Rethinking Brittenoffers a fresh portrait of one of the most widely performed composers of the 20th century. In twelve essays, a diverse group of contributors--both established authorities and leading younger voices--explore a significant portion of Benjamin Britten's extensive oeuvre across a range of genres, including opera, song cycle, and concert music. Well informed by earlier writings on the composer's professional career and private life,Rethinking Brittenalso uncovers many fresh lines of inquiry, from the Lord Chamberlain's last-minute censorship of the Rape of Lucretia libretto to psychoanalytic understandings of Britten's staging of gender roles; from the composer's delight in schoolboy humor to his operatic revival of Purcellian dance rhythms; from his creative responses to Cold-War-era internationalism to his dealings with BBC Television. Each essay blends awareness of overarching contexts with insights into particular expressive achievements. Balancing biographical, archival, and analytic commentary with cultural and historical criticism,Rethinking Brittenbroadens the interpretive context surrounding all phases of Britten's career and is essential reading for scholars and fans alike.
Contents Contributors Introduction: Britten's Music and its Audiences Philip Rupprecht I Public and Private 1 On Ambiguity in Britten Paul Kildea 2 O Hurry to the F?ted Spot of your Deliberate Fall : Death in Britten, 1936-1940 Stephen Arthur Allen 3 Love Knots: Britten, Pears, and the Sonnet Lloyd Whitesell II Opera 4 Britten, Grimes, and the Tuneful Air Arved Ashby 5 Post-War Women in Britten J.P.E. Harper-Scott 6 Be Flat or Be Natural? Pitch Symbolism in Britten's Operas Mervyn Cooke III Post-War Encounters 7 Britten and the Avant-Garde in the 1950s Philip Rupprecht 8 Curlew River and Cultural Encounter Heather Wiebe 9 Britten's Rhetoric of Resistance: the Works forlƒÁ
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