Benjamin britten
Extraordinary talent, unshakable love of music and faith in the healing power of art - this is what puts Benjamin Britten on a par with immortal geniuses, whose creations are rightfully considered to be masterpieces. The British composer, whose first steps in music and teaching composition are comparable to the efforts of the young Mozart, managed to win recognition during his lifetime and become one of the most prominent and outstanding figures on Olympus of brilliant modern classics.
A brief biography of Benjamin Britten and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.
Britten's Short Biography
Benjamin Britten was born in Suffolk County, England, in a port city off the North Sea coast, November 22, 1913. The boy’s parents belonged to the middle class according to their social status: his father was a dentist, his mother served as secretary in Lowestoft’s Musical Society. The house of the Britten family often became the venue for parties, which invariably sounded music, and representatives of the local bohemians were present. The Britten couple raised four children, Benjamin was the youngest; his two older sisters and brother were not interested in music in the capacity in which the mother desired, and only Benjamin early began to show his musical talent. The boy learned to play the piano from the age of 2, showed an enviable success in this regard, and therefore quickly gained the reputation of a wunderkind, an incredibly gifted child with unique abilities to play a musical instrument.
In 5 years, Britten begins to compose his own musical works. When it came time to go to secondary school, a capable student found a new mentor (the first was the mother). Estelle Estele taught piano lessons, and Britten later recalled these school hours with a sense of awe, nostalgia, and sincere thanks. A year later, the boy left primary school and moved to South Lodge, a preparatory educational institution. The director was extremely strict: the students were physically punished. Benjamin was shocked by this attitude toward children, although he himself was never subjected to corporal punishment. Despite the fact that music lessons remained a hobby, Benjamin managed to prove himself in exact sciences (mathematics was easy for him) and in sports.
In 10 years, the boy began to learn the game of viola. The teacher was a friend of the mother, Audrey Elston. It was she who strongly encouraged cultural leisure, took the ward with her to various events and concerts. On one of these evenings, in October 1924, Britten had the opportunity to hear a piece (poem) for a symphony orchestra called "The Sea". Frank Bridge participated in the concert, a man who subsequently largely influenced not only Britten's musical tastes, but also his outlook and social convictions. When, after 3 years, Mr. Bridge returned to England, Elston, knowing how enthusiastically his ward responds about him, introduced the outstanding conductor and musician to the young Benjamin Britten. At that time, he was only 14. Bridge listened to the performance of a young Englishman and was delighted. Britten was invited to attend classes led by Bridge in London. In the capital, a novice composer enlisted connections in creative circles, but a year later he was forced to stop working with Bridge: it was necessary to continue schooling. Britten was enrolled as a boarder in an educational institution in the eastern county of Norfolk.
Britten hated Gresham's school in Holt, he put all his efforts into being among the privileged scholars and getting a chance to study at the Royal College of Music. The dream was fulfilled in 1930, in London Britten studied for 3 years, simultaneously taking private lessons from the unforgettable Mr. Bridge. Returning to his native Lowsoft, Britten devoted his time to creativity. In 1935, with the assistance of his patron Bridge, he was invited to work in the BBC music department. The composer's further main activity was in writing music for various documentary projects, broadcasts on radio and feature films.
1937 - a significant period in the life of Britten, marked by a tragic event (the death of a mother, with whom the composer was extremely close spiritually) and a fateful meeting. Acquaintance with Peter Pierce, a British opera performer, for many years determined the character of Britten's musical works, influenced his personal life, served as a "long-playing" source of inspiration in all spheres.
In the spring of 1939, Benjamin went to the United States. There, far from his homeland, he lived until 1942, when he returned to the shores of Albion. Having settled in the small settlement of Snape, near Aldborough, Britten began to work diligently on the Peter Grimes opera. In June 1945, the premiere performance was held, the main role in which went to the tenor's owner Peter Pearce. The work was a success and was named the first successful English opera after the works in the same genre of the pen of Gilbert and Sullivan.
In the summer of 1948, Britten acted as one of the organizers of the music festival in Aldborough. Subsequently, such events were held annually, and each time Benjamin Britten was a permanent participant in the concert program, until his death in 1976. The composer died in December of heart failure and was buried in Aldborough near the church of St. Peter and Paul.
Interesting Facts
- Despite the fact that from childhood, Benjamin experienced an incredible attachment to his mother (she was his first music teacher), the relationship with his father was based on some intuitive connection, strong and not losing relevance over the years. From the parent, Britten inherited a dedication to the profession, the ability to follow the destination through pain and suffering, as well as a purely English sense of humor, the ability to subtly joke and catch irony.
- At the age of 3 months, Benjamin fell ill with pneumonia, he managed to cope with the disease in a timely manner, but the consequences of the experienced illness were pursued by the composer: a weak heart periodically made itself felt. However, this did not affect the boy's passion for sports. As a true Englishman, he adored cricket and did not miss the opportunity to participate in the game of tennis.
- The main lesson that Benjamin learned from his long hours of studying with F. Bridge was the need to find his own “niche” in creating classical music and develop in this direction, constantly “honing” the talent given from birth. Invaluable was the contribution of the mentor to the improvement of technical skills and the completion of the theoretical framework in relation to the compositional structure of works.
- Benjamin Britten, with all the scale of his talent and hard work, was distinguished by categorical inadmissibility of criticism. He did not hesitate, categorically and irrevocably, to renounce communication with close friends, if in their statements only a hint of dissatisfaction or a negative evaluation of what he was doing slipped.
- When World War II began, Benjamin was in the United States. In April 1942, Britten appeared before the Tribunal in Great Britain. The composer received exemption from military service without delay and obvious difficulties. Benjamin was a pacifist, and, given his merits to the whole nation in the field of art, it was not difficult to obtain the necessary documents.
- In the summer of 1945, the composer traveled to Germany. As part of the tour, he was supposed to give several concerts for those who were kept in a concentration camp in wartime, but managed to survive. The planned activities were given to the composer with difficulty, for some time he remained silent and refused to comment on the meeting with the prisoners, so emotionally shocking this event turned out to be.
- Before embarking on the creation of another masterpiece, Britten spent a long time walking in the fresh air, near his home in Oldborough, in order to "clear his mind" and get rid of all that was superfluous that could distract from productive work.
Creativity Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten is known primarily for his operas, as well as works for orchestra and choir. "Peter Grimes" (1945), "Billy bad" (1951), "Turn the screw"(1954) changed the idea of British opera and paved the way for immortality for the author. In 1940, Britten created"7 sonnets by Michelangelo", the tenor cycle of vocal works was dedicated to Pierce. The operetta in two acts with the prologue" Paul Bunyan "turned out to be a significant work of this period, where the main character was Canadian and American folklore hero. Libretto was written by U. Oden. Despite some comic flair , the work touched upon an acute social problem reflecting the struggle of man against nature.Operetta was met with negative reviews, in 1976 Britten presented a new edited version and successfully presented it to the festival e in Aldeburgh.
For a long time, the most popular work of Benjamin Britten was a collection "Guide to the orchestra for young students", the work on which was completed in 1945. In the following two years two outstanding operas were created (" Reprimand of Lucretia "and" Albert Herring ").
One of the most famous works of Britten, "Christmas songs", was created in 1942. This large-scale work for choir, solo voice and harp consists of 11 original parts. A special place in the work of Britten takes"Military requiem", completed by 1962. Traditional Latin texts for the requiem mass, as well as poetry by the poet Wilfred Owen, devoted to wartime, were put to music. The opera Death in Venice (1973) became a fundamental work created in the last years of his life.
Awards, honors and titles
In 1961, Britten received UNESCO Prize for the creation of the opera "A dream in a summer night". After 2 years, the award was awarded Grammy for "Military Requiem". Britten won in 3 nominations: "Best Classical Choral Performance", "Best Classical Composition of the Modern Composer" and "Classical Album of the Year." In 1964, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded the composer an award in the form Golden Medal of Honor.
In 1974, Britten became the first musician to receive Ernst Simen Awardthat in the field of art is analogous to the Nobel Prize for artists who have shown their talent in the field of classical music.
In 1976, Britten was assigned Suffolk County Baronet Title. For the first time such a privilege was awarded to the composer for professional success. In 1979, a memorial window was created in Oldboro, in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in memory of the composer, who had a profound influence on the genre of religious opera. The stained-glass window is dedicated to three proverbs-parables: "The Prodigal Son", "The Cave Event" and "The River Curl". In the same year, in the small home of the composer in Lowestoft was founded Benjamin Britten Academy of Music, and a year earlier, a memorial stone was laid at Westminster Abbey in memory of the musical genius of the British composer.
By 2013, when Benjamin Britten was 100 years old, a 50 pence coin with the image of a composer was put into circulation in Britain, as well as a postage stamp with a similar pattern from the Great Britons series.
The life of one of the most talented composers and pianists of the 20th century proceeded in a period of historical changes and catastrophes, the cause of which was the maniacal pursuit of false ideals, infernal and inhuman in essence. but Benjamin britten he managed to keep in his heart a firm conviction in the necessity of preserving peace in the name of the triumph of good and the triumph of art, not subject to the volatile flow of time.
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