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.
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
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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