- Britten originally wrote this set of variations on a theme by Purcell for an educational film commissioned by the British Ministry of Education. The film was called The Instruments of the Orchestra, and was released in 1945.1
- The film’s narration was written by Montagu Slater, Britten’s librettist for Peter Grimes, and was read by the conductor Malcolm Sargent.
- Britten adapted his music for the film into a concert work entitled The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell, Op. 34. The spoken text for this version was by theatrical director (and Britten’s librettist for Albert Herring), Eric Crozier.2
- The concert version premiered in Liverpool on October 15, 1946, performed by the Liverpool Philharmonic and directed by Malcolm Sargent.
- The theme of the work is a Rondeau from Purcell’s suite of incidental music for the play Abdelazer, or The Moor’s Revenge by Aphra Behn.3
Sources
- Jennifer Doctor et al, “Britten, (Edward) Benjamin,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000046435.
- Ibid.
- Keith Anderson, liner notes to Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra et al, English Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Steuart Bedford, Naxos 8.557200, CD, 2006.
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