N.B. Bella Oct 22, 2002

Composer of the Week (Lord) (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913-76), the most prolific and well-known English composer of his generation, was born, by happy coincidence, on St. Cecilia's Day, at the family home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. His father was a dentist. He was the youngest of four children, with a brother, Robert (1907), and two sisters, Barbara (1902) and Beth (1909). He was educated locally, and studied, first, piano, and then, later, viola, from private teachers.

He began to compose as early as 1919 (age 6), and after about 1922 (age 9), composed steadily until his death. At a concert in 1927 (age 14), conducted by composer Frank Bridge, he met Bridge, later showed him several of his compositions, and ultimately Bridge took him on as a private pupil. After two years at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, he entered the Royal College of Music in London (1930) where he studied composition with John Ireland and piano with Arthur Benjamin. During his stay at the RCM he won several prizes for his compositions. After leaving the Royal College of Music at 21, he made his living by writing music for documentary films, soon attracting attention as a composer of outstanding gifts but also in the view of some British critics of the time, of shallow cleverness and dangerous responsiveness to European Modernism.

From about 1935 until the beginning of World War II, Britten did a great deal of composing for the GPO Film Unit, for BBC Radio, and for small, usually left-wing, theater groups in London. During this period he met and worked frequently with the poet W. H. Auden who provided texts for numerous songs as well as complete scripts for which Britten provided incidental music.

In the spring of 1939, Britten and Pears sailed for North America, eventually settling in Amityville, Long Island, NY, where they lived with Dr. and Mrs. Wm. Mayer and their family. In 1940 he worked with Auden on what would become his first opera, actually an operetta for high schools called Paul Bunyan, based on traditional American folk characters. However, on a trip to California in 1941, he read an article by E. M. Forster on the English poet George Crabbe, planting the seed for what would eventually be Britten's first opera, Peter Grimes. In 1942, Serge Koussevitzky became interested in Britten's music and performed the Sinfonia da Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Out of this association came the commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation (in memory of Koussevitzky's late wife Natalie) for the new opera, based on Crabbe's work The Borough. Britten and Pears worked on the scenario during their return voyage to England in March, 1942.

During the early 40s, Britten produced a number of works, outstanding among them the Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Ceremony of Carols, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Serenade (for tenor, horn, and strings), Rejoice in the Lamb, and the Festival Te Deum. Peter Grimes, with a libretto by Montagu Slater, was complete in 1945 and had its premiere on June 7 of that year by the Sadler's Wells Opera Company. (Slightly over a year later, the work had its American premiere at the Boston Symphony's summer home at Tanglewood, under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.) Britten was a lifelong pacifist - even during World War II, when blitzed and battered Londoners were inclined to regard conscientious objectors as seditious fiends.

Although living in an age of atonality, Britten insisted on creating music with harmonic reference, with the result that he was criticized by theorists and praised and loved by concert-goers. Britten's harmonies and techniques explore the range of many twentieth-century sounds and devices, but his style was largely conservative and eclectic.

Britten was awarded the Order of Merit in March 1965; he was created a Life Peer, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, June, 1976. Three years earlier, in May, 1973, he had undergone open heart surgery which left him an invalid for the remainder of his life. He was nevertheless able to attend the London premiere of Death in Venice at Covent Garden, October, 1973, and was able to travel to Germany and Italy. He died at his home in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on 4 December 1976 and is buried in the churchyard of the Aldeburgh Parish Church. His colleagues Peter Pears and Imogene Holst, co-founders with BB of the Aldeburgh Festival, lie in adjacent graves.

SOURCES: http://www.spectrumsingers.org/archives/1999-00/may00_notes.html
http://rick.stanford.edu/opera/Britten/bio.html
http://www.emory.edu/MUSIC/ARNOLD/britten_content.html

Upcoming Musical Events:

Gala Benefit Recital featuring Matthew Edwards, Marcelle Dronkers, Richard Mix, Clarence Wright, Asher Davison, Jerry Kuderna, and Jefferson Parker. Saturday November 9 at the Crowden School (Tickets, $35 on sale now). GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Coro Hispano de San Francisco & Conjunto Nuevo Mundo present: Misa Criolla Anniversary Concert in 4 free concerts.
Fri, Oct. 25th, 8 PM AT St Ignatius Church, Fulton @ Parker, SF
Sat, Oct. 26th, 7:30 PM, Angelico Hall, Dominican Univ., San Rafael
Sun, Oct. 27th,, 4 PM, United Church of Christ, 2401 Le Conte Avenue, Bkly
Wed, Oct. 30th, 8 PM, Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford Univ., Palo Alto
(415) 431-4234 www.corohispano.org