What is Benjamin Britten?
{{More citations needed}} [[File:Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia.jpg|thumb|Benjamin Britten, Photo taken in 1968.]] '''Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh''', [[Order of Merit|OM]] [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]] (born [[Lowestoft]], 22 November 1913; died [[Aldeburgh]], 4 December 1976) was one of the greatest [[English people|English]] [[composer]]s of his time. He came from [[East Anglia]] (a region in the [[East of England]]) and he often thought about the East Anglian landscape and the sea when writing his [[music]]. He wrote a lot of music for his long-term partner, the [[tenor]] [[Peter Pears]]. His [[opera]]s include ''[[Peter Grimes]]'', ''[[Billy Budd]]'', ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night’s Dream]]'', and ''[[Death in Venice (opera)|Death in Venice]]''. His ''[[War Requiem]]'' was performed in [[Coventry Cathedral]] in 1962 after it had been rebuilt because the old cathedral had been destroyed in the war. He wrote music for children which sounds like proper, adult music. Britten started the [[Aldeburgh Festival]]. He was an excellent [[pianist]] and [[Conductor (music)|conductor]]. ==Life== ===Early years=== Benjamin Britten started composing music at the age of five although he had no one to help him. When he was ten years old he took part in an [[amateur]] music festival in [[Norwich]]. A composer called [[Frank Bridge]] heard him and was so impressed that he offered to teach him [[Composition (music)|composition]]. He helped Britten to compose using proper musical techniques. Britten started to get to know music by a lot of important modern composers including [[Schoenberg]] and [[Bartók]]. In 1930 he went to the [[Royal College of Music]]. He had excellent [[piano]] teachers but he did not learn much from his composition teacher [[John Ireland]] and most of the music he wrote was never performed. Britten was more interested in music from abroad than in English music. In 1934 he heard the opera ''[[Woz