Benjamin Britten was born in England in 1913. An excellent pianist, Britten studied composition with Frank Bridge and then with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music. His Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (for string orchestra) brought him international renown when it was performed at the Salzburg Festival in 1937.

A prolific composer, Britten worked in every genre, with a particular fondness for music with text, and he stands apart from most English composers for being best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than fifteen, from Paul Bunyan (1941) to Death In Venice (1973).

Britten was interested in creating accessible music, meaning that many of his stage works require small casts and offer a great deal of latitude in how they are produced, such as Let’s make an opera (1949) and Curlew River (1964). Britten also wrote extensively for children and amateur musicians, such as Gemini Variations (1965) and The Golden Vanity (1966).

Britten wrote stage music for subjects both tragic (Peter Grimes, 1945) and comic (Albert Herring, 1947); as well as religious “parables”, such as Noye’s Fludde (1957) or The Prodigal Son (1968).

His major religious work was War Requiem, which took many years to complete and premiered in Berlin on 11 November 1962.

Britten is the father of modern English art song, composing numerous song cycles including many arrangements of folk songs, a theme that threaded through his career, including one of his last compositions, Suite on English Folk Tunes “A Time There Was” (1974).

In general, Britten preferred to write for specific circumstances or artists, including Peter Pears, Mistlav Rostropovitch, and the English Opera Group, which he founded in 1947. In 1948, with Eric Crozier and Peter Pears, he founded the Aldeburgh Festival, where many of his works premiered.

Britten received many awards and honors, including Companion of Honour in 1952, the Order of Merit in 1965, and, in June 1976, a life peerage from Queen Elizabeth II, the first ever given to a composer, thereby becoming Baron Britten of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk.