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.
by Enid Thelma Slater (née Mace)
bromide print, 1944
NPG x15200
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1944
NPG x15309
Unknown man; Francis Poulenc; Benjamin Britten
by Felix H. Man
bromide print, 1945
NPG x76594
by Angus McBean
cream-toned bromide print, 1945
NPG x15202
by Angus McBean
cream-toned bromide print, 1945
NPG x15203
Ernest Ansermet; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1946
NPG x15206
Benjamin Britten; Eric John Crozier
by Maria Austria (Marie Karoline Oestreicher)
bromide print, 1946
NPG x15207
John Piper; Sir Frederick Ashton; Benjamin Britten and Eric John Crozier
by Edward Mandinian
bromide contact print, 1947
NPG x15211
Members of the English Opera Group in Glyndebourne for the original production of 'Albert Herring'
possibly by Edward Mandinian
bromide print, 1947
NPG x15216
Benjamin Britten and Sir Frederick Ashton
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1947
NPG x15217
Sir Frederick Ashton, Eric John Crozier, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1947
NPG x131141
Eric John Crozier; Benjamin Britten
by Edward Mandinian
contact print, 1947
NPG x15208
Eric John Crozier; Benjamin Britten
by Edward Mandinian
contact print, 1947
NPG x15209
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1947
NPG x15218
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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Related pages
- Bill Brandt: Portraits 1982
- Photographic holdings - print and negative collections
- Only Connect
- Only Connect - Benjamin Britten <> Imogen Holst
- Only Connect - Benjamin Britten <> Yehudi Menuhin
- Only Connect - Yehudi Menuhin <> Benjamin Britten
- Only Connect - Benjamin Britten <> Eric Fenby
- Only Connect - installation video
- Picturing friendship
- Love Stories
- Love stories: art, passion and tragedy