Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten was born in the fishing port of Lowestoft, Suffolk, on the 22nd of November 1913. His father Robert Victor Britten worked as a dentist who practiced without pleasure. His mother Edith Rhoda was an amateur musician and secretary of the Lowestoft Musical Society. When Britten was three months old he contracted pneumonia and nearly died. Doctors warned his parents that he would probably never be able to lead a normal life due to a damaged heart. He recovered more fully than expected and became a keen tennis player and cricketer as a boy. Edith gave him his first lessons in piano and notation when he was very young. He made his first attempts at composition when he was five years old. He started formal piano lessons at age seven and began playing the viola three years later. His father refused to have a gramophone or radio in the house. This meant Britten grew up listening only to live music performed by local musicians. At one symphony concert during the triennial Norfolk and Norwich Festival in October 1924, he heard Frank Bridge's orchestral poem The Sea conducted by the composer himself. It was the first substantial piece of modern music he had ever encountered. He described being knocked sideways by the experience.
In April 1939 Britten and Peter Pears sailed to North America. They went first to Canada and then to New York. Several reasons drove their departure from England including the difficult position of pacifists in an increasingly bellicose Europe. W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood had moved to the US three months earlier. Britten and Pears consummated their relationship after arriving and remained partners in both professional and personal lives until death. When World War II began they consulted the British embassy in Washington about returning home. The embassy advised them to stay as artistic ambassadors. Aaron Copland became a friend and his works Billy the Kid and An Outdoor Overture influenced Britten's own music. In 1940 Britten composed Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo for tenor and piano. This work marked the beginning of many song cycles written specifically for Pears. During this period Britten also encountered Balinese gamelan music through transcriptions made by Canadian composer Colin McPhee. They met in summer 1939 and performed McPhee's transcriptions together on recording. This musical encounter later produced several Balinese-inspired works in Britten's career.
In 1942 Britten read George Crabbe's poem The Borough set on the Suffolk coast near his homeland. It awakened longings for England that convinced him he must return. He decided to write an opera based on Crabbe's story about the fisherman Peter Grimes. Before leaving America conductor Serge Koussevitzky offered him a $1,000 commission to compose the work. Britten and Pears returned to England in April 1942. During their sea crossing they completed choral works A Ceremony of Carols and Hymn to St Cecilia. After arriving in Britain they applied for recognition as conscientious objectors. Britten initially received only non-combatant military service but gained unconditional exemption after appeal. Joan Cross announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells Opera with Britten's new work casting herself and Pears in leading roles. There were complaints from company members about supposed favouritism and the cacophony of Britten's score. Some ill-suppressed homophobic remarks also surfaced among performers. Peter Grimes opened in June 1945 and was hailed by both public and critics. Its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly during the same season. Lord Harewood called it the first genuinely successful British opera since Purcell apart from Gilbert and Sullivan.
By the 1960s the Aldeburgh Festival had outgrown its customary venues. Plans to build a new concert hall in Aldeburgh were not progressing when redundant Victorian maltings buildings became available in Snape six miles inland. Britten realized the largest building could be converted into a concert hall and opera house. The 830-seat Snape Maltings hall opened by Queen Elizabeth II on the 2nd of June 1967 at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival. It was immediately hailed as one of the best concert halls in the country. The hall suffered destruction by fire in 1969 but Britten determined it would be rebuilt before the following year's festival. The Queen attended the opening performance again in 1970. The Maltings gave the festival a venue capable of housing large orchestral works and operas comfortably. Britten conducted the first performance outside Russia of Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony at Snape in 1970. Shostakovich dedicated the symphony to Britten who was himself the dedicatee of The Prodigal Son. Two other Russian musicians regularly performed at the festival including pianist Sviatoslav Richter and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
Over twenty-eight years between Peter Grimes and Death in Venice Britten wrote fourteen more operas establishing himself as a leading figure in the genre. Recurring themes include the struggle of an outsider against hostile society and corruption of innocence. Billy Budd premiered at Covent Garden in 1951 and was well received as an advance on Peter Grimes. Gloriana written for Elizabeth II's coronation had a cool reception despite its box office success. Members of the premiere audience found the score too modern for such a gala event. The Turn of the Screw became an unqualified success alongside Peter Grimes as one of his two most frequently performed operas. In A Midsummer Night's Dream orchestral scoring varies to fit each character group with bright percussive sounds for fairies and warm strings for lovers. Death in Venice turns Tadzio and family into silent dancers accompanied by colourful glittering sounds of tuned percussion emphasizing their remoteness. These works demonstrate how Britten introduced elements of atonality while remaining essentially tonal. He also incorporated eastern music particularly gamelan sounds and eastern harmonies into his mature style.
Throughout his career Britten composed extensive song cycles dedicated to specific vocalists including tenor Peter Pears. Les Illuminations set words by Arthur Rimbaud and reflects eroticism in the poems. Copland commented he did not know how Britten dared write certain melodies in Antique section. Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo written for tenor and piano served as Britten's declaration of love for Peter. The Serenade for Tenor Horn and Strings sets verses by various poets on night-time themes. Nocturne includes words from Shakespeare Coleridge Keats Shelley Tennyson and Wilfred Owen. All songs have subtly different orchestrations with prominent obbligato parts for different instruments. Songs and Proverbs of William Blake presents all poems in continuous stream interleaving proverbs with songs painting sombre human existence. The Poet's Echo written for Galina Vishnevskaya shows robust extrovert side drawing atmospherically on south-east Asian polyphony. Who Are These Children? setting twelve verses by William Soutar ranks among grimmest cycles. A Birthday Hansel composed after Britten could no longer play piano uses voice and harp accompaniment.
Britten maintained close friendships with several boys particularly those in their early teens throughout his adult life. First such friendship involved Piers Dunkerley who was thirteen years old when Britten turned twenty in 1934. Other boys included David Hemmings and Michael Crawford both singing treble roles in his works during the 1950s. Hemmings later stated he never abused trust while Crawford wrote about kindness patience and affinity with young people. Auden referred to Britten's attraction to thin-as-a-board juveniles as sexless and innocent. Carpenter and Bridcut conclude relationships remained affectionate including bed-sharing kissing and nude bathing but strictly platonic. Politically Britten voted Liberal or Labour and joined Peace Pledge Union without joining any party. He called himself a dedicated Christian though sympathetic to radical views in Honest to God. In 1976 he accepted life peerage becoming Baron Britten of Aldeburgh first composer so honoured. After completing Death in Venice surgery replaced failing heart valve in May 1973 causing slight stroke affecting right hand ending performing career. Rita Thomson nursing sister moved to Aldeburgh in 1974 caring for him until death on the 4th of December 1976.
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Common questions
When and where was Edward Benjamin Britten born?
Edward Benjamin Britten was born in the fishing port of Lowestoft, Suffolk, on the 22nd of November 1913. His father Robert Victor Britten worked as a dentist who practiced without pleasure.
Why did Benjamin Britten leave England for North America in April 1939?
Several reasons drove their departure from England including the difficult position of pacifists in an increasingly bellicose Europe. W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood had moved to the US three months earlier.
What opera by Benjamin Britten opened in June 1945 at Sadler's Wells Opera?
Peter Grimes opened in June 1945 and was hailed by both public and critics. Its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly during the same season.
When did the Snape Maltings hall open for the Aldeburgh Festival?
The 830-seat Snape Maltings hall opened by Queen Elizabeth II on the 2nd of June 1967 at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival. It was immediately hailed as one of the best concert halls in the country.
Who were the main vocal partners in Benjamin Britten's song cycles throughout his career?
Throughout his career Britten composed extensive song cycles dedicated to specific vocalists including tenor Peter Pears. Les Illuminations set words by Arthur Rimbaud and reflects eroticism in the poems.
On what date did Edward Benjamin Britten die after completing Death in Venice?
Rita Thomson nursing sister moved to Aldeburgh in 1974 caring for him until death on the 4th of December 1976. He accepted life peerage becoming Baron Britten of Aldeburgh first composer so honoured.