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An American Overture
An American Overture (originally titled Occasional Overture), Op. 27 is an orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten. It was composed in 1941, while Britten and his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, lived in the United States. Personal difficulties, global events, and the desire to earn more money goaded Britten to leave England and pursue a career in the United States.
Britten began to compose An American Overture while he and Pears were living at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California. The work had resulted from a proposal initiated in August 1941, by the conductor Artur Rodziński for a short orchestral work he intended to conduct in concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in October and November of that year respectively. Britten completed the work on October 16, during a guest stay at the home of Elizabeth Mayer in Amityville, New York. For reasons undetermined, Rodziński never conducted An American Overture, possibly because it was never delivered to him. Britten soon became critical of the work and entered a period of creative crisis, which was further worsened by the poor reception to his operetta Paul Bunyan, difficulties with the American Federation of Musicians, and his unreciprocated attraction to the young son of a hardware store owner in Amityville. Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, but left behind the score to An American Overture.
After being acquired by a musical rental agency, the score was deposited in the New York Public Library in the mid-1950s. A staff archivist discovered it and contacted Britten about it in 1972, whereupon the composer replied that he did not recall the work. After indicating that he preferred to have the score destroyed, he allowed permission for it to be available for private viewing by library patrons, but demanded that it never be published. After Britten's death, it was published by Faber Music. Its world premiere took place on November 8, 1983, played by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle.
Britten originally named the work Occasional Overture. He reused the title in 1946, for an unrelated orchestral work commissioned to inaugurate the BBC Third Programme. In order to distinguish them from each other, the earlier of the two was retitled An American Overture upon publication. Its designation as "Op. 27" was reused by Benjamin Britten for his Hymn to St. Cecilia composed in 1942.
By the late 1930s, Britten had attained what his biographer Humphrey Carpenter later described as "a remarkable eminence" in English music. All of his major compositions, with the exception of Our Hunting Fathers, were widely performed and discussed. Steady demand for Britten's work from film, radio, and the theatre, as well as the support of Ralph Hawkes, the co-founder of the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, ensured the composer a secure income. "In general", Carpenter said, "[Britten] enjoyed an esteem that must have been the envy of every other composer in the country".
Nonetheless, personal and external matters motivated Britten to leave England and pursue his career in the United States. He later explained to the American composer Aaron Copland that "a thousand reasons—mostly 'problems'" goaded his decision. The tenor Peter Pears, Britten's life partner, told Tony Palmer in 1980 that the composer had become impatient with the pace of his career development in England. An offer from Paramount Studios in early 1939 to score an ultimately unrealized film based on the Knights of the Round Table, with Lewis Milestone as director, alerted the composer to the possibility of becoming wealthy in the American film industry. American music, in particular the works of Copland, was a further enticement to emigration. Another factor was Britten's desire to escape the complications that resulted from his romantic relationships with Wulff Scherchen and Lennox Berkeley. Britten had also begun to live together with Pears. During this period their relationship was platonic; it soon developed into a lifelong romantic relationship. The increasing threat of war in Europe and their shared pacificism also contributed to their desire to leave England. At the time, Britten recalled in a 1960 interview, it seemed that the future of his career would be in the United States. "[I] felt Europe was more or less finished", he said.
On April 29, 1939, Britten and Pears embarked on the RMS Ausonia and sailed to North America. After brief stays in Canada, Michigan, and New York, they finally settled temporarily in mid-1941 at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California.
In August 1941, Hawkes sent Britten a brief proposal to compose an overture for the Cleveland Orchestra and its music director Artur Rodziński. He provided more detail in a subsequent letter to the composer dated August 18. Rodziński, Hawkes explained to Britten, was very pleased to learn that the composer was planning a five or six minute overture. However, he wanted to have it ready by the second week of November, when he was scheduled to conduct concerts with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. A further letter dated September 16, urged Britten to stop work on the Scottish Ballad he was composing for Bartlett and Robertson in order to concentrate on the overture. Hans Heinsheimer, an agent for Boosey & Hawkes, informed the composer in a telegram dated September 18, that Rodziński now expected to have the work ready by early October, so he could first conduct it in Cleveland that month, then in New York City in November.
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An American Overture
An American Overture (originally titled Occasional Overture), Op. 27 is an orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten. It was composed in 1941, while Britten and his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, lived in the United States. Personal difficulties, global events, and the desire to earn more money goaded Britten to leave England and pursue a career in the United States.
Britten began to compose An American Overture while he and Pears were living at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California. The work had resulted from a proposal initiated in August 1941, by the conductor Artur Rodziński for a short orchestral work he intended to conduct in concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in October and November of that year respectively. Britten completed the work on October 16, during a guest stay at the home of Elizabeth Mayer in Amityville, New York. For reasons undetermined, Rodziński never conducted An American Overture, possibly because it was never delivered to him. Britten soon became critical of the work and entered a period of creative crisis, which was further worsened by the poor reception to his operetta Paul Bunyan, difficulties with the American Federation of Musicians, and his unreciprocated attraction to the young son of a hardware store owner in Amityville. Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, but left behind the score to An American Overture.
After being acquired by a musical rental agency, the score was deposited in the New York Public Library in the mid-1950s. A staff archivist discovered it and contacted Britten about it in 1972, whereupon the composer replied that he did not recall the work. After indicating that he preferred to have the score destroyed, he allowed permission for it to be available for private viewing by library patrons, but demanded that it never be published. After Britten's death, it was published by Faber Music. Its world premiere took place on November 8, 1983, played by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle.
Britten originally named the work Occasional Overture. He reused the title in 1946, for an unrelated orchestral work commissioned to inaugurate the BBC Third Programme. In order to distinguish them from each other, the earlier of the two was retitled An American Overture upon publication. Its designation as "Op. 27" was reused by Benjamin Britten for his Hymn to St. Cecilia composed in 1942.
By the late 1930s, Britten had attained what his biographer Humphrey Carpenter later described as "a remarkable eminence" in English music. All of his major compositions, with the exception of Our Hunting Fathers, were widely performed and discussed. Steady demand for Britten's work from film, radio, and the theatre, as well as the support of Ralph Hawkes, the co-founder of the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, ensured the composer a secure income. "In general", Carpenter said, "[Britten] enjoyed an esteem that must have been the envy of every other composer in the country".
Nonetheless, personal and external matters motivated Britten to leave England and pursue his career in the United States. He later explained to the American composer Aaron Copland that "a thousand reasons—mostly 'problems'" goaded his decision. The tenor Peter Pears, Britten's life partner, told Tony Palmer in 1980 that the composer had become impatient with the pace of his career development in England. An offer from Paramount Studios in early 1939 to score an ultimately unrealized film based on the Knights of the Round Table, with Lewis Milestone as director, alerted the composer to the possibility of becoming wealthy in the American film industry. American music, in particular the works of Copland, was a further enticement to emigration. Another factor was Britten's desire to escape the complications that resulted from his romantic relationships with Wulff Scherchen and Lennox Berkeley. Britten had also begun to live together with Pears. During this period their relationship was platonic; it soon developed into a lifelong romantic relationship. The increasing threat of war in Europe and their shared pacificism also contributed to their desire to leave England. At the time, Britten recalled in a 1960 interview, it seemed that the future of his career would be in the United States. "[I] felt Europe was more or less finished", he said.
On April 29, 1939, Britten and Pears embarked on the RMS Ausonia and sailed to North America. After brief stays in Canada, Michigan, and New York, they finally settled temporarily in mid-1941 at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California.
In August 1941, Hawkes sent Britten a brief proposal to compose an overture for the Cleveland Orchestra and its music director Artur Rodziński. He provided more detail in a subsequent letter to the composer dated August 18. Rodziński, Hawkes explained to Britten, was very pleased to learn that the composer was planning a five or six minute overture. However, he wanted to have it ready by the second week of November, when he was scheduled to conduct concerts with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. A further letter dated September 16, urged Britten to stop work on the Scottish Ballad he was composing for Bartlett and Robertson in order to concentrate on the overture. Hans Heinsheimer, an agent for Boosey & Hawkes, informed the composer in a telegram dated September 18, that Rodziński now expected to have the work ready by early October, so he could first conduct it in Cleveland that month, then in New York City in November.