|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Benjamin Britten
|
|
(1913–76, baron 1976) Leading British composer of the mid-20C, pre-eminent particularly in his writing for the voice. Precociously talented (and born on November 22, the feast day of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music), he studied composition from the age of 12 with Frank *Bridge, before becoming a pupil of John *Ireland at the Royal College of Music. He achieved international fame with the production of *Peter Grimes in 1945; as in many of his subsequent operas and song cycles, the central role was created by his lifelong companion, the tenor Peter *Pears. Later operas which have continued to hold the stage were Albert Herring (1947), *Billy Budd (1951), The Turn of the Screw (1954), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960) and Death in Venice (1973). Among the most powerful of his works is the choral *War Requiem (1962).
|
|
|
|
Children's voices play an important part in many of Britten's compositions, such as the St Nicholas cantata (1948) or Noye's Fludde (1958). In 1946 he wrote the popular *Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
In 1947 he settled in *Aldeburgh, where he created the annual music festival at which many of his own works were first heard.
|
|
|
|