Archive Treasures
List of News Articles
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Archive Treasures: A new production for a new concert hall
Britten wrote his opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream to celebrate the reopening of Aldeburgh’s Jubilee Hall in June 1960 following building work. Seven…![]()
Archive Treasures: Presentation, parking and formal address: the mechanics of a peerage
The archive at the Red House spans all aspects of Benjamin Britten’s and Peter Pears’ lives: from high art and high society to the most mundane nuts…![]()
Britten and Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Arnold’s links with Aldeburgh are recorded in the Archive collections and his centenary year is an appropriate occasion to focus on some of…![]()
Archive Treasures: The North Sea flood of 1953 and Britten’s coronation opera
On the night of Saturday 31st January 1953 severe winds and a high tide resulted in a storm surge and catastrophic flooding along the North Sea in the…![]()
Archive Treasures: Travel and travails - musicians on the road in 1950
One of the joys of the Britten Pears archive is the light it sheds on everyday practicalities, the nuts and bolts of Britten and Pears’ life and…![]()
Archive Treasures: Kathleen Ferrier’s musical friendships
Last year our archive received a collection of memorabilia relating to contralto Kathleen Ferrier, including some fascinating items which illustrate…![]()
Archive Treasures: Britten and Australia - a ballet that might have been
Scanning someone’s shelves is a quick way to find out their interests: their books and music provide a map of their mental world, and pulling something…![]()
Archive Treasures: Britten’s Viola
Benjamin Britten—violist. Find out what our archives tell us about the composer’s beautiful 19th-century viola and the story of its…![]()
Archive Treasures: A year in pictures
In our archive is a wonderful photograph album that Britten put together from 1935 to 1936, pasting in photographs and writing captions. It is…![]()
Archive Treasures: “Once-played-badminton-for-Suffolkship” – Stephen Potter at the Red House
Books tell us about their readers: who can resist peering at someone’s bookshelves? Every book collection is a map of the owner’s interests – and for…![]()
Archive Treasures: William Plomer, Curlew River and a gift of Japanese prints
A set of woodblock prints in Britten and Pears’ Library has a fascinating connection with the first Church Parable The opera…![]()
Archive Treasures: Baron Britten of Aldeburgh’s Letters patent
Britten’s first prize was awarded to him at South Lodge School in 1927, aged 13, for badminton. He bought 4 miniature scores with the prize money:…
