Related Research Articles
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years.
The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the narrative poem, "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's book The Borough. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional village which shares some similarities with Crabbe's, and later Britten's, own home of Aldeburgh, a town on England's east coast.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64, is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was premiered on 11 June 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival, conducted by the composer and with set and costume designs by Carl Toms. Stylistically, the work is typical of Britten, with a highly individual sound-world – not strikingly dissonant or atonal, but replete with subtly atmospheric harmonies and tone painting. The role of Oberon was composed for the countertenor Alfred Deller. Atypically for Britten, the opera did not include a leading role for his partner Pears, who instead was given the comic drag role of Flute/Thisbe.
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th-century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The opera was commissioned by the Venice Biennale and given its world premiere on 14 September 1954, at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice. The original recording was made during that year, with the composer conducting.
Noye's Fludde is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten, intended primarily for amateur performers, particularly children. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year's Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century Chester "mystery" or "miracle" play which recounts the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark. Britten specified that the opera should be staged in churches or large halls, not in a theatre.
Joan Cross was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on the direction of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company.
Jennifer Vyvyan was a British classical soprano who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and recitals from 1948 up until her death in 1974. She possessed a beautifully clear, steady voice with considerable flexibility in florid music. She was praised for her subtle phrasing and her dramatic gifts enabled her to create vivid individual portrayals. Although she sang a broad repertoire, she is particularly remembered for her association with the works of Benjamin Britten; notably singing roles created for her in the world premieres of several of his operas with the English Opera Group.
Eric Crozier OBE was a British theatrical director and opera librettist, long associated with Benjamin Britten.
The cultural year was dominated by the Festival of Britain and the opening of The Royal Festival Hall, the first dedicated concert hall of its size to be built in London since 1893: located on the south bank of the Thames, this was to host concerts by major orchestras from Britain and abroad. The Festival itself was a celebration of music, art and theatre. It notably provided an opportunity for the staging of many events seen during the first Folk music Festival held in Edinburgh, organised with the help of such talents as the American Alan Lomax, the Irish traditional musician Seamus Ennis and the political theatre director Ewan MacColl, who would go on to form the Ballad and Blues Club.
Steuart John Rudolf Bedford was an English orchestral and opera conductor and pianist.
(Albert) Meredith Davies CBE was a British conductor, renowned for his advocacy of English music by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The Little Sweep, Op. 45, is an opera for children in three scenes by the English composer Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Eric Crozier.
Nancy Evans OBE was an English mezzo-soprano who had a notable career as a concert and opera singer. She is particularly associated with Benjamin Britten who wrote his song cycle, A Charm of Lullabies, and the role of Nancy in his opera Albert Herring for her.
Great Glemham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, England, a mile and a half to the west of the A12 and roughly equidistant between Framlingham and Saxmundham.
Aldeburgh Music is a registered charity delivering music performance, artist development and education, located in converted Victorian malting buildings on the edge of the River Alde in the village of Snape, Suffolk. Founded by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier in 1947 as an organisation to present the first Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts in 1948.
Basil Woore Coleman was an English producer, director, and actor. He was a prolific director of opera, stage plays, and television productions, known for his 1977 BBC television adaption of Anna Karenina and his involvement with the first productions of several operas by Benjamin Britten, including The Turn of the Screw (1954), Gloriana (1953), Billy Budd (1951), and The Little Sweep (1949).
Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi, Op. 86, is a composition for three male solo voices and piano by Benjamin Britten, part of his series of five Canticles. It sets the text of T. S. Eliot's poem "Journey of the Magi", retelling the story of the biblical Magi. The work was premiered in June 1971 at the Aldeburgh Festival by James Bowman, Peter Pears and John Shirley-Quirk, with Britten as the pianist. It was published the following year, dedicated to the three singers.
References
Notes
- ↑ Gilbert, p. 107
- 1 2 3 Rosenthal, Harold. English Opera Group in Sadie, vol. 2, p. 52
- 1 2 3 Britten-Pears Foundation. The English Opera Group and English Music Theatre Company archive. Accessed 9 June 2011
- ↑ 'Brian Easdale', Jennifervyvyan.org
- ↑ J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. The Stratford Festival Story, 1st edition. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-27804-4
- ↑ In the same season the company also presented Paul Bunyan , The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella and La finta giardiniera (under the title of Sandrina's Secret), all conducted by Steuart Bedford. See "London Diary for October", The Musical Times , September 1976, p. 792. (subscription required).
Sources
- Gilbert, Susie (2009). Opera for Everybody. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22493-7.
- Matthews, David (2003). Britten. Haus Publishing. ISBN 1-904341-21-7
- Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera . Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
- Seymour, Claire (2007). The Operas of Benjamin Britten: Expression and Evasion. Boydell Press. ISBN 1-84383-314-X
- White, Eric Walter (1983). Benjamin Britten, His Life and Operas. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04894-6
