The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten

The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten is a comprehensive guide to the composer's work, aimed both at the non-specialist and music student. It sheds light on both the composer's stylistic and personal development, offering new interpretations of his operatic works and discussing his characteristic working methods. Topics treated here in detail for the first time include Britten's work in the cinema in the 1930s, his lifelong pacifism and his strong interest in the music of the Far East; other chapters include reassessments of his relationship with W. H. Auden and his attitude towards childhood, comprehensive analyses of major works and a concise history of the Aldeburgh Festival. A distinguished team of contributors include some who worked with the composer during his lifetime, as well as leading representatives of the younger generation of Britten scholars on both sides of the Atlantic.

ISBN 052157384X   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780521573849 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 740 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series editor Cross, Jonathan, Cross, Jonathan, Cross, Jonathan Format Hardback   Series title Cambridge Companions to Music Publication date 13 Jun 1999   Height (mm) 247 Library of Congress ML410.B853 C36 1999   Width (mm) 174 DEWEY 780.92   Spine width (mm) 23 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level General, Professional / Scholarly, Tertiary education Pages 368

		List of plates
		Notes on contributors
		Acknowledgements
		List of abbreviations
		Chronology
		Introduction by Mervyn Cooke		1
Pt. 1		Apprenticeship
1		Juvenilia (1922-1932) by Christopher Mark		11
2		Britten, Auden and 'otherness' by Paul Kildea		36
3		Britten in the cinema: Coal Face by Philip Reed		54
Pt. 2		The operas
4		'He descended into Hell': Peter Grimes, Ellen Orford and salvation denied by Stephen Arthur Allen		81
5		The chamber operas by Arnold Whittall		95
6		Gloriana: Britten's 'slighted child' by Antonia Malloy-Chirgwin		113
7		Britten and Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream by Mervyn Cooke		129
8		Eros in life and death: Billy Budd and Death in Venice by Clifford Hindley		147
Pt. 3		Perspectives
9		Distant horizons: from Pagodaland to the Church Parables by Mervyn Cooke		167
10		Violent climates by Donald Mitchell		188
11		Britten as symphonist by Arved Ashby		217
12		The concertos and early orchestral scores: aspects of style and aesthetic by Eric Roseberry		233
13		The chamber music by Philip Rupprecht		245
14		Music for voices by Ralph Woodward		260
Pt. 4		The composer in the community
		More...

' ... the serious student will be richly stimulated.' BBC Music Magazine 'Essential reading, then, for Britten students, containing much that will be of interest to the composers' wide and ever-widening circle of admirers.' Classical Music

 Be the first to write a customer review