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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:…
Archive Treasures: Music, travel, tennis and 1930s emojis
The correspondence in Benjamin Britten’s archive is extensive: over eleven thousand files, including both letters to Britten and those from him. The…
Archive Treasures: Geoffrey Burgon, Britten, Brideshead, Blake and Pears
What links the composer of the evocative TV theme for Brideshead Revisited to The Red House? The composer Geoffrey Burgon may be best known for…
Archive Treasures: ‘the loveliest present that has ever happened’ – the gift of a concert to Imogen Holst
In July 1942 Imogen Holst received a wonderful letter from a group of friends proposing to organise a concert of her works in London as a thank you…
Archive Treasures: Thirty-seven love – Britten, Pears, sport and recreation at the Red House
Romanticism dies hard: over two hundred years since the movement spread Sturm und Drang over Europe, it still informs our vision of what a…
Archive Treasures: A Spiritual Home – Britten, Pears and The Red House
The former homes of famous people are referred to, variously, as ‘house museums’ or ‘personality houses’. They are effectively physical ‘biographies’,…
Archive Treasures: Browsing the Bookshelves – Reading Britten and Pears
Close inspection of the bookshelves in The Red House reveals a number of volumes that must have had special resonance for Britten and Pears. These…
Archive Treasures: Love in the accounts
The archive at The Red House spans all aspects of Britten and Pears’ lives together – from their professional activities, the compositions and…
Archive Treasures: East meets West in the Archive
Rostropovich, Menuhin, Richter – asked to compile a list of musicians who worked with Britten and Pears, there are some obvious names. Likewise, asked…
Archive Treasures: Young composers and ancient carols
In August 1918 Gustav Holst gave his 11 year old daughter a volume of Christmas carols which Imogen treasured all her life and now forms part of her…
Archive Treasures: Letters from an American in London
In October 1951 American baritone Theodor (‘Ted’) Uppman arrived in England to begin rehearsing the title role in Britten’s new opera Billy…
Archive Treasures: Britten, Grainger and a Birthday Gift
As we approach Britten’s 107th birthday a tale from the Archive tells us of a birthday gift that was not only practical, but which also carried great…