Archive & Collections
The archive at the Red House is probably the richest composer’s archive in the world and is open to anyone to visit. It is a rich source of information on a wide variety of topics, held in various formats: music scores, working papers, books, artworks, correspondence, photographs, film and sound recordings and costumes. Britten’s and Pears’ papers are at the heart of it but it also holds material created by other members of their circle.
Stories from the Archive
![Choir boys in their costumes for The Golden Vanity playing in Blythburgh churchyard, 1969]()
Archive Treasures: ‘my favourite choir at my favourite school’
Our archive has recently established a link with former members of the Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir – a choir with whom Britten and Pears worked on…![Mono recording of T.H. White reading from The Sword in the Stone, Argo Record Company Limited EAF 63, 1963]()
Archive Treasures: Britten, Myth and Radio
‘Read some Ingoldsby legends in evening’, Britten recorded in his diary on the 15 August 1932. The young composer was enjoying a collection of…![]()
Archive Treasures: The Absent Composer
In our archive we hold a short note, in Britten’s frail hand, sent to Snape Maltings on the first performance of his final opera Death in Venice on…
