12. “GRIMES! GRIMES!”: The Passion of Benjamin Britten

12. “GRIMES! GRIMES!”: The Passion of Benjamin Britten

The eastern coast of the British Isles, conjured in sound by Benjamin Britten in his masterpiece Peter Grimes (see p. 413 / p. 449 of The Rest is Noise):

Colin Davis conducting the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Philips 289 462 847-2.

The website of the Britten Pears Foundation, based in the composer's former home in Aldeburgh, has a detailed chronology of Britten's career and background for many of his works. The BBC 4 archive has several interviews with the composer, including one in which he recalls his prodigious production of works before the age of thirteen (one tone poem was entitled Chaos and Cosmos).

The young Britten's astonishing musical ability — together with a hint of his future psychological obsessions — are evident in his Quatre Chansons francaises, written at the age of fourteen. Note in particular this setting of "L'Enfance," by Victor Hugo, in which a child's innocence is juxtaposed with a mother's suffering ("Sorrow is a fruit"):

Ian Bostridge, tenor, with Daniel Harding conducting the Britten Sinfonia; EMI 56534.

From the song cycle Winter Words, the tenor's cry of "How long, how long" (pp. 418-19 / p. 455):

Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor, and Graham Johnson, piano; Helios 55067.

During his American sojourn (pp. 419-21 / pp. 455-57), Britten collaborated with W. H. Auden on a musical-theater piece titled Paul Bunyan. Here is a passage from the finale, which wavers between the satirical and the slightly mystical:

Philip Brunelle conducting soloists, chorus, and orchestra of the Plymouth Music Series; Virgin 90710.

One of Britten's first masterpieces was the song cycle Serenade, setting poems on the theme of sleep. In the movement titled "Elegy," Britten sets William Blake's "The Sick Rose" (p. 421 / pp. 457-58):

Ian Bostridge, tenor, with Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic; EMI 58049.