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Benjamin Britten and ‘The Rescue’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Lewis Foreman
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Extract

Since Benjamin Britten Died in 1976, attention has turned to performance of those of his works which were little-known in his lifetime. To my mind, this activity has been an unprecedented success, quite different from the barrel-scraping seen in the cases of certain other composers. Not only has there been added, in Paul Bunyan, a worthwhile stage work that will be widely performed, but the remarkably self-assured pieces of his teens which have now been heard, and in some cases recorded, have added music of real value to our experience. However of even greater interest, in my opinion, is the considerable quantity of incidental music that Britten wrote for films, plays, and radio productions: these are now the last source of substantial, unfamiliar scores by him.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 166 , September 1988 , pp. 28 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 The Dark Tower, last produced on BBC Radio 3 on 25/11/1973, and repeated on 3/3/1974.

2 The novel by T.H. White dramatized by Neville Teller (its third production), broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 26/12/1981.

3 Johnson Over Jordan: a modern morality play by J.B. Priestley, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 9/9/1985 and subsequently repeated on BBC Radio 3.

4 The Ascent of F6 adapted for broadcasting by Glyn Dcarman, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 17/6/1988.

5 The Suite extracted from The Sword in the Stone was first performed at the 1983 Aldeburgh Festival and was broadcast on 22/1/1984. A recording by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra is available in the USA on Opus One 100.

6 Argo 7” EP EAF63.

7 Men of Goodwill, published by Faber Music (1982)Google ScholarPubMed; recorded by the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Neville Marrincr EMI Angel DS-38049.

8 Mann, William, ‘The Incidental Music’, in Benjamin Britten: a Commentary on his works from a group of specialists, edited by Mitchell, Donald and Keller, Hans. (Rockliff, 1952), pp. 295–310).Google Scholar

9 Edward Sackvillc-West (1901–1965), writer, BBC producer and music critic.

10 For example, Armstrong Gibbs's Choral Symphony Odysseus written in 1939 but only performed in 1946 and revived in September 1987, is in four movements entitled ‘Escape from Calypso’, ‘Circe’, ‘Cyclops’, and ‘The Return’. It is unlikely that Britten could have been aware of it.

11 Mann, , op.cit., p. 303 Google Scholar.

12 Broadcast talk, BBC Radio 3,4/4/1980.

13 The BBC Written Archives Centre is at Caversham, near Reading. For the historian of British music in particular, but also music in general between the late 1920's and the 1950's, it is a most important source. Preservation of composers' letters and BBC internal working papers is very extensive. It is available to researchers.

14 Britten had recently called on Hely-Hutchinson at the BBC and played over some new works of his. BBC internal paper on file at BBC Written Archives Centre: BBC WAC Britten: Composer File la 1933–44.

15 Britten file, ibid.

16 Sackville-Wcst, Edward, ‘Preamble’ in his The Rescue, (Secker and Warbug, 1945) pp.7–16 Google Scholar.

17 BBC WAC File R19/1026 ‘The Rescue’.

18 The Rescue file.

19 Farjeon's, Herbert: ‘Broadcast Drama The Rescue’, The Listener 2/12/1943, p. 648 Google Scholar.

20 The music for the new production was recorded on 15 and 16 October 1986, the play itself 1–5 February 1988.

21 Sackville-West, op.cit, p. 8 Google Scholar.

22 The excellent Catalogue Raisonné of Britten's incidental music in A Britten Source Book compiled by Evans, John, Reed, Philip, and Wilson, Paul (The Britten Estate Ltd., 1987) pp. 129–165 Google Scholar, draws our attention to three scores in particular to which we must hope the BBC will turn their attention next: King Arthur (1917); The Company of Heaven (1937); and The World of the Spirit (1938). The latter was referred to by Britten as an ‘Oratorio’.

23 The 1987 exhibition at the Barbican in London called ‘A Paradise Lost’ explored the neo-romantic imagination in Britain 1935–55 (catalogue: Lund Humphries, 1987) but almost completely neglected to discuss music. The parallel with the British composers of the period is very strong.