Britten On Music

Description:
Benjamin Britten was a most reluctant public speaker. Yet his contributions were without doubt a major factor in the transformation during his lifetime of the structure of the art-music industry. This book, by bringing together all his published articles, unpublished speeches, drafts, and transcriptions of numerous radio interviews, explores the paradox of a reluctant yet influential cultural commentator, artist, and humanist. Whether talking about his own music, about the role of the artist in society, about music criticism, or wading into a debate on soviet ideology at the height of the cold war, Britten always gave a performance which reinforced the notion of a private man who nonetheless saw the importance of public disclosure.

Table of Contents:
LIST OF PLATES; LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS; INTRODUCTION; I. 1936-45 'OH BUT THE UNLOVED HAVE HAD POWER'; 1. Soviet Opera at B.B.C. Shostakowitch's 'Lady Macbeth' (1936); 2. Wireless Concerts lose Edward Clarke (1936); 3. BBC Programming: Holst, Vaughan Williams and Poulenc (1936); 4. 'As You Like It' Walton's Music (1936); 5. American Impressions (?1940); 6. An English Composer Sees America (1940); 7. On Film Music (c. 1940-1); 8. England and the Folk-Art Problem; 9. Au Revoir to the U.S.A. (1942); 10. On Behalf of Gustav Mahler (1942); 11. Statement to the Local Tribunal for the Registration of Conscientious Objectors (1942); 12. Appeal to the Appellate Tribunal (1942); 13. How a musical work originates (1942); 14. Conversation with Benjamin Britten (1944); 15. Speech to the International Arts Guild (c.1944); 16. Vienna (1945); 17. Peter Grimes (1945); 18. 250th Anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell (1945); II. 1946-55 'THIS REGION OF SIN THAT YOU FIND YOU IN, BUT ARE NOT OF'; 19. Sinfonia da Requiem (1946); 20. The Rape of Lucretia (1946); 21. The Artist and His Medium: Composer and Listener (1946); 22. An Opera is Planned (1947); 23. Frank Bridge and English Chamber Music (1947); 24. The Rape of Lucretia (1948); 25. Piano works by Frederic Chopin and Gabrial Faure (1949); 26. A New Centre for Music (1949); 27. UNESCO (1949); 28. Boyd Neel: The Story of an Orchestra (1950); 29. The Arts Council and Opera (1950); 30. Verdi - A Symposium (1951); 31. The Rape of Lucretia (?1951); 32. Dido and Aeneas (1951); 33. Freeman of Lowestoft (1951); 34. The Rise of English Opera (1951); 35. Arnold Schoenberg (1951); 36. Variations on a Critical Theme (1952); 37. Opera Diary: The Marriage of Figaro (1952); 38. Three Premieres (1954); 39. Serenade for tenor, horn and strings (1954); 40. The Physician's Folly (1955); 41. The Aldeburgh Festival (1955); III. 1956-65 'ALL A POET CAN DO TODAY IS WARN'; 42. Britten's Method of Composing (1956); 43. British Culture Abroad (1956); 44. Britten and South East Asia (1956); 45. The Composer Speaks (1957); 46. To the Music Lovers of Japan (1957); 47. Dennis Brain 1921-1957 (1958); 48. Television and The Turn of the Screw (1959); 49. Paul Beck 1895-1958 (1959); 50. On Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1959); 51. On Realizing the Continuo in Purcell's Songs (1959); 52. Back to Britain with Britten (1959); 53. People Today: Benjamin Britten (1960); 54. A New Britten Opera (1960); 55. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960); 56. Brighton Philarmonic Society (1960); 57. Discussion with Billy Budd (1960); 58. On Writing English Opera (1960); 59. Britten and Pears in Canada (1961); 60. Speech on Receiving Honorary Degree at Hull University (1962); 61. Freedom of Borough of Aldeburgh (1962); 62. Erwin Stein: Form and Performance (1962); 63. A Tribute to Wilfrid Owen (?1963); 64. Imogen Holst: An ABC of Music (1963); 65. British Composers in Interview: Benjamin Britten (1963); 66. The Artist - to the People (1963); 67. On Pravda, Art and Criticism (1963); 68. Address to Kesgrave Heath School, Ipswich (1963); 69. An Interview (1963); 70. Britten Looking Back (1963); 71. Francis Poulenc 1899-1963 (1964); 72. On Receiving the First Aspen Award (1964); 73. Musician of the Year (1964); 74. British Music in the World Today (1964); 75. Tribute to Michael Tippett (1965); 76. Tribute to Zoltan Kodaly (1965); 77. Tribute to Jean Sibelius (1965); 78. Sibelius (II) (1965); 79. Dreams (?1965); 80. A Composer in Russia (1965); IV. 1966-76 'MY MIND BEATS ON'; 81. Sir Arthur Bliss at 75 (1966); 82. Benjamin Britten talks to Edmund Tracey (1966); 83. Tribute to Dmitri Shostakovitch (1966); 84. Tribute to Zoltan Kodaly (1967); 85. An interview with Benjamin Britten (1967); 86. Britten and Pears (1967); 87. The Moral Responsibility of the Artist Toward his Fellow Man (1968); 88. Britten on Aldeburgh and the Future (1968); 89. On Receiving the Sonning Prize (1968); 90. Some Notes on Forster and Music (1969); 91. Mapreading (1969); 92. No Ivory Tower (1969); 93. Snape Maltings Fire (1969); 94. Idomeneo in Performance (1969); 95. Radcliffe Music Award (1969); 96. Money for the Maltings (1970); 97. Aaron Copland: Seventieth-Birthday Tribute (1970); 98. James Blades: Percussion Instruments and their History (1970); 99. Artist's Choice: Cecil Aronowitz (1970); 100. Therapy in Music For Handicapped Children (1971); 101. Anthony Gishford: Grand Opera (1972); 102. John Bird: Percy Grainger (1976); 103. Tribute to Paul Sacher (1976); V. INTRODUCTORY NOTES TO BRITTEN'S MUSIC; VI. INTRODUCTORY NOTES TO THE MUSIC OF OTHER COMPOSERS