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Benjamin Britten
The renowned English composer, who was also a gifted conductor and pianist, Benjamin (Edward) Britten, studied with Frank Bridge as a boy and in 1930 entered the RCM. In 1934 he heard Wozzeck and planned to study with Alban Berg, but opposition at home stopped him. The next year he began working for the GPO Film Unit, where one of his collaborators was Auden: together they worked on concert works as well, Auden's social criticism being matched by a sharply satirical and virtuoso musical style (orchestral song cycle Our Hunting Fathers 1936). Igor Stravinsky and Gustav Mahler were important influences, but Britten's effortless technique gave his early music a high personal definition, notably shown in orchestral works (Bridge Variations for strings, 1937; Piano Concerto, 1938; Violin Concerto, 1939) and songs (Les illuminations, setting Rimbaud for high voice and strings, 1939). |
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Songbooks, Arrangements and/or Media
Displaying 1-10 of 10 items.
Benjamin Britten : Christ's Nativity A perfect example of the young Britten's masterful vocal writing in a Christmas choral suite destined to become a major repertoire work. Songlist: Christ's Nativity, Sweet was the Song, Preparations, New Price, New Pomp and Carol of King Cnut. 
Benjamin Britten : Five Flower Songs Both beautiful and inspiring words and music with these delightful songs. Songlist: To Daffodils, The Succession of the Four Sweet Months, Marsh Flowers, The Evening Primrose, Ballad of Green Broom
Benjamin Britten : Choral Dances from Gloriana At the opening of Act 2 of Gloriana, Queen Elizabeth 1 is on a state visit to Norwich. After a formal address of welcome she is entertained by a Masque. To these unaccompanied Choral Dances, dancers representing Time and Concord, country girls and young rustics and fishermen all pay homage and tribute to the Queen Songlist: Time, Concord, Time and Concord, Country Girls, Rustics and Fishermen, Final Dance of Homage
Benjamin Britten : A Ceremony of Carols - SSA Written for SSA voices and harp (or piano), this popular Christmas choral collection is perfect for your holiday concert. Songlist: Procession, Wolcom Yole, There Is No Rose, The Yonge Child , Balulalow, As Dew In Aprille, This Little Babe, Interlude, In Freezing Winter Night, Spring Carol, Deo Gracias, Recession, Spring Carol
Benjamin Britten : A Ceremony of Carols Written for SATB voices and harp (or piano), this popular christmas choral collection is perfect for your holiday concert. Songlist: Procession, Wolcom, Yole, There Is No Rose, The Yonge Child, Balulaow, As Dew In Aprille, This Little Babe, Interlude, In Freezing Winter Night, Spring Carol, Deo Grcias, Recession, Spring Carol
Benjamin Britten : The World of the Spirit Britten's second 'religious' cantata, The World of the Spirit was written for the BBC radio in 1938. With detailed prefatory notes by Donald Mitchell and Philip Reed.
Benjamin Britten : Rejoice in the Lamb, Op. 30 for SATB with SATB solos and organ Imogen Holst orchestrated the work for wind quintet, percussion, organ (ad lib) and strings (1952), and there is also a version for SSAA and organ arranged by Edmund Walters (1966) Text: Christopher Smart Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 One of Britten's most popular and performed works in this genre, Rejoice in the Lamb was written for the 50th anniversary of St. Matthew's church, Northampton in 1943. The remarkable vicar, Walter Hussey, was a great patron of the arts. His vision for St. Matthew's and later for Chichester Cathedral, where he moved to become Dean, is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of the Anglican Church in the last century.Britten called his work a Festival Cantata and it is structured with choral and solo movements. The text by the supposedly mad Christopher Smart (1722-1771) is part of a poem called Jubilate Agno which he composed in a mental asylum having been committed there by his father-in-law for apparent religious mania. He died in a debtors' prison. It was W.H. Auden who brought the poem to Britten's attention. It is easy to see why Britten was so attracted to Smart's poem. It has great colour, drama, bizarre imagery, and the central issue of the individual against the crowd, or against authority, was one to which Britten was to return repeatedly in his works. Britten had developed a deep interest in Purcell's music at this time and had made keyboard realisations of accompaniments for a number of songs which he performed with Peter Pears. Purcell's influence can easily be heard in the Hallelujah sections. The challenges in this work are many and varied though the difficulty level is not great overall. It is an ideal concert work and is popular with performers and audiences alike. Practical issues include really quiet singing while projecting the voice at the start; dealing with the rhythmic complexities of the first quick section ('Let Nimrod the mighty hunter') and getting the most out of the words and the dynamic contrasts here; the unanimity of the dotted rhythms in the Hallelujah sections; the fielding of four soloists who can put across the character of these zany movements (the cat, the mouse, flowers); the realisation of the depth of passion in the 'For I am under the same accusation as my Saviour' section; the brilliance of the final quick section with all the bizarre musical instrument rhymes; and finally realising the 'stillness and serenity' of the slow music before the final Hallelujah. There is much to consider and much devil in the detail. However, the work is emphatically worth any amount of effort to realise Britten's inspiration. Duration: 17 minutes Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011
Benjamin Britten : Saint Nicolas, Op. 42 Cantata for tenor solo, chorus (SATB), semi-chorus (SA), four solo boys, string orchestra, piano duet, percussion and organ Scoring: Piano duet; organ; strings; percussion (Timpani/side drum, bass drum, tenor drum, cymbal, triangle, gong, whip, tambourine) Text: Eric Crozier Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 Saint Nicolas (note the name has no 'H' in it!) was written for the centenary of Lancing College in Sussex, the independent secondary boarding school on the south coast of England which Peter Pears had attended in his teens. It has a vast chapel intended by its founder, Revd Nathaniel Woodard, as the cathedral for all the schools of his extensive foundation known collectively as 'Woodard' schools. St. Nicolas is famous for many legendary miracles and for being the original 'Santa Claus'. Crozier's libretto is designed to tell the story of his life, to recount some of his most celebrated acts and to give the audience/congregation the opportunity of joining in two beautiful hymns at key moments: 'All people that on earth do dwell' and 'God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform'. The narration is all done by the choir, though the tenor sings first-person narratives as well in his role as the mature Nicolas. The young Nicolas is sung by a boy in movement II. There is a dramatic moment at the end of this movement when the boy's voice does a tumble and the tenor proclaims in the voice of Nicolas as a young man: 'God be glorified'. The third movement is an accompanied recitative in which the soloist sings of Nicolas devoting himself to God through the agonies and torment of the many distractions and temptations of life. His faith wins through and he sings a final touching phrase: 'and Love was satisfied'. The sea whips up a storm in the next movement: 'He journeys to Palestine'. It threatens to overturn the ship and drown everyone on board. There is wailing from the sopranos and altos of the semi-chorus and agonised calls from the tenors and basses to 'man the pumps'. Finally, Nicolas begs God to let the storm cease and offers thanks for their safe delivery. Britten creates a palpable sense of relief in the final pages.
Benjamin Britten : Friday Afternoons, Op. 7 Twelve children's songs with piano accompaniment Texts:1. Begone, dull care (anon.) 2. A tragic story (William Makepeace Thackeray) 3. Cuckoo! (Jane Taylor) (in 2 parts, 2nd ad lib.) 4. Ee-Oh! (anon.) 5. A New Year Carol (anon.) 6. I mun be married on Sunday (Nicholas Udall) 7. There was a man of Newington (anon.) 8. Fishing Song (Izaac Walton) 9. The useful plough (anon.) 10. Jazz-Man (Eleanor Farjeon) 11. There was a monkey (anon.) 12. Old Abram Brown (anon.) (in 4 parts) (13.) Lone Dog (Irene Mc.Leod) Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 1-2 This set of mainly unison songs for young voices is a gift for a concert of music for upper voices. It is a substantial work taken as a whole but its individual movements are both short and straightforward in their various challenges. Britten wrote the work for the boys of his brother's preparatory school (age 7-13), Clive House, Prestatyn, in Wales to sing. However he encountered a problem with copyright over the use of the Lone Dog. He therefore wrote Begone, dull care to replace it. When these issues were resolved years later the song was included as an appendix item in the 1994 edition. The real beauty of these songs is that Britten never writes down for the children. These are art songs in the best sense of the word and mix both dark and light humour with seriousness and romance to create a little world of changing scenes and emotions. The texts are, as always, carefully chosen to give Britten maximum variety of mood and to challenge and encourage the childrens interest and involvement. The piano parts carry a lot of the responsibility for the creation of mood and atmosphere and ideally need a pianist of reasonable accomplishment to do them justice. In There was a monkey Britten writes an increasingly challenging part which is very effective in making the charged mood rise to its climax. However, he writes an easier alternative part which can be played if the pianist finds the other too difficult. The mixture of texts gives Britten wonderful opportunities for word painting. The lively Begone, dull care which opens the work, the nonsense poem of A tragic story where a man wants his pigtail to hang in front so he can see it, the gentle story of the Cuckoo and his progress through the months of the year, the rather sobering story (especially in our post-fox hunting ban days) of the shooting of a fox by a farmer whose geese it has killed, the sublime A New Years Carol - and so on, leading to the powerful four part canon of Old Abram Brown. These little pieces demonstrate so clearly Britten's genius - his ability to write really good music which is so recognisably his - without any feeling that he is making compromises for the young singers. Duration: 23 minutes Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011 Songlist: BEGONE, DULL CARE, TRAGIC STORY, A, CUCKOO!, EE-OH!, NEW YEAR CAROL, A, I MUN BE MARRIED ON SUNDAY, THERE WAS A MAN OF NEWINGTON, FISHING SONG, USEFUL PLOUGH, THE, JAZZ-MAN, THERE WAS A MONKEY, OLD ABRAM BROWN, LONE DOG
Benjamin Britten : A Time There Was... A Profile This musical documentary profiles British composer/conductor Benjamin Britten. Directed by filmmaker Tony Palmer, who also documented opera legend Maria Callas, it mixes biography with excerpts from such famed operas as Death in Venice and Peter Grimes. A special segment shows archival footage of the maestro working his magic behind the scenes in rehearsal. Interviews include a moment with Leonard Bernstein, who touches on the genius and the pain of "a man at odds with the world." With a running time of 102 minutes, this award-winning video hits all the right notes for the classical aficionado. Songlist: Leonard Bernstein & Cousin Elsie, Britton as Conductor & Pianist, The Sea & Lowestoft , Early Compositions, Music for Films, Journey To America, Peter Grimes, Aldeburgh, Phaedra and Rape of Lucretia, The Aldeburgh Festival - Beginnings, Writing to Commission, The Sea, Travel, The Maltings Concert Hal, The Public Figure, Death in Venice, An Excellent Patient, Last Visit to Venice, "What Will It Be Like - Death?" , "I Was Lost on an Infinite Sea" |
Displaying 1-19 of 19 items.
Texts: Latin and English Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination.The carols are for three-part children's voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: anon. Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination. The carols are for three-part childrens voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute to a work wh
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: in Latin compiled from the charter of the University, and from older orations in praise of Basle by Bernhard Wyss. Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 4 (for chorus) Britten's genius lifts this work above being just a worthy celebration of the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Basle University. It is tongue-in-cheek and mockingly non-academic while referring all the time to academic musical forms and formulae. It is written in two parts (everything is in the statutory Latin including the titles of the parts - Pars I and Pars II). The titles of the movements show Britten's intention to show off a wide variety of techniques. Here are some examples: Chorale/Alla Rovescio (the theme is given and responded to with the same melody upside down)/Recitativo/Tema seriale con fuga/Canone ed ostinato. There is a good deal of humour here. There are seven movements in Pars I and six in Pars II. The tenor soloist is given three florid recitatives, accompanied only by a piano, whic
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: anon. Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination.The carols are for three-part childrens voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute to a work whi
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: Book of Common Prayer: liturgy of Morning Prayer Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 2-3 Britten's second setting of the Te Deum is completely different from the C major one he wrote eleven years earlier. It was composed for the centenary Festival of St. Mark's Church in Swindon - an Anglo-Catholic church with a strong choral tradition which continues to this day. The structure of the piece is also different from the earlier work. A lengthy first section in unison which, while carefully notated in a variety of time signatures so that it feels as if it has the freedom of Gregorian chant, is accompanied by static organ chords in a regular 3/4 metre. It is a really imaginative approach, and is actually very simple to perform. While the organ chords continue, the choir breaks up into simple imitative phrases at 'The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee' but soon returns to the unison lines of the opening. The central section ('Thou art the King of Glory, O Chris't) h
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: Eric Crozier Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 Saint Nicolas (note the name has no 'H' in it!) was written for the centenary of Lancing College in Sussex, the independent secondary boarding school on the south coast of England which Peter Pears had attended in his teens. It has a vast chapel intended by its founder, Revd Nathaniel Woodard, as the cathedral for all the schools of his extensive foundation known collectively as 'Woodard' schools. St. Nicolas is famous for many legendary miracles and for being the original 'Santa Claus'. Crozier's libretto is designed to tell the story of his life, to recount some of his most celebrated acts and to give the audience/congregation the opportunity of joining in two beautiful hymns at key moments: 'All people that on earth do dwell' and 'God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform'. The narration is all done by the choir, though the tenor sings first-person narratives as well in his role as the mature Nicolas. The y
Composer: Benjamin Britten
for unaccompanied SSATB with SSATB solos also version for solo voices Text: W.H.Auden Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 4 This work had a long gestation as Britten had problems finding a suitable text. Auden was eventually asked and produced the poem in 1940. Britten's setting was immediately recognised as a major addition to the choral repertory and has since become one of his most enduringly popular choral works. It is a nice coincidence that Britten was born on St. Cecilia's day (22 November). Cecilia is, of course, the Patron Saint of musicians who is supposed to have sung praises to God as she was being martyred. The story of her manner of death makes gruesome reading and the act of singing in extremis something of a miracle! Britten responds to Auden's extraordinary imagery with relish. The poem's division into three 'movements' gives Britten his musical structure, and the provision of a refrain ('Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions to all musicians, appear and inspire.
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: Robert Southwell Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination. The carols are for three-part children's voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: Robert Southwell Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination. The carols are for three-part children's voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute
Composer: Benjamin Britten
A transcription for SATB chorus and piano of Britten's arrangement of the folk song O Waly, Waly.
Arranger: Richard Walters | Composer: Benjamin Britten
for male voices (T Bar B) and piano (Britten notes that this should be two pianos if performed by a large chorus) Text: anon: from the Oxford Book of Ballads Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 2-3 This work had a curious genesis. Britten's stance as a conscientious objector in World War II is well known but his sympathies for those caught up in its ramifications were as deeply felt as anyone's. Written in the middle of the war years, this ballad was composed 'For Richard Wood and the musicians of Oflag VIIb - Germany'. Wood had organised a music festival at this officers' POW camp at Eichstätt, Bavaria between February and March 1943 and Britten's work was performed at seven of the concerts.The story tells of an unfaithful wife and her lover (Lady Barnard and little Musgrave) being discovered in flagrante delicto and murdered by the cheated husband, Lord Barnard. The music is wonderfully descriptive of the tale beginning with a plodding piano part and the prosaic opening of t
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 5 The Spring Symphony was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and is dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was actually premiered at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in July 1949 before its American premiere the following month at Tanglewood by its dedicatees. This work is a major undertaking from all points of view. It uses a huge orchestra (complete with cow horn which has to be hired specially), a children's choir which certainly does not have to be composed only of boys, three soloists, and a large SATB chorus which is given very challenging and detailed music to sing. If any work demonstrates the flip side of the Britten coin from Saint Nicolas it must be the Spring Symphony. Here is a seriously intentioned, highly contemporary work for its time which nevertheless shows his predilection for anthologising texts, for creating amazing moments of levity - approaching the humorous episodes in his ope
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: anon. Publisher: Boosey & HawkesDifficulty level: 3The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination. The carols are for three-part children's voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute to a work whi
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Texts: George Wither (I Lov'd a Lass) and Robert Graves (Lift Boy) Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 2 These are two delightful and contrasted part-songs for choir and piano which ought to be a gift to choirs looking for rare secular repertoire for their concert programmes. I lov'd a lass is full of fun, while the challenge lies in the regularly changing metre. The choir's first bar is in 7/8 and is followed by 5/4 and then 3/4. Later on Britten gives us 3/4, 7/8, 11/8, 4/4, 5/4, 7/8, 4/4 in successive bars but this all adds to the entertainment. There are lots of portamenti too in what adds up to a passionate little piece. Lift Boy sets a nonsense poem by Robert Graves about a boy who starts life as a knife-boy, moves on to become a lift boy and then a lift man. Preached damnation by 'Old Eagle' one day, he cuts the lift cables and down they all go. But Graves ends by saying: 'Can a phonograph lie? A song very neatly contriv'd to make you and me laugh'. Curious indeed. But
Composer: Benjamin Britten
Text: anon. Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 The Ceremony of Carols is one of Britten's best-known and most-performed works. It is a brilliantly conceived and dramatic concert work which sees the voices process to their places singing unaccompanied plainsong and, at the end, processing out again to the same chant. These movements can also be accompanied but strictly only if the voices do not process. The final Alleluia can be repeated as many times as necessary to get the singers to and from their destination. The carols are for three-part children's voices (though, of course they can be sung by female adults as well) and they form a two-part work around a central Interlude for harp which is based on the plainsong from the Procession. Variety is the key word here as all the carols have such individual identities. The forthright Wolcum Yole!, the deliciously lyrical There is no Rose, the swinging Balulalow, the fiery and dramatic This little Babe all contribute to a work w
Composer: Benjamin Britten
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