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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.

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Benjamin Britten, by Benjamin Britten - NPG x15186

Benjamin Britten

by Benjamin Britten
snapshot print, December 1934
NPG x15186

Benjamin Britten, by Benjamin Britten - NPG x15187

Benjamin Britten

by Benjamin Britten
snapshot print, December 1934
NPG x15187

Benjamin Britten, by Enid Thelma Slater (née Mace) - NPG x15188

Benjamin Britten

by Enid Thelma Slater (née Mace)
postcard print, 1935-1936
NPG x15188

Benjamin Britten, by Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley - NPG x15190

Benjamin Britten

by Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley
snapshot print, 1936
NPG x15190

Benjamin Britten, by Howard Coster - NPG x10469

Benjamin Britten

by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x10469

Benjamin Britten, by Howard Coster - NPG x24302

Benjamin Britten

by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x24302

Benjamin Britten, by Lotte Jacobi - NPG x15199

Benjamin Britten

by Lotte Jacobi
bromide print, 29 December 1941
NPG x15199

Benjamin Britten, by Cecil Beaton - NPG x14036

Benjamin Britten

by Cecil Beaton
bromide print on white card mount, 1942
NPG x14036

Benjamin Britten, by Cecil Beaton - NPG x40034

Benjamin Britten

by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, 1942
NPG x40034

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