Britten, Benjamin ___ 1913-1976 ___ British ___ composer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk. When only 11 he began studying with the composer Frank Bridge, and then, aged 16, entered the Royal College of Music, London. During the 1930s, he worked for the GPO Film Unit. One of his compositions for the GPO - the famous 'Night Mail' - brought him into contact with W H Auden who wrote the words. In 1937, Britten's 'Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge' brought him international acclaim. The same year, he met the singer, Peter Pears, with whom, subsequently, he lived for the rest of his life. With the onset of war, Britten followed Auden to the US where, together, they composed the operetta Paul Bunyan. In 1942, he returned to the UK, and, together with Pears, toured the country giving recitals. In 1945, Britten completed 'Peter Grimes', a major opera set in the fishing village of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. It was a huge success, and other operas - such as 'The Rape of Lucretia' and 'Billy Budd' - followed. Before the war, Britten had bought a house at Snape, near Aldeburgh, and, in 1948, Britten, Piers and Eric Crozier launched the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948. Twenty years later, the Snape Maltings was converted to a concert hall to host the annual festival. In 1955, Britten went on a world tour, and in 1961 he conducted the first performance of his 'War Requiem', commissioned for the opening of Coventry Cathedral which had been damaged in the war. Britten was much feted during his life, and received many honours, including being appointed a member of the Order of Merit in 1965.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Britten's firecracker crits; Benjamin Britten’s centenary

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1928-1938 ___ social childhood music

WEB TEXT LINKS
pages from September 1930
about
about

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Britten-Pears Library

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten (1923-1939)
Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten (1939-1945)
Journeying Boy

May 2005, September 2008, March 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.