Benjamin Britten

Born on November 22, 1913 in Suffolk, England

Died on December 4, 1976

Nationality: English

Period/Style: Modern

About the composer:

Benjamin Britten was the youngest of four children.  His father was a dentist, and his mother was a musician.  Benjamin began writing music before he was six years old. From about 1935 until the beginning of World War II, he composed music for film and for theatre.  Just after the war, in 1946, he wrote one of his best-known works, “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” 

About the music:

Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (appr. 17 min)

This was written to accompany a film produced by the British government called Instruments of the Orchestra.  Britten borrows a theme written many years earlier by another English composer, Henry Purcell.  He then cleverly varies the theme to introduce each of the instruments in the orchestra.  He begins with the woodwinds, then the string instruments, the brass instruments, and finally the percussion.  All the instruments join together in a fugue before the final theme is heard again near the end of the piece.  For the original film there was a narrator, but this is often omitted in concert performances and recordings.

Suggested activities:

Find out what a ‘fugue’ is.

Name as many instruments as you can in each of the major sections of the orchestra: woodwinds, strings, brass, and percussion.