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.
Annie Walker (later Mrs Scarce); Benjamin Britten
by Boughtons
bromide print, 1914
NPG x15172
by Unknown photographer
snapshot print, January 1918
NPG x15174
by Unknown photographer
postcard print, 1919
NPG x15173
by Sarah Fanny Hockey
watercolour, circa 1920
NPG 5137
Benjamin Britten with his parents, sister Beth, Lizel Suter Schlotterbech and Winifred Rix
by Unknown photographer
snapshot print, circa 1920
NPG x15175
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1921
NPG x15176
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, September 1923
NPG x15178
Charlotte Elizabeth ('Beth') Welford (née Britten); Benjamin Britten
by Claremont Photo Stores
postcard print, circa 1930
NPG x15181
by Frank Arthur Swaine
bromide print, circa 1930
NPG x15185
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x1633
Benjamin Britten; Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x1634
by Benjamin Britten
snapshot print, December 1934
NPG x15186
by Benjamin Britten
snapshot print, December 1934
NPG x15187
by Enid Thelma Slater (née Mace)
postcard print, 1935-1936
NPG x15188
by Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley
snapshot print, 1936
NPG x15190
W.H. Auden; Sir William Menzies Coldstream; Benjamin Britten
by Unknown photographer
snapshot print, 1937
NPG x15191
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1938
NPG x1751
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1938
NPG x1752
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1938
NPG x1749
by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x10469
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley; Benjamin Britten
by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x10470
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley; Benjamin Britten
by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x10471
Benjamin Britten; Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley
by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x10472
by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1938
NPG x24302
by Fayer
bromide postcard print, early 1940s
NPG x15226
Benjamin Britten conducting the Suffolk (Long Island) Friends of Music Orchestra
by Unknown photographer
snapshot print, 1941
NPG x15196
by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1941
NPG x15197
by Lotte Jacobi
bromide print, 29 December 1941
NPG x15199
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print on white card mount, 1942
NPG x14036
by Kenneth Green
oil on canvas, 1943
NPG 5136
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
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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