Literary Britten: Words and Music in Benjamin Britten's Vocal Works

doi:10.1017/9781787442566

Britten is the most literary British composer of the twentieth century. His relationship to the many and varied texts that he set was deeply committed and sensitive. As a result, both his responses to poetry and his collaborations with his librettists tell us a great deal about his music, and often, about the man himself.

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Contents
pp v-vi
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List of Illustrations
pp vii-viii
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List of Music Examples
pp ix-xii
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List of Contributors
pp xiii-xx
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Introduction
pp 1-8
- By Kate Kennedy, Weinrebe Research Fellow in Life-Writing at Wolfson College, Oxford, and Associate of the Music and English Faculties at Oxford University and Associate Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-writing.
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Part I - Perspectives
pp 9-9
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1 - Britten and His Librettists: The Composer as Auteur
pp 10-30
- By Mervyn Cooke, Professor of Music at the University of Nottingham.
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2 - Britten, Auden and the 1930s
pp 31-48
- By John Fuller, Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where for many years he was Tutor in English.
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3 - James, Britten, Piper and the Literary Supernatural: The Changing ‘vision of evil’ in The Turn of the Screw and Owen Wingrave
pp 49-76
- By Nicholas Clark, Britten centenary project in Aldeburgh in 2013 he reinstated Britten and Pears’ original book collection in The Red House Library and Composition Studio.
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4 - ‘Thought's Wildernesses’: The Development of Britten's Nocturne from Library to Score
pp 77-99
- By Kate Kennedy, Weinrebe Research Fellow in Life-Writing at Wolfson College, Oxford, and Associate of the Music and English Faculties at Oxford University and Associate Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-writing.
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5 - ‘Reading at Intervals’: Britten's Romantic Poetry
pp 100-123
- By Brian Young, University Lecturer and Charles Stuart Tutor in History at Christ Church, Oxford, where he is currently Senior Censor.
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6 - Britten's Drops: The Lyric into Song
pp 124-143
- By Rebekah Scott, Assistant Professor in 19th and 20th Century Literature at the University of Nottingham, a post she has held since 2013.
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7 - ‘Without any tune’: The Role of the Discursive Shift in Britten's Interpretation of Poetry
pp 144-170
- By Vicki P. Stroeher, Professor of Music History at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where she is also Program Director for the School of Music and Coordinator of the Music History and Literature area. Her research interests include Britten's texts and text setting and his approach to musical form.
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8 - Britten and Modern Tragedy
pp 171-184
- By Adrian Poole, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College.
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Part II - Studies
pp 185-185
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9 - Settings from Boyhood
pp 186-205
- By Lucy Walker, Director of Public Programming and Learning at the Britten–Pears Foundation based at The Red House in Aldeburgh.
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10 - ‘Practical Jokes’: Britten and Auden's Our Hunting Fathers Revisited
pp 206-222
- By Joanna Bullivant, Lecturer in Music at Magdalen College and a postdoctoral researcher in the Oxford University Faculty of Music, having previously held posts at the University of Nottingham and King's College, London.
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11 - Choice and Inevitability: The Moral Economy of Peter Grimes
pp 223-242
- By Philip Ross Bullock, Professor of Russian Literature and Music at the University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in Russian at Wadham College.
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12 - Sin, Death and Love: Britten's The Holy Sonnets of John Donne
pp 243-255
- By David Fuller, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Durham, and former chairman of the department.
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13 - Britten's Donne Meditation
pp 256-273
- By Justin Vickers, State University in October 2013, where he is Associate Professor of Music.
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14 - Scenes from Britten's Spring Symphony
pp 274-295
- By Philip Rupprecht, Professor of Music at Duke University.
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15 - ‘I have read Billy Budd’: The Forster–Britten Reading(s) of Melville
pp 296-317
- By Hanna Rochlitz, Independent scholar based in Göttingen, Germany.
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16 - Miles Must Die: Ideological Uses of ‘Innocence’ in Britten's The Turn of the Screw
pp 318-339
- By J. P. E. Harper-Scott, Professor of Music History and Theory at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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17 - Benjamin Britten and Medieval Drama at Chester: From Abraham and Isaac to ‘The Nativity’
pp 340-355
- By Peter Happé, Retired asPrincipal of Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, and is now a Visiting Fellow in the English Department at Southampton University
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18 - Ambiguous Venice
pp 356-384
- By John Hopkins, composer whose work has received performances and broadcasts in many countries, including Denmark, Germany, France, North and South America, and Australia, as well as in the UK.
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Bibliography
pp 385-397
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Index
pp 398-405
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Literary Britten

Words and Music in Benjamin Britten's Vocal Works

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