Benjamin Britten
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Benjamin Britten
The famous Benjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913, by the way, was when Wilson became president. His birthplace was Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. Benjamin was the youngest of four. His father was a dentist, and his mother was an amateur singer. (She was his first exposure to music) He was like any other child, in the 1910’s, he liked sports, and liked school. The only difference, was that he was musically gifted. His cousin Elsie, convinced him , that he was born with musical qualities. But, he was still brought up as a normal child.
Ever since the age of five, he has been composing musical pieces. When Benjamin was seven years old , he started taking piano lessons with Ethel Astle, and when he was ten years old, he started taking viola lessons with Audrey Alston. It was when he heard Frank Bridge’s orchestral suite at Norwich Triennial Festival, that he was first introduced to Bridge’s music. Mrs. Alston arranged a meeting for Benjamin to meet Frank Bridge. After that meeting, he started taking lessons from Frank Bridge. Soon, Britten wrote many great pieces, that includes a symphony, many orchestral pieces, works for chamber ensemble, suites for solo piano, drafts for Masses, a symphonic poem Chaos and Cosmos and many , many songs.
When he was sixteen he won a scholarship to Royal College of Music, so he left Gresham School, Holt and went to RCL . He went there to study piano and composition by Harold Samuel and Arthur Benjamin. But he didn’t find the college very helpful.
In February of 1934, A Boy Was Born was broadcasted, and that gave him recognition as a musical composer. The following year, he started working with W.F. Auden. In 1936, he collaborated with Auden to make a song cycle, called Our Hunting Fathers Op. 8. In 1937 his sister caught influenza and got his mother infected also, weakened by the illness, she died from a heart attack. But more importantly, Britten was in a meeting with Peter Pears ,that same...
The famous Benjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913, by the way, was when Wilson became president. His birthplace was Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. Benjamin was the youngest of four. His father was a dentist, and his mother was an amateur singer. (She was his first exposure to music) He was like any other child, in the 1910’s, he liked sports, and liked school. The only difference, was that he was musically gifted. His cousin Elsie, convinced him , that he was born with musical qualities. But, he was still brought up as a normal child.
Ever since the age of five, he has been composing musical pieces. When Benjamin was seven years old , he started taking piano lessons with Ethel Astle, and when he was ten years old, he started taking viola lessons with Audrey Alston. It was when he heard Frank Bridge’s orchestral suite at Norwich Triennial Festival, that he was first introduced to Bridge’s music. Mrs. Alston arranged a meeting for Benjamin to meet Frank Bridge. After that meeting, he started taking lessons from Frank Bridge. Soon, Britten wrote many great pieces, that includes a symphony, many orchestral pieces, works for chamber ensemble, suites for solo piano, drafts for Masses, a symphonic poem Chaos and Cosmos and many , many songs.
When he was sixteen he won a scholarship to Royal College of Music, so he left Gresham School, Holt and went to RCL . He went there to study piano and composition by Harold Samuel and Arthur Benjamin. But he didn’t find the college very helpful.
In February of 1934, A Boy Was Born was broadcasted, and that gave him recognition as a musical composer. The following year, he started working with W.F. Auden. In 1936, he collaborated with Auden to make a song cycle, called Our Hunting Fathers Op. 8. In 1937 his sister caught influenza and got his mother infected also, weakened by the illness, she died from a heart attack. But more importantly, Britten was in a meeting with Peter Pears ,that same...