Sinfonietta (Britten)

Sinfonietta is a work composed by Benjamin Britten (1913–76) in 1932, while he was a student at the Royal College of Music, and first performed in 1933. (A sinfonietta is a symphony that is smaller in scale or lighter in approach than a standard symphony.) It was published as his Op. 1.

It was originally written for five winds and five strings: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola, cello and double bass. It was dedicated to his teacher Frank Bridge. In 1936, Britten revised the score for the larger forces of a chamber orchestra. A typical performance takes about 15 minutes. The movements are headed:

  1. Poco presto ed agitato
  2. Variations, andante lento
  3. Tarantella

The first movement is in sonata form. The music writer Erwin Stein has suggested that the whole work is modelled on the Chamber Symphony No. 1 of 1906 by Arnold Schoenberg.[1]:43, 74[2][3]

In 1937, before Britten departed for America, his friend W. H. Auden inscribed his poem "It's Farewell to the Drawing-room's Civilised Cry" on the fly-leaf of a miniature score of the Sinfonietta. Britten was touched by the gesture.[1]:90

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Carpenter, Humphrey (1992). Benjamin Britten: A Biography. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-14324-5.
  2. ↑ Evans, Peter (1979). The Music of Benjamin Britten. London, Melbourne and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. pp. 15–21. ISBN 0-460-04350-1.
  3. ↑ Lamoreaux, Andrea (2005). "Britten, Benjamin (1913-1976): Sinfonietta, Op. 1". Retrieved 23 April 2015.