Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on Benjamin Britten, one of the great British composers. Addressing urgent questions of how an artist's sexual, cultural, and personal identity feeds into specific musical texts, this title examines most of Britten's operas as well as his role in the British cultural establishment of the mid-twentieth century.
Trade Review"Philip Brett changed the way we hear Britten's music, compelling us to listen anew for its sounding-out of political, sexual, and cultural meanings. Brett's richly detailed historical awareness, his supple and subtle theoretical mind, his sheer musicianship - these are qualities clear on every page of this book." - Philip Rupprecht, author of Britten's Musical Language"
Table of ContentsPreface George Haggerty Introduction Susan McClary 1. Britten and Grimes 2. "Grimes Is at His Exercise": Sex, Politics, and Violence in the Librettos of Peter Grimes 3. Grimes and Lucretia 4. Salvation at Sea: Britten's Billy Budd 5. Character and Caricature in Albert Herring 6. Britten's Bad Boys: Male Relations in The Turn of the Screw 7. Britten's Dream 8. Eros and Orientalism in Britten's Operas 9. Keeping the Straight Line Intact? Britten's Relation to Folksong, Purcell, and His English Predecessors 10. Pacifism, Political Action, and Artistic Endeavor 11. Auden's Britten 12. The Britten Era Afterword Jenny Doctor Appendix: Philip Brett's Britten Scholarship Works Cited Index
