Benjamin Britten: A Time There Was...

[Grandamus]

Fantastic documentary. I remember viewing it in its entirety.

[rmutt4]

too bad LennyB. never had the stones to come out of the closet and do the next generation a small, brave favor...

[amatorynumber]

@rmutt4 he was pretty out for his times and his profession. Conductors HAD to be the most macho of men if they didn't want to be ridiculed by musicians, who at that time were mostly (and sadly) male. Mitropoulos was the only one semiout at the time, but then he was the epitomy of masculinity in person (apparently). Remember Bernstein left his wife and went to live with his lover in the seventies. That is to be pretty out for the times and the attention he drew. Just my opinion

[ocean59]

a 1 minute synopsis of the man who composed the music below, Benjamin Britten.

[rvaughanwilliams1988]

this is a great documentary ... wish someone would post the whole thing

[sstuddert]

@rvaughanwilliams1988 HINT HINT

[24foxstar]

Genius. Greatest dramatic composer of the 20th Century without a doubt. Peter Grimes, Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring, The Little Sweep, Turn of the Screw, Noye's Fludde. Genius.

[bopkick5]

@24foxstar

You forgot to mention his amazing "Missa Brevis"

[24foxstar]

@bopkick5

Yeah, it's great! But not a 'drama' if you see what I mean : - ). I has referring to his operas.

[bopkick5]

@24foxstar

Oh yeah- I see what you mean. Yep- absolutely correct :-)

Wow- that "Missa Brevis" is amazing

[pointreyes6]

I really dont think Britten is one of the greats. His music does not flow, you can hear the struggle in each composition of:

"what next"?

[bopkick5]

@pointreyes6

Check out his "Missa Brevis" and you'll change your mind then smarty-pants

[eeClaytonification]

the wonderful Bernstein.

I am told that in Russia, among other places, they have been admiring Britten for decades as a true composer.

but the english instead of building a statue for the man come out with a lame and filthy book about his sex life

which by all accounts was depressingly scant

no doubt the author is another one of these pathetic and unimaginative meanies

[shubus]

For several years I have thought about what Bernstein says here and I think what he has said is very well thought out. I have lived with Britten's music for over 30 years and have seen the darkest beauty he could create as well as the triumphant.

[luisortmul]

and darling, I wouldn't call the life of any upper class British man 'turbulent'

[gilhams]

A description of Britten as a member of the British Upper Classes doesn't really seem appropriate for a left wing, pacifist homosexual who rejected a Knighthood. Britten didn't fit in with the British establishment and nor did he want to.

[tom157a]

I really hate these catfights that always seem to go along with classical music vids on here but I'm going to disagree with both of you slightly. luis, Britten was not upper class, he was the son of a dentist, and the emotional repression you rightly refer to is more commonly associated with the Victorian values of the bourgeoise middle class. Gilhaus, I don't believe Britten was ever offered a knighthood, but he was ennobled as Lord Britten of Aldeburgh shortly before his death.

[gilhams]

Not wishing to reignite any sort of squabble here - but Britten did, very famously, turn down a Knighthood in 1968.

[ext409]

money doesn't buy happiness mate. depression knows no bounds of wealth.

[luisortmul]

But, in any case, my comment was made in fun... since I believe Bernstein was much more troubled by his macho self image than Britten ever was by his homosexuality...

[gilhams]

There really wouldn't be too many music scholars who would attribute the recurring theme in Britten's Operas - a doomed and solitary outcast - as merely coincidence.

[luisortmul]

Look mr clever... i am a bit tired about this now... yes, i do know all this, Britten was obsessed with the destruction of innocence (rather that what you said) and he chose opera libretti accordingly...

that does NOT mean that, beyond putting his musical genius at the service of certain themes, he had sinister undertones going on... ok????

[luisortmul]

And he was a bloody upper class brit!!! I said that in some kind of fun, but since we dont do fun here very much it seems... yes, he was different, yes he fought it in a certain way, but he was upper class stuff to the bones, emotionally repressed and very aware of his public persona... And I know upper class when i see it (and read about it) coz I am Spanish and have been to Cambridge... now, let us discuss something else, shall we? Or let's just have a laugh for a change... gosh

[JeeRant]

I don't see how Britten's music could be described as 'decorative, positive, and charming'...some of this instrumental music, maybe, but certainly not his operas.

[luisortmul]

fancy leornard bernstein saying someone else was 'at odds with the world'...

god, the world is a strange and ironic place.

[bratschekind]

I think Bernstein is probably alluding to the same things that made him (Bernstein) at odds to the world.... i.e. his sexual preference, politics, etc.

[luisortmul]

Exactly, that's what i meant... what a chutzpah!! :-)

[gilhams]

I would say that there is nothing audacious about Bernstein's comments - he is more than qualified to comment on what he hears in the music. The fact that they both had turbulent private lives probably makes it easier for Bernstein to empathise with Britten. There is no doubting the fact that there are dark, almost sinister, undertones to much of Britten's music. IMHO Bernstein's bizarre private life had a much less profound effect on his work.

[luisortmul]

I disagree with the statement that there is 'sinister undertones in Britten's work'... indeed, we are comparing someone of genius with another man who certainly had genius, but it was definitely not for composition (we are talking really high levels here, of course, Bernstein was an exceptional craftsman). Then, again, one was American, and the other was British... if you push me, one was Virgo and the other Scorpio...