Product Description
This book is designed to introduce the non-specialist music lover to Britten's opera, The Turn of the Screw. The opening chapters by Vivien Jones and Patricia Howard deal with the literary source of the opera Oames's novella), the structure of the libretto, and the technique by which a short story was transformed into an opera. The central chapter, on the musical style and structures of the opera, includes an account of the composition process deduced from early sketches of the work by John Evans, an analysis of the unique form of the opera with a more detailed examination of the last scene by Patricia Howard, and an account of the significance and effect of the orchestration by Christopher Palmer. Finally, Patricia Howard traces the stage history of the work, from its initial reception in Venice in 1954, through some seminal reinterpretations in the 1960s to its present established position in the repertoire. The book is generously illustrated and there is also a bibliography and discography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

for designers and directors
This is an excellent book.It is a breif, easy to read book that includes all the info you would ever want about the opera, and Britten himself.there is a whole series, which I suspect is just as good. ... Read more

Product Description
In this classic study of Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, Arnold Whittall builds up a unique double portrait of the two leading composers of their generation. For this second, revised edition Whittall includes a new chapter on Tippett's major works of the 1980s: the Piano Sonata No. 4, the large-scale choral composition The Mask of Time and the most recent opera, New Year. In addition, new information on the Britten repertoire and an updated bibliography are also presented. ... Read more

Product Description
This second of two volumes of the letters and diaries of Benjamin Britten is supplemented by the editors' detailed commentary and extensive contemporary documentation. The aim is to present a portrait not only of the composer but of an age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Superb Biography in Letters and Notes
This is volume II of the biography Britten asked Mitchell to write, asking him to "Tell the truth about me and Peter."So it is the story of a gay marriage before being gay was even legal, let alone honoured in any way. In this volume, Britten advances his career in America, receiving commissions from (among others) the one-handed pianist Wittgenstein and the Japanese Imperial Government (on the eve of WW II!)Pears begins to study seriously, as he will continue to do into his fifties, to keep building his voice to meet the demands of Britten's compositions. They face the complications of their status as conscientious objectors and vacillate about returning to England. Early in this American journey, Britten and Pears fell in love and made a committment that lasted until Britten's death.The exchange of letters between them is so intimate the reader feels invasive, until reminded that Pears, who has been ill-served by certain biographers, wanted them published so the true nature of their loving relationship would be made known. At length, inspired by an article by E.M. Forster, they returned home where Britten wrote Peter Grimes and so began to revitalise English opera. This volume includes the founding of the English Opera Group and the Aldeburgh Festival. It is dedicated to Elizabeth Mayer, their patron in America, who gave them a home and family and invaluable support in this doubt-filled time. ... Read more

Product Description
Poetry affected Benjamin Britten's musical ability and style of his composition. Friendships and collaborations with writers - Auden and Forster among them - left their mark. Arguably, no other composer of songs, not even Schubert or Shumann, set poems of such range and quality. All the 360 poems Britten set are included in this book. They range from Donne's complex "Holy Sonnets" to the deceptive simplicity of Blake's "Oh rose thou art sick". They include anonymous ballads, modern work and poems in other languages (with translations). Full details of the source and use of each poem are given. ... Read more

Product Description
Hodgson has done an excellent job of working with the many existing resources on Britten and making his volume a concise, clear, and reliable starting point for those studying or researching the composer. This volume should be in the reference divisions of college/university libraries and should be listed as an important bibliographic source. It is highly recommended |o American Reference Books Annual '97 ... Read more

Product Description
Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden were key figures of the 1930s, and here Donald Mitchell traces their lives during one crucial year, 1936. They worked hard to establish themselves, first through the GPO film unit, in a collaboration which flowered and spilled over into the theatre, and then radio - a new medium that the liveliest creative minds of the time were exploring and exploiting. Britten and Auden also joined forces in works destined for the recital room and concert hall, among them Our Hunting Fathers, the political symbolism of which Donald Mitchell examines in depth, and On the Island, settings of early Auden that comprised Britten's first important set of songs to English texts. Much use is made of Britten's private diaries, which he kept on a daily basis, and a revealing portrait emerges of the two men's relationship, of their work together in many different fields, and of the reflection within that work of political ideas current at the time. ... Read more

Product Description
This first of two volumes of the letters and diaries of Benjamin Britten is supplemented by the editors' detailed commentary and extensive contemporary documentation. The aim is to present a portrait not only of the composer but of an age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating Autobiographical Biography
Donald Mitchell was Britten's preferred biographer, who on viewing the archive of Britten's correspondence decided to let Britten speak in his own voice, with Mitchell contributing extensive annotations which amount to a combination biography/autobiography, a fascinating insight into the great 20th century composer.We see Britten the musical prodigy, follow his studies through his diaries, see his stresses with teachers and colleagues, his early successes and early confrontations with death.We see Britten the very tough businessman(from an early age), Britten the dazzled compatriot of Auden and Isherwood at the beginning of the documentary film movement, Britten the pacifist suffering through the Spanish Civil War, Britten the bewildered gay man, hoping to lead a decent life but not yet fallen securely into the arms of Peter Pears.This volume ends with Britten and Pears departing for America in the wake of Auden and Isherwood, WW II close at hand, looking to create careers in the new world.This series is my recommended biography over everything written about Britten. Superb. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive guide to Britten's musical achievement discusses all the published compositions in subdivisions of genre and period, and devotes a separate chapter to each opera.With the help of over 300 music examples and diagrams, Evans demonstrates Britten's mastery of the art of composition. Since this book's first appearance in 1979, Britten's publishers have made available a considerable number of works withheld during the composer's lifetime; some are juvenilia, but others date from as late as the Peter Grimes period.In a postscript to this edition, Peter Evans assesses the creative stature of these works and their significance in Britten's development.The catalogue of works now includes these additional titles, and the selective bibliography has been revised. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great price!
This is a great price for the best analytical look at Britten's music around.Almost every composition is included.Some of the earliest compositions, which are now published by Faber, are not included.This new edition is definately worth grabbing! ... Read more

Product Description
Soft-cover ... Read more

Product Description
For anyone wanting to get to grips with Britten's music and his eclectic compositional style - crucial reading. MUSIC AND LETTERS Fascinating and persuasive blend of documentary and critical study. MUSICAL TIMES Benjamin Britten's interest in the musical traditions of the Far East had a far-reaching influence on his compositional style; this book is the first to investigate the highly original cross-cultural synthesis he was able to achieve through the use of material borrowed from Balinese, Japanese and Indian music. Britten's visit to Indonesia and Japan in 1955-6 is reconstructed from archival sources, and shown to have had a profound impact on his subsequent work: the techniques of Balinese gamelan music were used in the ballet The Prince of the Pagodas (1957), and then became an essential feature of Britten's compositional style, at their most potent in Death in Venice(1973). The No drama and Gagaku court music of Japan were the inspiration for the trilogy of church parables Britten composed in the 1960s. The precise nature of these influences is discussed; Britten's sporadic borrowings from Indian music are also fully analysed. There is a survey of critical response to Britten's cross-cultural experiments.Accompanying CD of original Balinese, Japanese and Indian recordings used by Britten as source material.Dr MERVYN COOKE lectures in music at the University of Nottingham. ... Read more

Product Description
These remarkable letters, never before published, constitute a comprehensive biography told largely in Britten's own words. Volume 1 accompanies him through prep and English public school and then to London to the Royal College of Music, where the young composer is plunged into metropolitan life and makes influential new friends, among them Auden and Isherwood. This was a time of prodigious musical creativity, a growing awareness of his homosexuality, and the dawning of his political convictions. It was during this time that Britten met Peter Pears, the partner with whom his musical and personal relationship was to last a lifetime. This volume closes in May, 1939, when Britten and Pears depart for the United States.Volume 2 offers an overview of a crucial period in American and British history, politics, and culture. Britten's experience of exile, his return with Pears to England to face recriminations as a Conscientious Objector and prejudice as a brilliant gay artist, and the triumph of his first major opera, Peter Grimes, are all outlined in letters which are a fascinating mix of the public and private.These first two volumes of the Selected Letters and Diariesa further two are in preparationmake a fundamental contribution to Britten studies and to twentieth-century cultural history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

All you ever wanted to know.
This is a must for any serious Britten scholar.Hundreds of letters and diary entries are included which tell the story of the composers life.To get a complete view, letters and diary entries of people surrounding Briten are also included.The overwhelming amount of footnoted material also includes a wealth of information. ... Read more