2012 britten brochure

THE BRITTEN COLLECTION

BOYDELL& BREWER

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME FIVE: 1958–1965

Edited by PHILIP REED & MERVYN COOKE

This volume covers the two major operaticworks A Midsummer Night’s Dream and theground-breaking Curlew River, and hispacifist choral masterpiece, War Requiem. It also charts Britten and Pears’s visits toMoscow, Leningrad and Armenia in detail.Correspondents include Edith Sitwell, E. M. Forster, Christopher Isherwood, YehudiMenuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, DmitriShostakovich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, aswell as Peter Pears. $80.00/£45.00 OCtOBER 2010978 1 84383 591 255 B/w illus.; 830pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME FOUR: 1952–1957

Edited by PHILIP REED, MERVYN COOKE & DONALD MITCHELL

Volume Four covers the Coronation opera Gloriana, the chamber opera The Turn of the Screw, and the full-lengthballet The Prince of the Pagodas.Correspondents include librettists William Plomer (Gloriana) and MyfanwyPiper (The Turn of the Screw), and friends and collaborators such as Imogen Holst,Francis Poulenc, Lennox Berkeley, the Earl of Harewood and Peter Pears.$80.00/£45.00 may 2008978 1 84383 382 657 B/w illus.; 676pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

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He is also editoro

LETTERSFROM A LIFE

The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten

Volume Six 1966–1976

Edited by Philip Reed& Mervyn Cooke

The splendid and extensive editorial annotations ... are such asignificant feature of these volumes ... the reading experience isconsistently both enthralling and entertaining. BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY

LETTERS FROM A LIFE is more than just an edition ofletters; it is a vast Britten compendium ... there can be noquestion that it is vastly more successful as biography than thestraight ... works on Britten have been. YALE REVIEW

One of the most illuminating biographical projectsin recent years. PETER ACKROYD

Britten in PicturesEdited by LUCY WALKER

Britten in Pictures celebrates the many facets of Britten’s life in a major new photographic treatment timed to coincide with the composer’scentenary in 2013. Using the wealth of images housed in the collections of The Britten–Pears Foundation at Aldeburgh, the book charts the curveof Britten’s life, using a selection of rare and previously unpublished imagesto reveal him anew in all phases of his career, catching a multitude ofinformal glimpses of the man ‘behind the scenes’ at work and play as wellas in more familiar formal settings. The result is a new and often surprisingportrait of this major musical genius. $34.95/£19.99 sEptEmBER 2012978 1 84383 749 780 COlOuR & 320 B/w illus.; 288pp, 22 x 22, pBBOydEll pREss

THE SELECTED LETTERS OF BRITTENaRE puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn withthE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn. puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn with thE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn.

NEW T I T L E SN EW T I T L E S

LETTERSFROM A LIFE

Volume Five 1958–1965

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME SIX: 1966–1976

The sixth and final volume of correspondencecovers the composer’s last decade. The genesis,composition and premieres of major stageworks such as Owen Wingrave, commissionedby BBC Television, and Death in Venice arefully documented, as are the church parables,The Burning Fiery Furnace and The ProdigalSon. Important concert works from this periodinclude the powerful Brecht setting, Children’sCrusade, Canticles IV and V (both settings ofpoetry by T. S. Eliot), Phaedra (for Janet Baker)and the Third String Quartet, with its hauntingechoes of Death in Venice. The volume alsotraces the conversion of Snape Maltings intothe Aldeburgh Festival’s principal concertvenue and significant correspondents includethe Queen and Queen Mother, William Plomer,Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and MstislavRostropovich, Dmitri Shostakovich andWilliam Walton.$80.00/£45.00 nOVEmBER 2012978 1 84383 725 150 B/w illus.; 832pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

COVER: BEnjamin BRittEn COnduCting ORChEstRa with BatOn at a REhEaRsal in thE maltings, snapE, suffOlk, junE 1967. BRian sEEd / lEBRECht musiC & aRts.

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME FIVE: 1958–1965

This volume covers the two major operaticworks A Midsummer Night’s Dream and theground-breaking Curlew River, and hispacifist choral masterpiece, War Requiem. It also charts Britten and Pears’s visits toMoscow, Leningrad and Armenia in detail.Correspondents include Edith Sitwell, E. M. Forster, Christopher Isherwood, YehudiMenuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, DmitriShostakovich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, aswell as Peter Pears. $80.00/£45.00 OCtOBER 2010978 1 84383 591 255 B/w illus.; 830pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME FOUR: 1952–1957

Edited by PHILIP REED, MERVYN COOKE & DONALD MITCHELL

Volume Four covers the Coronation opera Gloriana, the chamber opera The Turn of the Screw, and the full-lengthballet The Prince of the Pagodas.Correspondents include librettists William Plomer (Gloriana) and MyfanwyPiper (The Turn of the Screw), and friends and collaborators such as Imogen Holst,Francis Poulenc, Lennox Berkeley, the Earl of Harewood and Peter Pears.$80.00/£45.00 may 2008978 1 84383 382 657 B/w illus.; 676pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

Reed has

He is also editoro

LETTERSFROM A LIFE

Volume Six 1966–1976

The splendid and extensive editorial annotations ... are such asignificant feature of these volumes ... the reading experience isconsistently both enthralling and entertaining. BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY

LETTERS FROM A LIFE is more than just an edition ofletters; it is a vast Britten compendium ... there can be noquestion that it is vastly more successful as biography than thestraight ... works on Britten have been. YALE REVIEW

One of the most illuminating biographical projectsin recent years. PETER ACKROYD

Britten in PicturesEdited by LUCY WALKER

Britten in Pictures celebrates the many facets of Britten’s life in a major new photographic treatment timed to coincide with the composer’scentenary in 2013. Using the wealth of images housed in the collections of The Britten–Pears Foundation at Aldeburgh, the book charts the curveof Britten’s life, using a selection of rare and previously unpublished imagesto reveal him anew in all phases of his career, catching a multitude ofinformal glimpses of the man ‘behind the scenes’ at work and play as wellas in more familiar formal settings. The result is a new and often surprisingportrait of this major musical genius. $34.95/£19.99 sEptEmBER 2012978 1 84383 749 780 COlOuR & 320 B/w illus.; 288pp, 22 x 22, pBBOydEll pREss

THE SELECTED LETTERS OF BRITTENaRE puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn withthE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn. puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn with thE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn.

NEW T I T L E SN EW T I T L E S

LETTERSFROM A LIFE

Volume Five 1958–1965

Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913–1976VOLUME SIX: 1966–1976

The sixth and final volume of correspondencecovers the composer’s last decade. The genesis,composition and premieres of major stageworks such as Owen Wingrave, commissionedby BBC Television, and Death in Venice arefully documented, as are the church parables,The Burning Fiery Furnace and The ProdigalSon. Important concert works from this periodinclude the powerful Brecht setting, Children’sCrusade, Canticles IV and V (both settings ofpoetry by T. S. Eliot), Phaedra (for Janet Baker)and the Third String Quartet, with its hauntingechoes of Death in Venice. The volume alsotraces the conversion of Snape Maltings intothe Aldeburgh Festival’s principal concertvenue and significant correspondents includethe Queen and Queen Mother, William Plomer,Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and MstislavRostropovich, Dmitri Shostakovich andWilliam Walton.$80.00/£45.00 nOVEmBER 2012978 1 84383 725 150 B/w illus.; 832pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBsElECtEd lEttERs Of BRittEn l BOydEll pREss

COVER: BEnjamin BRittEn COnduCting ORChEstRa with BatOn at a REhEaRsal in thE maltings, snapE, suffOlk, junE 1967. BRian sEEd / lEBRECht musiC & aRts.

BEnjamin BRittEn with maRgaREt RitChiE and anna pOllaCk at glyndEBOuRnE, junE – july 1946. COuRtEsy Of thE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn.

Making MusiciansA Personal History of the Britten–Pears SchoolMOIRA BENNETT

Moira Bennett worked at the Britten–PearsSchool in its hectic heyday in the 1980s. Shecharts its forty-year history, embodying itsfounders’ initial vision of a bridge betweenconservatory and career for gifted youngmusicians. Some of the most eminentteachers from Europe, the United States andbeyond have come to teach at Snape. These

include founder-director Peter Pears, Hans Hotter, Joan Sutherland, GalinaVishnevskaya, Jacqueline du Pré, MitsukoUchida, Mstislav Rostropovich, TonKoopman, and members of the AmadeusQuartet. This authoritative and anecdotalhistorical survey of the work of the School isgenerously illustrated and studded withquotations from many faculty members andformer students.$24.95/£14.99 may 2012978 0 95716 720 9120 B/w illus.; 224pp, 17 x 24, pBBittERn pREss

Imogen Holst: A Life in MusicR E V I S E D E D I T I O N

Edited by CHRISTOPHER GROGAN

Imogen Holst was one of the most wide-ranging and highly regarded ofmusicians and worked as BenjaminBritten’s assistant and artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival for decades.She was popular with all who knew her,but was intensively protective of herinner life, reminding one friend of a‘locked door of which she had thrownaway the key’.

An encounter with a true original ... Grogan has put together an excellentcritical biography. TLS

$34.95/£19.99 OCtOBER 2010978 1 84383 599 82 COlOuR & 52 B/w illus.; 522pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC lBOydEll pREss

New Aldeburgh AnthologyCompiled by ARIANE BANKES & JONATHAN REEKIE

Britten and Pears’ Aldeburgh Festivallies at the heart of the The NewAldeburgh Anthology. Their legacy is re-examined by musicians such as IanBostridge, Steven Isserlis and RogerVignoles. Poets such as Andrew Motion,Blake Morrison, Kevin Crossley-Hollandand Lavinia Greenlaw have all beeninspired by Aldeburgh’s bright yethaunting atmosphere. George EwartEvans, W.G. Sebald and Richard Mabeyare among those who respond to thepower of the landscape, others to thespell of the sea.

The long-term survival and eventualrejuvenation of Aldeburgh as a musicalnerve centre post-Britten has ... been atriumph of creativity over adversity andthis anthology gradually and magicallytells exactly how and why.GRAMOPHONE

aVailaBlE in:pB: $24.95/£14.99, 978 1 84383 588 2, apRil 2010hB: $60.00/£35.00, 978 1 84383 439 7, apRil 200920 COlOuR & 32 B/w illus.; 376pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBBOydEll pREss

O F R E L A T E DI N T E R E S T

puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn withaldEBuRgh musiC

NEW T I T L E S

Britten: ‘The Musical Character’and Other WritingsHANS KELLEREdited by CHRISTOPHER WINTLE

It was hearing an early performance ofBenjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes that turned theyoung emigré writer and musician Hans Kellerfrom psychology to music. Thereafter hebecame the composer’s most fervent advocate,devoting to him a whole issue of ‘Music Survey’(the journal he edited with Donald Mitchell)and the first comprehensive book on his music(again edited with Mitchell). This new volumeis a selection of the best of his writings; it also includes a study of the extensivecorrespondence between Britten and Keller(most of it hitherto unknown), a reprint of the handbooks on The Rape of Lucretia andAlbert Herring (long out-of-print). Illustratedwith drawings by Milein Cosman.aVailaBlE in: pB: $29.95/£17.99, 978 0 95660 075 2, apRil 2013hB: $70.00/£40.00, 978 0 95660 074 5, apRil 2013 24 x 16.5hans kEllER aRChiVE l plumBagO BOOks

Visit aldeburgh for a

programme of events

celebrating the Centenary of

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976),

and experience the true spirit

of one of the greatest musical

minds the uk has produced.

www.aldeburgh.co.uk

BEnjamin BRittEn with maRgaREt RitChiE and anna pOllaCk at glyndEBOuRnE, junE – july 1946. COuRtEsy Of thE BRittEn–pEaRs fOundatiOn.

Making MusiciansA Personal History of the Britten–Pears SchoolMOIRA BENNETT

Moira Bennett worked at the Britten–PearsSchool in its hectic heyday in the 1980s. Shecharts its forty-year history, embodying itsfounders’ initial vision of a bridge betweenconservatory and career for gifted youngmusicians. Some of the most eminentteachers from Europe, the United States andbeyond have come to teach at Snape. These

include founder-director Peter Pears, Hans Hotter, Joan Sutherland, GalinaVishnevskaya, Jacqueline du Pré, MitsukoUchida, Mstislav Rostropovich, TonKoopman, and members of the AmadeusQuartet. This authoritative and anecdotalhistorical survey of the work of the School isgenerously illustrated and studded withquotations from many faculty members andformer students.$24.95/£14.99 may 2012978 0 95716 720 9120 B/w illus.; 224pp, 17 x 24, pBBittERn pREss

Imogen Holst: A Life in MusicR E V I S E D E D I T I O N

Edited by CHRISTOPHER GROGAN

Imogen Holst was one of the most wide-ranging and highly regarded ofmusicians and worked as BenjaminBritten’s assistant and artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival for decades.She was popular with all who knew her,but was intensively protective of herinner life, reminding one friend of a‘locked door of which she had thrownaway the key’.

An encounter with a true original ... Grogan has put together an excellentcritical biography. TLS

$34.95/£19.99 OCtOBER 2010978 1 84383 599 82 COlOuR & 52 B/w illus.; 522pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC lBOydEll pREss

New Aldeburgh AnthologyCompiled by ARIANE BANKES & JONATHAN REEKIE

Britten and Pears’ Aldeburgh Festivallies at the heart of the The NewAldeburgh Anthology. Their legacy is re-examined by musicians such as IanBostridge, Steven Isserlis and RogerVignoles. Poets such as Andrew Motion,Blake Morrison, Kevin Crossley-Hollandand Lavinia Greenlaw have all beeninspired by Aldeburgh’s bright yethaunting atmosphere. George EwartEvans, W.G. Sebald and Richard Mabeyare among those who respond to thepower of the landscape, others to thespell of the sea.

The long-term survival and eventualrejuvenation of Aldeburgh as a musicalnerve centre post-Britten has ... been atriumph of creativity over adversity andthis anthology gradually and magicallytells exactly how and why.GRAMOPHONE

aVailaBlE in:pB: $24.95/£14.99, 978 1 84383 588 2, apRil 2010hB: $60.00/£35.00, 978 1 84383 439 7, apRil 200920 COlOuR & 32 B/w illus.; 376pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBBOydEll pREss

O F R E L A T E DI N T E R E S T

puBlishEd in assOCiatiOn withaldEBuRgh musiC

NEW T I T L E S

Britten: ‘The Musical Character’and Other WritingsHANS KELLEREdited by CHRISTOPHER WINTLE

It was hearing an early performance ofBenjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes that turned theyoung emigré writer and musician Hans Kellerfrom psychology to music. Thereafter hebecame the composer’s most fervent advocate,devoting to him a whole issue of ‘Music Survey’(the journal he edited with Donald Mitchell)and the first comprehensive book on his music(again edited with Mitchell). This new volumeis a selection of the best of his writings; it also includes a study of the extensivecorrespondence between Britten and Keller(most of it hitherto unknown), a reprint of the handbooks on The Rape of Lucretia andAlbert Herring (long out-of-print). Illustratedwith drawings by Milein Cosman.aVailaBlE in: pB: $29.95/£17.99, 978 0 95660 075 2, apRil 2013hB: $70.00/£40.00, 978 0 95660 074 5, apRil 2013 24 x 16.5hans kEllER aRChiVE l plumBagO BOOks

Visit aldeburgh for a

programme of events

celebrating the Centenary of

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976),

and experience the true spirit

of one of the greatest musical

minds the uk has produced.

www.aldeburgh.co.uk

PeterPEARS

TRAVEL DIARIES1936–1978

EDITED BY PHILIP REED

BRITTEN’s

ESSAYS AND SOURCES

EDITED BY PAUL BANKS

Gloriana

Britten’s GlorianaEssays and SourcesEdited by PAUL BANKS

Britten’s Gloriana has been a source ofcontroversy since its première as part of theCoronation celebrations in 1953. It wasplanned as a national opera of broad appeal, but the opera failed to establish itself in therepertoire until a new production in 1966revealed it to be a powerful and stageworthywork. This volume explores the opera’scultural background, the early stages of itscreative evolution, the first critical responses,and various other aspects of the work.

A rounded critical and historical study ... an indispensable resource for future Brittenstudies. MUSIC & LETTERS

$34.94/£19.99 july 2012 978 1 84383 797 8206pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears, 1936–1978PETER PEARSEdited by PHILIP REED

This volume brings together all the traveldiaries of Sir Peter Pears (1910–1986),principal interpreter of Britten’s works.Pears accompanied Britten on many of histrips and the record of their tour of the FarEast in 1955 is of special interest.

A valuable source of material on the musicaldevelopment of both Pears and BenjaminBritten ... a ‘must’ for those interested ineither. OPERA JOURNAL

$34.95/£19.99 junE 2099978 0 85115 741 234 B/w illus.; 278pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

Britten and the Far EastAsian Influences in the Music of Benjamin BrittenMERVYN COOKE

Benjamin Britten’s interest in the musicaltraditions of the Far East had a far-reachinginfluence on his compositional style; thisbook is the first to investigate the highlyoriginal cross-cultural synthesis he was able to achieve through the use of materialborrowed from Balinese, Japanese andIndian music. Accompanying CD oforiginal Balinese, Japanese and Indianrecordings. $45.00/£25.00 may 2001978 0 85115 830 39 B/w illus.; 299pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

On Mahler and BrittenEssays in Honour of Donald Mitchell on his SeventiethBirthdayEdited by PHILIP REED

This Festschrift assembles essays on Mahlerand Britten, the two composers closest toMitchell’s heart, producing a volume whichreflects some of the latest thinking on this pairof remarkable figures in the music of ourcentury and pays tribute to the impact ofMitchell’s own work on these composers overthe last fifty years. $34.95/£19.99 junE 1998978 0 85115 614 9374pp, 23.4 x 15.3, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

Britten and Auden in theThirties: The Year 1936DONALD MITCHELLForeword by ALAN HOLLINGHURST

Britten’s settings of early Auden, OurHunting Fathers and On this Island, werehis first important songs to English texts.Britten’s diaries reveal detail of the twomen’s relationship, of their work together,and of the reflection within that work ofpolitical ideas current at the time.$34.95/£19.99 junE 2000978 0 85115 790 06 B/w illus.; 190pp, 21.5 x 13.8, pBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

LennoxBerkeley

and friends

Writings, Letters and Interviews

EDITED BY PETER DICKINSON

Benjamin BrittenNew Perspectives on His Life and WorkEdited by LUCY WALKER

This essay collection engages with Britten’s juvenilia and other orchestralworks from the 1920s and examines a broadrange of influences, including the works ofShostakovich and Verdi. Other pieces lookat Owen Wingrave through a close study ofPiper’s libretto and a libretto written byAustralian novelist Patrick White with thehope of a future collaboration.

Walker’s book ... paves the way to a freer,more balanced view of the man andmusician. CLASSICAL MUSIC

$90.00/£50.00 nOVEmBER 2009978 1 84383 516 58 B/w illus.; 205pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBaldEBuRgh studiEs in musiC l BOydEll pREss

All the Gods Benjamin Britten’s Night-piece in Context

Christopher Wintle

edited by

Julian Littlewood

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The Operas of Benjamin BrittenExpression and EvasionCLAIRE SEYMOUR

These analyses of Britten’s operas from PaulBunyan to Death in Venice, the three ChurchParables, and several of the ‘children’s operas’offer evidence that, for Britten, opera was thenatural medium through which to explore,express and, paradoxically, repress his privateconcerns.

A wide variety of ideas within two covers.GRAMOPHONE

$34.95/£19.99 may 2007978 1 84383 314 7368pp, 23.4 x 15.6, pBBOydEll pREss

All the GodsBenjamin Britten’s Night-piece in ContextCHRISTOPHER WINTLE

This book is devoted to Night-piece (Notturno), written forthe first Leeds International Pianoforte Competition of 1963.It addresses the work from many points of view: historical,documentary, analytical, formal, kinetic, hermeneutical, and affective. Includes a wide range of illustrated allusions to other music, a full set of sketches, the printed score andarrays of modes and voice-leading graphs.

[A] major contribution to Britten studies, but its rich ideashave resonance far beyond this field. MUSIC & LETTERS

aVailaBlE in:pB: $39.95/£19.99, 978 0 95560 879 7, OCtOBER 2012hB: $60.00/£35.00, 9780954012380, sEptEmBER 2006 3 B/w illus.; 136pp, 24.4 x 17.2, pBpOEtiCs Of musiC l plumBagO BOOks

WINNER OF THE SUE THOMSONFOUNDAT ION PUBL I SH ING AWARDFOR 2 0 0 6

B AC K L I S T B AC K L I S T

NEWIN PB

Lennox Berkeley and FriendsWritings, Letters and InterviewsEdited by PETER DICKINSON

Berkeley was an elegant writer and it is fascinatingto read his first-hand memories of composers suchas Ravel, Poulenc, Stravinsky and Britten. Thebook also contains interviews with Berkeley'scolleagues, friends and family. These includeperformers such as Julian Bream and Norman DelMar; composers Nicholas Maw and MalcolmWilliamson; the composer's eldest son Michael,the composer and broadcaster, and Lady Berkeley.Lennox Berkeley knew Britten well and there aremany references to him in this collection.$80.00/£45.00 OCtOBER 2012978 1 84383 785 532 B/w illus.; 352pp, 23.4 x 15.6, hBBOydEll pREss