Britten on Music

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-19-955097-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 466 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 233 mm, Gewicht: 704 g

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 This book, by bringing together all his published articles, unpublished speeches, drafts, and transcriptions of numerous radio interviews, explores the paradox of a reluctant yet influential cultural commentator, artist, and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.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Geschichte der Musik Geschichte der Musik: Klassische Musik des 20./21. Jahrhunderts

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 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

Über Autor(innen)

Paul Kildea was born in Australia and studied at Melbourne and Oxford Universities, being awarded a doctorate from the latter in 1996. He has recently been appointed Director of the Britten-Pears Orchestra. In 1999 he was appointed by the Britten Estate to the position of Head of Music, Aldeburgh Productions.