This long-awaited third volume of composer Benjamin Britten's remarkable
letters covers the years 1946-51. Fresh from the astonishing success of
his great first opera, Peter Grimes, Britten was vital to the post-war
rebuilding of the arts in Great Britain with his visionary work as a
composer, conductor, and performer. With his partner, the celebrated
tenor Peter Pears, he founded the Aldeburgh Festival, which eventually
grew into the international festival that it is today, and the English
Opera Group. He also toured widely in Europe and the United States as a
pianist and conductor. During this time he wrote many of his best-known
works, including the operas Billy Budd, Albert Herring, and The Rape
of Lucretia.
Britten's correspondents include literary figures such as Christopher
Isherwood, Edith Sitwell, E. M. Forster (the librettist for Billy
Budd), and Edward Sackville-West, as well as musical colleagues from
around the world including Ernest Ansermet, Francis Poulenc, Aaron
Copland, and Igor Stravinsky.
This volume of selected letters represents one of the richest and most
innovative periods of the composer's creative life. His daily concerns
and the unique era in which he lived are vividly evoked by the
comprehensive and scholarly annotations, which offer a wide range of
detailed and fascinating information. Donald Mitchell contributes a
superb introduction.
