'The Prodigal Son' (the third and last of the 'Church Parables') to Shostakovich.
In the last decade or so of his life, Britten suffered from increasing ill-health and his late works became progressively more sparse in texture. They include the opera
Death in Venice (1973), the
Suite on English Folk Tunes "A Time There Was" and Third String Quartet (1975), which drew on material from
Death in Venice, as well as the dramatic cantata
Phaedra (1976), written for
Janet Baker. Britten was made a
life peer on
2 July 1976 as
Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk. A few months later he died of
heart failure at his house in
Aldeburgh.
One of Britten's best known works is
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (
1946), which was composed to accompany
Instruments of the Orchestra, an educational
film produced by the British government. It has the subtitle
Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, and takes a
melody from
Henry Purcell's
Abdelazar as its central theme. Britten gives individual variations to each of the sections of the orchestra, starting with the
woodwind, then the
string instruments, the
brass instruments and finally the
percussion. Britten then brings the whole orchestra together again in a
fugue before restating the theme to close the work. In the original film there was a spoken commentary, but this is often omitted in concert performances and recordings.
Britten was also an accomplished pianist, and sometimes performed at the piano in
chamber music or accompanying
lieder. However, apart from the
Piano Concerto (1938) and the
Diversions for piano and orchestra (written for
Paul Wittgenstein in 1940), he wrote very little music for the instrument, and in a 1963 interview for the BBC said that he thought of it as "a background instrument".
His work as a conductor included not only his own music but also that of many other composers, notably
Mozart,
Elgar, and
Percy Grainger.
One of Britten's solo works that has an indisputably central place in the repertoire of its instrument is his
Nocturnal after John Dowland for
guitar (1964). This work is typically spare in his late style, and shows the depth of his life-long admiration for Elizabethan
lute songs. The theme of the work, John Dowland's
Come, Heavy Sleep, emerges in complete form at the close of eight variations, each variation based on some feature, frequently transient or ornamental, of the song or its
lute accompaniment.
|
The Scallop is a sculpture dedicated to Benjamin Britten on the beach at Aldeburgh. The edge of the shell is pierced with the words "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" from Peter Grimes. |
Britten's status as one of the greatest English composers of the 20th century is now secure among professional critics. In the 1930s he made a conscious effort to set himself apart from the English musical mainstream, which he regarded as complacent, insular and amateurish. Many critics of the time, in return, distrusted his facility, cosmopolitanism and admiration for composers, such as
Mahler,
Berg, and
Stravinsky, not considered appropriate models for a young English musician. Even today, criticism of his music is apt to become entangled with consideration of his personality, politics and sexuality. The publication of
Humphrey Carpenter's biography in 1992, with its revelations of Britten's often fraught social, professional and sexual relationships, has ensured that he will remain a controversial figure. For many musicians, however, his flawless technique, broad musical and human sympathies and ability to treat the most traditional of musical forms with freshness and originality places him near the head of composers of his generation.
See also :Category:Compositions by Benjamin Britten.Works for and with orchestra
Early works prior to op.1 Sinfonietta including Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra (1932)
*
Simple Symphony for string orchestra (1934)
*
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge for string orchestra (1937)
* Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1938 rev. 1945)
* Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1939 rev. 1958)
Young Apollo for piano and string orchestra (1939)
Sinfonia da Requiem for orchestra (1940)
Diversions for piano (left hand) and orchestra (1940 rev. 1954)
* "Clarinet Concerto" 1st mvment only, orch Colin Matthews (1942/3)
*Prelude and Fugue for 18 strings (1943)
*
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943)
Four Sea Interludes and
Passacaglia from
Peter Grimes for orchestra (1945)
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946)
*
Saint Nicolas for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1948)
Spring Symphony for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1949)
*Symphonic Suite from
Gloriana (1954)
*
Nocturne for tenor, 7 obligato instruments & strings (1958)
*
War Requiem (1961)
Cantata misericordium for soloists, small chorus, string quartet, string orchestra, piano, harp, timpani (1963)
*
Cello Symphony (1963)
Suite on English Folk Tunes, A Time There Was..., for chamber orchestra (1966/1974)
Phaedra for mezzo-soprano, string orchestra, percussion, cello and harpsichord (
Robert Lowell after
Jean Racine's Phèdre, 1975)
Praise we great men for soloists, chorus and orchestra (Edith Sitwell) (1976, completed by Colin Matthews 1985)
*"Sea Symphony" for soloists,chorus and orchestra (projected only, 1976)
Operas and Church Parables
*
Paul Bunyan (1941), an operetta based on the American folktale
*
Peter Grimes (1945), an opera based on
George Crabbe's
The Borough*
The Rape of Lucretia (1946), after the play Le Viol de Lucrèce by
André Obey*
Albert Herring (1947), after
Guy de Maupassant's story "
Le Rosier de Mme. Husson"
*
Let's Make an Opera (The Little Sweep) (1949), an opera for children
*
Billy Budd (1951), after
Herman Melville's novella
*
Gloriana (1953), after
Lytton Strachey's Elizabeth and Essex, written for the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II*
The Turn of the Screw (1954), based on the novella by
Henry James*
Noye's Fludde (1958)
*
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), after
Shakespeare*
Curlew River (1964), based on a
Japanese
Noh play
*
The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966), after the Book of Daniel, Chapter 3
*
The Prodigal Son (1968), after the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 15
*
Owen Wingrave (1971) an opera for television, after the short story by
Henry James *
Death in Venice (1973), based on
Thomas Mann's novella
* projected Christmas opera, intended forces unknown (1976)
Others
* Music for the documentary film
Night Mail (1936) with words by
W. H. Auden*
A Ceremony of Carols for treble voices and harp (1942); an alternate arrangement for mixed voices and harp (or piano) is popular as well
Hymn to St. Cecilia for unaccompanied choir; poem by
W. H. Auden (1942)
Rejoice in the Lamb for 4 soloists, choir, and organ; text by
Christopher Smart (1943)
Winter Words for tenor and piano, poetry by
Thomas Hardy (1954)
Fanfare for St Edmundsbury (1959) short antiphonal and polytonal piece for three trumpets
Missa Brevis for boys' voices and organ (1959)
* Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major (1960)
Nocturnal after John Dowland for guitar (1963)
*Cello Suites Nos 1, 2 and 3 (1964, '67, '71)
Sacred and Profane (8 medieval lyrics) for SSATB (1974-5)
*Eight books of
Folksong Arrangements from the British Isles and France. For voice and piano, guitar and harp.
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo
Oboe, with quotations from
Ovid's Metamorphoses poem.
*
Donald Mitchell, "Britten, (Edward) Benjamin, Baron Britten (1913-1976)",
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed
18 October 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30853
*Philip Brett. "Benjamin Britten",
Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed
October 18 2004),
grovemusic.com (subscription access).
*
Humphrey Carpenter Benjamin Britten: a biography (London: Faber, 1992) ISBN 0571143245
*
Britten-Pears Foundation*
Audio (.ram files) of 1957 and 1963 interviews for the BBC*
Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland*
An extensive list of Benjamin Britten's works*
recording of Lachrymae*
Benjamin Britten's Gravesite
