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 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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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