Benjamin Britten

A shortened version of Purcell's Fairy Queen for concert performance devised by Peter Pears, with the words taken from an anonymous adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Edited and realized by Benj...

Waltz No.5 (from 'Five Waltzes'), composed by Benjamin Britten and arranged for piano solo in digital sheet music format.

A lively setting using the popular I Saw Three Ships text. The choral writing depicts the fresh bracing sonorities of bells.

Anthem for unaccompanied SATB choir from Britten's dramatic cantata The Company of Heaven.

The songs are tender, touching, beguilingly beautiful. John van Rhein, Chicago Tribune, 20 May 1983, Klavierauszug, Original für High Voice and Small Orchestra, Instrumentation: 2.1.2.bcl.2 - 4000 - p...

Curlew River - A Parable for Church Performance (Op. 71) is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten. The work is based on the Japanese Noh play Sumidagawa (Sumida River) of Juro Motomas...

Of all the parables in the New Testament none has had quite such a universal and ever-renewed appeal as that of the Prodigal Son. With its unforgettable climax of reward and rejoicing being lavished n...

A ballad for children's voices and (largely) percussion orchestra setting a long narrative poem by Bertolt Brecht, telling the tragic story of a band of orphaned children lost in the snowy wastes of w...

Scored for solo voice, unison chorus and piano, The Twelve Apostles was written for Peter Pears and the London Boy Singers. The text was adopted from The Ten Commandments as given in 'English Folk Son...

These Christmas carols have become contemporary classics. 'The serene Sweet was the Song' contrasts with a moving lament on the hardships of Christmas, 'A Wealdon Trio', and a memorable setting of Har...

Britten's setting of Edith Sitwell's poem 'Praise We Great Men', was left unfinished at his death. It was being written for Mstislav Rostrpovich to include in his first season with the National Sympho...

Britten’s last opera, Death In Venice , is based on the short story by Thomas Mann. It follows the inner turmoil of the ageing novelist Gustav von Aschenbach, who becomes infatuated by a boy he...

Diese Oper ist der letzte Teil von Let's Make an Opera, einem Unterhaltungsstück für junge Leute. Der erste Teil von Let's make an Opera hat die Form eines Schauspiels, das die Vorbereitungen und Prob...

These part-songs were the first of Britten's works to be published. In 1932 Britten showed the pieces to John Ireland during discussions about proofs and possible transpositions. First called Three S...

The Ride-By-Nights by Benjamin Britten for 2-part boys' or women's voices and Piano. From Three Two-part Songs.

Paul Bunyan is an American synthetic folklore figure whose 'legend' was actually created as an early advertising campaign on behalf of the lumber industry. This overture was actaully dropped from the...

Duration: 8 Minutes.

Britten wrote Irish Reel in 1936 as the title music for a documentary film entitled 'Around the Village Green'. It is a bravura piece, exhibiting all the energy and strong colours typical of the compo...

Britten wrote Irish Reel in 1936 as the title music for a documentary film entitled 'Around the Village Green'. It is a bravura piece, exhibiting all the energy and strong orchestral colours typical o...

These early songs were writt en during the composer's schooldays, whilst he was studying with Frank Bridge . But even at this tender age, Britten already had such accomplished works as Quatre Chansons...

Poems by Pushkin, with English & German translations