The Britten-Pears Story

A short history of the Aldeburgh Festival and the Britten-Pears legacy, made by Lippy films in 2004.

• Category

  Music

[aldeburghmusic]

We are sorry if anybody feels that such a point should have been mentioned. However, the purpose of this short film was to highlight their extraordinary musical legacy and not their private lives. 2013 is Britten’s Centenary year and there will certainly be reference to their relationship and the sexual politics of their era during our celebrations.

[bratschekind]

That's fine & I'm sure you don't care what I think, but looking for insults or slights where they clearly don't exist is a bit silly. The people at the Aldeburgh Festival have dedicated their lives to promoting Britten & I imagine they're pretty comfortable with his sexuality & I doubt they feel a need to protect (?) themselves from homophobes. Really what would they need to protect themselves from? He wrote fantastic music & I don't think anyone is bothered that he was gay. Have a great day

[mckavitt]

I now recognise the voice, it is that of John Evans, a colleague of Donald Mitchell's, a musicologist, a professor (in the US), & a fixture at Aldeburgh & the Britten-Pears Music Centre, Library...He writes & co-writes about Britten. A real Britten expert.

[Ricardomusicus]

If Britten had been straight and married it would have been a glaring error to fail to refer to "Britten and his wife Jane," or whomever. It would not have been done! That this kind of tip-toeing around the subject is happening still is ludicrous, not to mention then denying it!

[271250cl]

(Part 2!) It's impossible to understand much of BB's music without knowing about his sexuality. "Peter Grimes", "The Turn of the Screw" and "Death in Venice" were all, all sprang, in their different ways, from his deepest emotional and sexual preoccupations. Incidentally, this thing I find most hard to take about BB is how spiteful he was about Vaughan Williams! :o)

[271250cl]

Co-incidentally, I put together a short Youtube film recently about BB and, though my effort is a little longer that this (a little shy of 9 minutes) I did feel I had a duty to mention Britten's homosexuality and - even more importantly - his lifelong preoccupation with adolescent boys. To ignore these things, even in a very short item like this, invites the sort of accusations of dishonesty which this film has attracted. (Part 2 coming up!)

[marginallymental]

I had no idea he ws so committed to community, home and genius loci.....I just love his folk song arrangements! Thanks for this eye-opening film. There are precious few people who can endow humanity with more than what they took. Britten and Pears sound like two who succeeded.

[222Gregorius]

The fear of being inappropriate does not necessarily mean that you are homophobic. It means that you are protecting yourself from others who ARE homophobic. The insult is that anyone should have to be afraid of talking about it, gay or straight.

[bratschekind]

If a full length documentary about Britten didn't mention his personal life, I would find that strange. But a 6 minutes video? This video was made by the Aldeburgh Festival and to say that they left it out because it was a gay relationship and it's an insult to the gay community but you're not calling them homophobic? What are you saying? Btw, if's not exactly a secret that Britten way gay and I don't think anyone at the Aldeburgh Fest. has a problem with that or is trying to cover that up.

[222Gregorius]

I'm not trying to imply that the people from the Aldeburgh festival are homophobic for not mentioning Britten and Pear's relationship. I'm sure they're not. But I am implying that there seems to be a reluctance to mention these things for fear of seeming inappropriate. It's not like they would have needed to go into great detail about their relationship in order to convey that they were partners - one word.

[bratschekind]

"an insult to their memories and to the gay community." That's a bit melodramatic. It's a six minute video. It left out tons.

"If they were man and women it would have been mentioned."

Are you really suggesting the people who run the Aldeburgh Festival are homophobes? That's kind of silly. Lighten up. It's a nice video.