Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten ( Lowestoft , Suffolk , November 22 1913 - Aldeburgh, Suffolk, December 4 1976 ) was an English composer , pianist and conductor .

Content

 * 1 Life
 * 2 Personal
 * 3 Oeuvre
 * 3.1 opera and theater music
 * 3.2 Choral Works
 * 3.3 Songs
 * 3.4 Compositions for orchestra
 * 3.5 Music in documentaries and films
 * 4 Discussed compositions

[Life- edit ]
Brits studied at Gresham's School in Holt , Norfolk . As a child he composed about 800 works. He had piano lessons with Harold Samuel and composition lessons with Frank Bridge (Bridge and Samuel were friends). Thanks to a scholarship he could study at the Royal College of Music in London with John Ireland and Arthur Benjamin . He began to include his Rondo concertante for piano and string orchestra, which he never completed.

After he had any film had written for documentaries, came his breakthrough by implementing Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, his premiere was at the Salzburg Festivalin 1937. Through subsequent compositions, especially Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and Serenade (1943), he was the lead role in the British classical music ascribed. From 1939 to 1942 lived British in the United States . There started a clarinet concerto he never completed. In 1945 followed the premiere of his second opera Peter Grimes, which led to the recognition of its dramatic qualities .

In 1947 formed the British English Opera Group, which operas premiered brought upon himself and others - mostly British - composers like Lennox Berkeley , Malcolm Williamson , William Walton , Harrison Birtwistle and Thea Musgrave . The group included prominent singers, including Kathleen Ferrier , Heather Harper , Peter Pears , Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk .

British founded in 1948 Aldeburgh Festival on. At that first festival he performed Frank Bridge 's willow grows aslant There is a a brook in its own operation. In 1958 he began his unfinished tribute to Dennis Brain : In Memoriam Dennis Brain . He had several encounters with Dmitri Shostakovich and Mstislav Rostropovich . For his wife Galina Vishnevskaya, he wrote the soprano part in the War Requiem (1962). Other famous works include: Les Illuminations (1939), The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960) by the play of William Shakespeare and the opera Death in Venice (1973).

Personal [ edit ]

 * Britten was convinced pacifist and refused service during the Second World War on the grounds of conscientious objection.
 * His life partner was the tenor Sir Peter Pears, for whom he wrote many works, which he accompanied pianist.
 * He won the Order of Merit, the Order of the Companions of Honour and in 1976 titled Baron of Aldeburgh .

Opera and theater music [ edit ]

 * Timon of Athens, incidental music (1935)
 * Easter 1916, incidental music (1935)
 * Johnson over Jordan, incidental music (1935)
 * Stay Down Miner, incidental music (1936)
 * Agamemnon, incidental music (1936)
 * The Ascent of F6, incidental music (1937)
 * On the Frontier, incidental music (1938)
 * This Way to the Tomb, incidental music (1945)
 * Peter Grimes, opera. 33, libretto Montagu Slater to George Crabbes The Borough (1945)
 * The Rape of Lucretia, opera (1946)
 * The Beggar's Opera,. 43 opera (1948)
 * The Little Sweep on. 45 opera (1949)
 * Billy Budd, op. 50 (1951, revised in 1960)
 * Gloriana, op. 53 opera (1953)
 * The Turn of the Screw, op. 54 opera (1954)
 * The Prince of the Pagodas, op. 57 Ballet (1956)
 * Noye's Fludde on. 59 opera (1957)
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64 (1960)
 * Curlew River,. 71 Parable (1964)
 * The Burning Fiery Furnace, op. 77 Parable (1966)
 * The Prodigal Son, op. 81 Parable (1968)
 * Owen Wingrave, op. 85 opera (1970)
 * Death in Venice, Op. 88 opera (1973)

[Chorus Works edit ]

 * A hymn to the Virgin (1930, revised in 1934)
 * Christ's Nativity (1931)
 * Three two-part songs (1932 - 1933, revised in 1955)
 * A Boy was Born,. 3
 * Two two-part songs (1933)
 * Friday Afternoons, Op. 7 (1935)
 * The Company of Heaven (1935)
 * May (1934)
 * Te Deum (1934) and supplement Jubilate Deo in Es
 * Two ballads (1937)
 * Pacifist March (1937)
 * Advance Democracy (1938)
 * The world of the Spirit (1938)
 * Ballad of Heroes on. 14 (1939)
 * AMDG also Hopkins Settings, ex opus 17 (1939)
 * Hymn to St Cecilia, op. 27 (1942)
 * A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 (1942)
 * Rejoice in the Lamb, op. 30 (1943)
 * The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Bernard (1943)
 * A Shepherd's Carol (1944)
 * Coral to an old French carol (1944)
 * Festival Te Deum, op. 32 (1945)
 * Deus in adjutorum meum (1945)
 * Old Joe Has Gone Fishing
 * Song of the Fishermen
 * Saint Nicolas, a. 42 (1948), cantata
 * Spring Symphony, op. 44 (1949)
 * A wedding anthem on. 46 (1949)
 * Five Flower Songs, op. 47 (1950)
 * Choral Dances from Gloriana
 * Hymn to St Peter, op. 56a (1955)
 * Anti Foon, op. 56b (1956)
 * Cantata academia, op. 62 (1959)
 * Missa Brevis, op. 63 (1959)
 * Jubilate Deo (1961)
 * Fancie (1961)
 * War Requiem, op. 66 (1962)
 * Psalm 150, op. 67 (1962)
 * A hymn of St Columba (1962)
 * The Twelve Apostles (1962)
 * Cantata misericordium on. 69 (1963)
 * Voices for Today, op. 75 (1965)
 * Sweet was the song the Virgin sung (1931, revised in 1966)
 * The Golden Vanity, op. 78 (1966)
 * The Sycamore Tree (1967)
 * A Wealden Trio (1967)
 * Children's Crusade, op. 82 (1968)
 * Sacred and Profane, op. 91 (1975)
 * Welcome Ode on. 95 (1976)

[Songs edit ]

 * Beware! (1925)
 * Quatre Chansons Françaises (1928)
 * The Birds (1929, revised in 1934)
 * The Ship of Rio (1932)
 * A Poison Tree (1935)
 * When you're feeling like expressing your affection (1935)
 * Our Hunting Fathers, op. 8 (1936)
 * Underneath the Abject Willow (1936)
 * On This Island,. 11 (1937)
 * Cabaret Songs (1937)
 * Not even summer yet (1937)
 * To lie flat on the back with knees flexed (1937)
 * Night covers up the rigid land (1937)
 * Fish in the unruffled Lakes (1938)
 * The Red Cockatoo (1938)
 * Les illuminations on. 18 (1939)
 * Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Op. 22 (1940)
 * Underneath the Abject Willow (1941)
 * Song on the water (1942)
 * Dirge for Wolfram (1942)
 * Cradle Song for Eleanor (1942)
 * Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, op. 31 (1943)
 * Now sleeps the crimson petal (1943)
 * The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945)

[Orchestral edit ]

 * Two Portraits, No. 1: 'David Layton, "for string orchestra;. No.2: "EBB" for viola and orchestra, 1930;
 * Double Concerto for viola, violin and orchestra, 1932;
 * Sinfonietta, op. 1 for chamber orchestra, 1932;
 * Simple Symphony, Op. 4, for strings, 1933-4;
 * Russian Funeral, for buyers and Percussion, 1936
 * Our hunting fathers, op. 8 (Text of WH Auden ), symphonic cycle for soprano or tenor and orchestra, 1936;
 * Soirées musicales, op.9 [to themes of Gioacchino Rossini ], 1936;
 * Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge on. 10, for strings, 1937;
 * Mont Juic, op. 12 [to Catalan dance], 1936-1937, in collaboration with Lennox Berkeley ;
 * Piano Concerto, op. 13, 1938;
 * Les illuminations, Op. 18 (to Arthur Rimbaud ), lieder cycle for soprano or tenor and strings, 1939;
 * Violin Concerto, op. 15, 1939, revision 1958;
 * Young Apollo, op. 16, for piano and strings, 1939;
 * Canadian Carnival on. 19 (Kermesse canadienne), 1939;
 * Sinfonia da Requiem, op. 20, 1940;
 * Diversions on. 21, for piano (left hand) and orchestra, 1940, revision 1954;
 * Matinées musicales on. 24 [for themes by Rossini], 1941;
 * Scottish ballad on. 26, for two pianos and orchestra, 1941;
 * An American overture, originally. 27
 * Prelude and Fugue for string orchestra eighteen voices, op. 29, 1943;
 * Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, op. 31, 1943;
 * Four sea interludes, op. 33a;
 * Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, Op. 33b;
 * The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op. 34 (Variations and Fugue on a theme or Purcell), 1946;
 * Occasional overture, op. 38, 1946;
 * Lachrimae, op. 48a, for viola and strings, 1946;
 * Symphonic Suite from Gloriana, op. 53a, 1954;
 * Pas de six from Gloriana, op. 57a, 1957;
 * Nocturne, op. 60, for tenor, 7 solo instruments and string orchestra, 1958;
 * Cello Symphony, op. 68, 1963;
 * Suite on English Folk Tunes "A time there was" on. 90 for chamber orchestra, 1966-75
 * Phaedra, op. 93 (at Racine ), for mezzo-soprano, percussion, cello, harpsichord and string orchestra, 1975

[Music for documentaries and films edit ]

 * Night Mail
 * The Tocher
 * The King's Stamp
 * Negroes (film music to God's Chillun )
 * The Way to the Sea
 * Telegrams
 * Peace of Britain
 * One behind the gauges
 * Coal Face
 * When You're Feeling

Discussed compositions [ edit ]
Discussed compositions are found in category: composition of British