Benjamin Britten ranks among the most universal composers in music history. His oeuvre is characterized by a deep humanitarianism, while at the same time testifying to his fascination for the ambivalent. Norbert Abels presents the first comprehensive guide to Britten's life and work in German. Based on his many years as a renowned opera dramaturg, he looks especially at all facets of the musical theatre works by the 'Orpheus britannicus' but also at his songs, his sacred works, the compositions for children, his music for film, theatre and radio, as well as the chamber music. This profound overview contains the most recent biographical research as well as classifications in the history of ideas. Norbert Abels, born in 1953, has been head dramaturg of the Opera of Frankfurt since 1997 and guest dramaturg at numerous international theatres since 1985. He studied literary studies and musicology, philosophy and Jewish studies at the Frankfurt Goethe University. He is professor at the Folkwang Universität der Künste as well as lecturer of world literature at the Mediacampus Frankfurt and of cultural and theatre history at the Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst and at the Frankfurt Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. Among his publications are numerous books on literary, theatre and musical theatre history, including Ohrentheater (2009) and Notenlese (2016). In addition, he has published books on Britten, Büchner, Schnitzler, Henze, Verdi, Wagner, and Werfel as well as studies on German-Jewish poetry. Since 2006, Norbert Abels has been a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste (German Academy of Performing Arts).
Contents
Vorwort
Ostinato des Meeres: Kindheit in Lowestoft
Familie
Etüden und Variationen
Der Mentor: Frank Bridge -Internatszeit: fremd und klein
Am Royal College of Music
Die ersten Aufführungen
„Das Einzige, was mich interessierte“
„Schönheit ist Wahrheit“: Musik für Film, Theater und Radio: Dokumentarfilme
„Ein erstaunlicher Mann“: W. H. Auden
Masken des Eros
Erste Bühnenkompositionen
The Company of Heaven
„Europa liegt im Dunkeln“
Exil in den USA: Der „Raum der Zukunft“?
Paul Bunyan: Ein Riesenwerk
Sinfonia da Requiem
What harbour shelters peace?: Rückkehr nach England
Die Lager
Peter Grimes und The Rape of Lucretia
Aldeburgh oder "Immer bekomme ich Heimweh...": Die Landschaft
Das Aldeburgh Festival und die Britten-Pears Foundation
Die Lieder: Eine lange Passion
Die Folksongs
Our Hunting Fathers
On This Island
Cabaret Songs
Les Illuminations
Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo
Serenade für Tenor, Horn und Streicher
The Holy Sonnets of John Donne
Winter Words
Songs from the Chinese
Nocturne
Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente
Songs and Proverbs of William Blake
The Poet’s Echo
Who are these Children?
Die Opern: Peter Grimes: Die Bodenlosigkeit des Outcast
The Rape of Lucretia: Erlebte Selbstauslöschung
Albert Herring: Der Tugendheld als Muttersöhnchen
Billy Budd: Ein Segel im Sturm
Gloriana: Ein Staatswerk als Kammerspiel
The Turn of the Screw: Die entzauberte Kinderwelt
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Im erotischen Dickicht
Owen Wingrave: Ein pazifistisches Manifest
Death in Venice: Liebe, rettungslos
Das geistliche Werk: Der Komponist in der Gemeinde
Saint Nicolas
War Requiem
Die Kirchenparabeln
Curlew River
The Burning Fiery Furnace
The Prodigal Son
Das Werk für Kinder: Die Sphäre der Kinderzeit
The Little Sweep
Noye’s Fludde
The Golden Vanity
Children’s Crusade
Die Kammermusik: Von der Phantasy bis zum Nocturnal