Benjamin Britten
(1913-1976), Composer(Edward) Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten
Sitter in 120 portraits
Artist of 5 portraits
Born in Lowestoft, Britten was taught by Frank Bridge and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1930. Britten emigrated to the USA in 1939 with his friend Peter Pears (who went on to become his partner) returning in 1942. Peter Grimes, the first of Britten's ten operas, was written for Pears, designed by Kenneth Green for the reopening of Sadler's Wells in 1945. Billy Budd (1951) was commissioned for the Festival of Britain and the War Requiem (1962) for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral. Lifelong partners, they started the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and in 1972 founded the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies.
Eric John Crozier; Benjamin Britten; Sir (William) Tyrone Guthrie
by Maria Austria (Marie Karoline Oestreicher)
bromide print, 1948
NPG x15219
Benjamin Britten with the children of the original cast of 'Lets Make an Opera'
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1949
NPG x15220
E.M. Forster; Benjamin Britten
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1949
NPG x15222
Benjamin Britten; Ronald Duncan; Peter Pears
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1950
NPG x15221
by Felicitas
postcard print, 1950s
NPG x15225
E.M. Forster; Benjamin Britten; Eric John Crozier
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1950
NPG x15223
Peter Pears; Kathleen Ferrier; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1952
NPG x15229
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans; Benjamin Britten
by Keystone Press Agency Ltd
bromide press print, 1953
NPG x139669
Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, John Piper and others in Venice
by Erich Auerbach
bromide print, 1 September 1954
NPG x15232
Benjamin Britten; Julius Katchen
by Fox Photos Ltd
bromide print, 1954
NPG x15230
by Unknown photographer
postcard print, December 1955
NPG x15233
Peter Pears; Francis Poulenc; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1955
NPG x15234
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, January 1956
NPG x196233
Yehudi Menuhin and (Edward) Benjamin Britten
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1958
NPG x15235
Yehudi Menuhin and (Edward) Benjamin Britten
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1958
NPG x15236
Benjamin Britten; André Ravasio
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1958
NPG x15238
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett; Benjamin Britten
by Erich Auerbach
bromide print, 1960
NPG x15239
by Lotte Meitner-Graf
gelatin silver print, circa 1960
NPG x15241
by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman)
bromide print, 1960s
NPG x15243
Phillida Gili (née Stone); Benjamin Britten
by Janet Stone
bromide print, 1960s
NPG x23328
Benjamin Britten with Peter Pears, Galina Vishnevskaya, Mstislav Rostropovich and Marion Stein
by E.I. Iavno
bromide print, 1963
NPG x15245
Benjamin Britten and other musicians
by E.I. Iavno
bromide print, March 1963
NPG x15246
Benjamin Britten; Peter Pears; William Bundy
by Michael Peto
modern bromide print from original negative, 1963
NPG x138055
Mstislav Rostropovich; Benjamin Britten
possibly by Maria Donata ('Marion') (née Stein), Countess of Harewood (later Mrs Jeremy Thorpe)
snapshot print, June 1964
NPG x15244
Mstislav Rostropovich; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1964
NPG x15247
Imogen Clare Holst; Peter Pears; Benjamin Britten
by (Harald Emil) Axel Poignant
bromide print, 1964
NPG x15250
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1964
NPG x15251
by Erich Auerbach
bromide press print, 1964
NPG x184264
Mstislav Rostropovich; Peter Pears; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1965
NPG x15252
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter; Benjamin Britten; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
by Michael Peto
modern bromide print from original negative, June 1965
NPG x138054
John Mordler; Gordon Parry (hidden), John Culshaw; Benjamin Britten; Robert Tear; John Shirley-Quirk
by Richard Adeney
bromide print, 1967
NPG x15254
by Clive Strutt
bromide print, 1967
NPG x15256
Benjamin Britten with the Wandsworth School choir at St Paul's Cathedral
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1969
NPG x15257
printed by Decca Records
colour transparency, 1970
NPG x15258
by BBC
bromide press print, 13 November 1971
NPG x184263
by Victor Parker
bromide print, 1974
NPG x15260
by Bertl Sachsel, later Bertl Gaye
bromide print, 24 September 1976
NPG x15266
by East Anglian Daily Times
bromide print, 20 May 1976
NPG x15263
Benjamin Britten; Donald Charles Peter Mitchell
by Nigel Luckhurst
colour print, 12 June 1976
NPG x15269
Frank Bridge; Benjamin Britten; Ethel Bridge
by Unknown photographer
snapshot print
NPG x15184
Benjamin Britten with Rowland Jones, Nancy Evans, Lord Harewood, Michael Langdon and Joan Cross
by Western Morning News
bromide print
NPG x15231
Related People
- Barbara Britten (sister)
- Robert ('Bobby') Britten (brother)
- Edith Rhoda Britten (née Hockey) (mother)
- Robert Victor Britten (father)
- Sarah Fanny Hockey (aunt)
- Charlotte Elizabeth ('Beth') Welford (née Britten) (sister)
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