Britten on Music.(Book Review)

Britten on Music. Edited by Paul Kildea. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. [xv, 448 p. ISBN0-19-816714-8. $49.95.] Illustrations, indexes.

Britten on Music, the first published volume of Britten's writings, aims to be as complete an edition as current scholarship allows, including his writings published during his lifetime, drafts of unfinished writings, and speeches. Kildea includes some radio and newspaper interviews to "complete a historical narrative signposted by his forty years of prose writings and speeches" (pp. 5-6). Only interviews that illustrate aspects of Britten not found in his writings are included. Kildea adopts the term "essay" to refer to all pieces in the book regardless of format, including interviews. In spite of the inaccurate use of the word, which the author acknowledges, the term is useful.

Kildea divides the essays into five sections. The first four sections encompass Britten's 103 essays and selected interviews, and are prefaced by a quote from Britten himself to highlight the general tone of the specific period. Kildea presents the essays in chronological order "according to publication or transmission date" (p. 6) and the divisions mirroring the significant stages in Britten's life and music. While the division looks convenient (1936-45, 1946-55, 1956-65, 1966-76), Kildea explains that Britten's "life and public role would not be the same after the premiere of [Peter] Grimes in 1945; his trip to the Far East from late 1955 to early 1956 influenced his compositional aesthetic and restocked his dramaturgical armoury; and the final ten years or so of his life were marked by a concentration of energy on his expanding Aldeburgh Festival, and a misplaced conviction that he was losing touch with contemporary musical ideas" (p. 7). Each of these sections begins with an introduction that consists of a brief overview of Britten's life and circumstances, and a timeline of major events in Britten's life during the period being covered. These provide a useful context for the essays in the section. Kildea numbers the essays consecutively and refers to the essays by number where appropriate. The essay numbers and titles are included in the extensive and very useful table of contents, which allows readers to use the book as a reference tool. The fifth and final section contains introductory notes by Britten for his works, and for the compositions of others. Some include biographical summaries and commentaries on compositions while others only discuss the musical work. The writings in this final section are not included in the essay numbering scheme and are secondary to the essays in the first four sections.

The essays, which are as short as one page and as long as ten, encompass a wide range of topics and allow "those interested in Britten's music to trace its philosophical origins" (p. 8). In these writings, Britten discusses his music, performances (of his works and the works of others), programming (both on radio and in concerts), impressions from his travels, film music, politics and music, reflections upon his experiences, fellow composers and musicians, and the moral responsibilities of musicians, among other topics.

The essays of the first section contain more attacks and unfettered expression of opinion than his later writings as he was "unbridled by lasting fame and public expectations" at this point (p. 13). In this section, Britten comments on the BBC, its programming, London's reception of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, film music, England and the folk arts, the performance of works by Purcell and Mahler, Peter Grimes, and conscientious objectors to fighting in World War II. Three essays, the most covering a single topic in this section, deal with his experiences in America from 1940 through 1942 (essays 5, 6, and 9).

The ...