This year marks the centenary of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), a gentle but enduring musical voice.
WSJ: The Sounds of Sacrifice | Benjamin Britten | War Requiem | Masterpiece by Stuart Isacoff
Andrew Britten, 23, admitted burglary and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, at Nottingham Crown Court.
On Moonrise Kingdom I wanted to use Benjamin Britten from before there was a script.
Britten was a bigger man and a more important composer than his present reputation suggests.
Not surprisingly, Britten was angrily criticized by his contemporaries for refusing to fight the Nazis.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
Whatever else he was, Britten wasn't simple and that is part of what makes him so enduringly fascinating.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
Yet critics as a group have been slow to admit Britten to the pantheon of top-tier composers.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
Britten had intentionally picked an international lineup of soloists as part of his universalist message to the world.
WSJ: The Sounds of Sacrifice | Benjamin Britten | War Requiem | Masterpiece by Stuart Isacoff
Skybus already has three of the 19-seater Twin Otters in its fleet, plus three eight-seater Britten Norman Islanders.
By the time of Britten's death in 1976, the mere fact of his homosexuality was no longer controversial.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
Between the immensities of Beethoven and Britten came an evening centered on one man: the Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer.
The work was commissioned by Aldeburgh Music as part of its year celebrating the birth of Britten in 1913.
Given all this, it's not surprising that so many critics have had such sharply mixed feelings about Britten's music.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
The school held a performance of Britten's famous War Requiem in March as part of the composer's centenary birthday celebrations.
The money will be spent by the Britten Pears Foundation (BPF), which is based at the composer's house in Aldeburgh.
To those who know and love Britten's emotionally direct, exquisitely well-crafted music, the reasons for its popularity need no explaining.
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
If you can't, there is a 1963 (remastered in 1990) recording available that stands as a testament to Britten's original vision.
WSJ: The Sounds of Sacrifice | Benjamin Britten | War Requiem | Masterpiece by Stuart Isacoff
Her Scallop for Benjamin Britten was installed on Aldeburgh beach in 2003.
Yet there are more sides to Benjamin Britten than random cruelties, some of which may have been fired by the lurking Pears.
Each time Britten falls asleep, he wakes up in the other life.
The tenor first collaborated with Britten in the late 1930s and the pair went on to make music together for nearly 40 years.
He was generous in his praise of his students and other composers (boundless when it comes to Vainberg and Britten) and tough on singers.
FORBES: Late-Night Reading Calls for Russian Composers, Not IPads
According to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the pilot of the twin-motored Britten Norman BN2 Islander plane, dating from 1968, was 72-year-old German Merchan.
Britten brings out the meaning of the words through instrumental coloration.
WSJ: The Sounds of Sacrifice | Benjamin Britten | War Requiem | Masterpiece by Stuart Isacoff
In addition, Britten was homosexual at a time when "gross indecency" between consenting adults was a criminal offense in England (it remained so until 1967).
WSJ: Benjamin Britten | Known but Not Loved | Sightings by Terry Teachout
As well as Britten, other famous names in the arts world to have studied at Gresham's include Bafta-winning actress Olivia Coleman and film director Stephen Frears.
This year's National Theatre highlights include a new, as yet untitled, Alan Bennett play about a fictional meeting between composer Benjamin Britten and poet WH Auden.
Auden and his poet-boyfriend, Chester Kallman, Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Jane and Paul Bowles, Oliver Smith, Marc Blitzstein, Richard Wright, and Gypsy Rose Lee.
Britten knew that Shostakovich and his Russian satellites, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter, dissented from Soviet policies and postures on the world stage that he supported.
Throughout his life and to this day, Britten's reputation has risen and fallen for reasons that have at least as much to do with his complex personality.
应用推荐