BENJAMIN BRITTEN

CLASSICAL COMPOSERS & CONDUCTORS, CLASSICAL MUSICIANS - UK


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Benjamin Britten

DESCRIPTION: Benjamin Britten was an English classical composer, conductor and pianist.

ACTIVITY STATUS: Departed

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MUSIC GENRE: Classical

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: ENGLAND, UK

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WIKIPEDIA PAGE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Britten


ABOUT HIM:

(Edward) Benjamin BRITTEN (AKA - Baron Britten of Aldeburgh) (1913-1976) was an English composer.
This prolific English composer of opera and classical music was born in Suffolk into a middle class family, studied piano as a child, and began composing before the age of ten. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music in London, and met the tenor Peter Pears, who became his lifelong collaborator and companion. Among his early works was Illuiminations (1939), based on the works of poet Arthur Rimbaud. During the pre-war period he composed for the BBC and for theatre companies, sometimes collaborating with poet W.H. Auden. He moved to the US in early 1939, and began working on an opera, which culminated with the London production and success of his Peter Grimes (1945). A series of operatic works followed, including The Rape of Lucretia (1946), Billy Budd (1951), The Turn of the Screw (1954), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1960), The Prodigal Son (1968), and Death in Venice (1973). In addition to the adaptations from Hardy, Shakespeare and Mann, other works include setting poems of John Donne to music. Despite ill-health in later life, he was able to attend the opening of Death in Venice in Convent Garden late in 1973. He was made a peer in 1976 (as Baron Britten of Aldeburgh), and died six months later.

By Larry Buttrose

Parent Category Page Links: Classical Composers - UK Classical Conductors - UK Classical Musicians - UK Top 100 Classical Composers in History

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