Sinfonietta (Britten)

Benjamin Britten's Sinfonietta was composed in 1932, at the age of 18, while he was a student at the Royal College of Music. The sinfonietta was first performed in 1933 at The Ballet Club, London conducted by Iris Lemare.[1] It was published as his Op. 1 and dedicated to his teacher Frank Bridge.

Instrumentation

The work was originally scored for five winds and five strings: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass. In February 1936, Britten revised the score for a small chamber orchestra with two horns and a small string section, which was only performed once during his lifetime. This version is available on hire from Boosey and Hawkes.[2]

Movements

A typical performance takes about 15 minutes. The movements are headed:

The first movement is in sonata form. The writer, publisher and friend of Britten's Erwin Stein suggested that the work as a whole is modelled on the Chamber Symphony No. 1 of 1906 by Arnold Schoenberg.[3][4][5]

In 1937, before Britten departed for America, his friend W. H. Auden inscribed his poem "It's Farewell to the Drawing-room's Civilised Cry" on the fly-leaf of a miniature score of the Sinfonietta. Britten was touched by the gesture.[6]

References

Notes
  1. ^ Benjamin Britten: A Catalogue of the Published Works, 1999, p.15.
  2. ^ "Benjamin Britten - Sinfonietta". www.boosey.com. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  3. ^ Carpenter 1992, pp. 43, 74
  4. ^ Evans 1979, pp. 15–21
  5. ^ Lamoreaux 2005
  6. ^ Carpenter 1992, p. 90
Sources

Official recording by BBC Symphony Orchestra (1967) and repertoire notes from Britten's publisher, Boosey and Hawkes [1]

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