Benjamin Britten in 1968

This list of compositions includes all the published works by English composer Benjamin Britten with opus number.

By genre

Operas

Paul Bunyan, Op. 17:

  • Operetta in two acts, 114'.
  • Libretto by W. H. Auden, after the American folktale.
  • Premiered on 5 May 1941 at Brander Matthews Hall, New York.
  • Published by Faber Music.

Peter Grimes, Op. 33:

The Rape of Lucretia, Op. 37:

Albert Herring, Op. 39:

  • Comic opera in three acts, 137'.
  • Libretto by Eric Crozier, loosely after the short story Le Rosier de Mme. Husson by Guy de Maupassant.
  • Premiered on 20 June 1947 at Glyndebourne.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

The Beggar's Opera, Op. 43:

Let's Make an Opera (The Little Sweep), Op. 45:

  • An Entertainment for Young People, 130'.
  • Libretto by Eric Crozier.
  • Premiered on 14 June 1949 at Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Festival.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Billy Budd, Op. 50:

  • Opera in four acts, 162'.
  • Libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, after the novella by Herman Melville.
  • Premiered on 1 December 1951 at the Royal Opera House, London.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Billy Budd (revised):

  • Opera in two acts, 158'.
  • Premiered on 9 January 1964 at the Royal Opera House, London.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Gloriana, Op. 53:

  • Opera in three acts, 148'.
  • Libretto by William Plomer, after Elizabeth and Essex by Lytton Strachey.
  • Premiered on 8 June 1953 at the Royal Opera House, London.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

The Turn of the Screw, Op. 54:

Noye's Fludde, Op. 59:

  • Music-theatre for community performance, 50'.
  • Libretto after the Chester Miracle Play as published in English Miracle Plays, Moralities and Interludes
  • Premiered on 18 June 1958 at Orford Church, Aldeburgh Festival.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64:

  • Opera in three acts, 144'.
  • Libretto by the composer and Peter Pears, after the play by Shakespeare.
  • Premiered on 11 June 1960 at Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Festival.
  • Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Owen Wingrave, Op. 85:

  • Opera for television in two acts, 106'.
  • Libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after the short story by Henry James.
  • Premiered on 16 May 1971 in a BBC2 TV broadcast. First staged on 10 May 1973 at the Royal Opera House, London.
  • Published by Faber Music.

Death in Venice, Op. 88:

Church parables

Ballets

Orchestral

Concertante

  • Rondo Concertante for piano and strings (1930)
  • Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (1932). "Instrumentation...virtually 100% Britten" (Matthews, Erato sleeve note, 1999 – Colin Matthews realised the orchestration).
  • Piano Concerto (1938; rev. 1945, the original third movement – Recitative and Aria – replaced by an Impromptu)
  • Violin Concerto (1939; rev. 1958)
  • Young Apollo for piano, string quartet and string orchestra (1939)
  • Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra (1940; rev. 1954)
  • Scottish Ballad for two pianos and orchestra (1941)
  • Clarinet Concerto (incomplete: 1st movement only, 1942/3, orch. by Colin Matthews, who later added two further movements from 1940s Britten sketches, incl. Sonata for Orchestra; resulting work, Movements for a Clarinet Concerto, first published 2008)
  • In memoriam Dennis Brain (c. 1958), unfinished sketch for four horns and orchestra.
  • Cello Symphony (1963)

Vocal/choral orchestral

  • Quatre Chansons Françaises for soprano and orchestra (1928)
  • Two Psalms for chorus and orchestra (1931)
  • Our Hunting Fathers for soprano or tenor and orchestra (words by W. H. Auden and others; 1936)
  • The Company of Heaven for speakers, soloists, chorus and orchestra (BBC, September 1937, not performed again until 1989)
  • The World of the Spirit for speakers, SATB soloists, chorus and orchestra (BBC, May 1938)
  • Ballad of Heroes, Op. 14, for tenor or soprano, chorus and orchestra (words by W. H. Auden and Randall Swingler; 1939)
  • Les Illuminations for soprano or tenor and strings (words by Arthur Rimbaud) (1939; three further songs, not included in the cycle, also exist — another setting also called 'Phrase', and 'Aube' and 'A une raison'; they have been orchestrated by Colin Matthews; there also exists a sketch for a further Rimbaud setting)
  • Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943)
  • The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard for male voice choir and piano (1943)
  • Saint Nicolas for tenor soloist, children's chorus, chorus, and orchestra (1948)
  • Spring Symphony for soprano, contralto, and tenor soloists, mixed chorus, boys' choir and orchestra (1949)
  • Nocturne for tenor, seven obbligato instruments and strings (1958)
  • Cantata academica for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1959)
  • War Requiem for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, chamber ensemble, boys' chorus, mixed chorus, and orchestra (1961)
  • Cantata misericordium for tenor and baritone soloists, small chorus, string quartet, string orchestra, piano, harp, timpani (1963)
  • Phaedra for mezzo-soprano, cello, harpsichord, percussion, and string orchestra (words by Robert Lowell; after Jean Racine's Phèdre; 1975)
  • Praise we great men for soloists, chorus and orchestra (words by Edith Sitwell; 1976. Completed by Colin Matthews, 1985)
  • Welcome Ode for young people's voices and orchestra (1976)
  • The Rescue of Penelope for voices and orchestra

Vocal

Choral

Chamber/instrumental

Solo piano

  • Five Waltzes, for piano (1923–25, rev. 1969)
  • Three Character Pieces, for piano (1930)
  • Twelve variations on a theme, for piano (1930)
  • Holiday Diary for piano (1934)
  • Sonatina romantica for piano (rejected by the composer; 1940)
  • Night-Piece (Notturno) for piano (written for Leeds International Pianoforte Competition; 1963)
  • Variations for piano (1965)

Two pianos

  • Two Lullabies for two pianos (1936)
  • Introduction and Rondo alla burlesca for two pianos (1940)
  • Mazurka elegiaca for two pianos (written as part of the collaborative album Homage to Paderewski; 1941)

Organ

String quartet

Violin and piano

  • Suite for Violin and Piano (1935)
  • Reveille, Concert Study (1937, published 1983)

Viola and piano

  • Reflection for viola and piano (1930)
  • Lachrymae for viola and piano, after "If my complaints could passions move" by John Dowland; for William Primrose; 1950)
  • There is a willow grows aslant a brook (1932), an arrangement of the orchestral poem by Frank Bridge. The title is taken from Shakespeare, and the arrangement by Britten is dedicated to Bridge.

Violin, viola and piano

  • Two Pieces (1929; first performance 2003)[5]

Solo viola

  • Etude (1929)
  • Elegy (1930)

Cello and piano

Solo cello

Oboe and piano

  • Two Insect Pieces for oboe and piano (1935)
  • Temporal Variations for oboe and piano (1936)

Oboe and strings

Solo oboe

Flute, violin and piano 4-hands

  • Gemini Variations for flute, violin, and piano four hands (1965)

Solo timpani

  • Timpani Piece for Jimmy, timpani solo (1955) for James Blades

Three trumpets

Guitar

Harp

  • Suite for Solo Harp (1969)

Film & drama music

By opus number

Notes

  1. An adaptation of the T. H. White novel The Sword In The Stone. A single surviving 25-minute episode Wart and the Hawks, is available to stream.[6]

References

  1. "Tit for tat". LiederNet. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. "Tit for Tat". brittensongs.org. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  3. "Tit for Tat". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. "Benjamin Britten – Fish in the Unruffled Lakes". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  5. Anderson, Martin (October 2006). "London, St. John's Smith Square: Britten and David Matthews premières". Tempo. 57 (226): 69. doi:10.1017/S0040298203240365. S2CID 145557734.
  6. "The Sword in the Stone, Wart and the Hawks". BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  7. Oliver 1996, p. 215.

Sources

  • Diane McVeagh, ed. (1986). English Masters. New Grove Composer Biography. Grove Publications. ISBN 0-333-40241-3.
  • Oliver, Michael (1996). Benjamin Britten. Phaidon 20th Century Composers. Phaidon. ISBN 0714832774.
  • Britten Thematic Catalogue
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