Friday October 18 2019
Britten’s 1975 song cycle for tenor and harp is titled A Birthday Hansel. A setting of poems by Robert Burns, it was written to mark the Queen Mother’s 75th birthday. The word ‘Hansel’ is a Scots phrase for ‘gift’, an appropriate association with the person who helped Britten understand the poems’ dialect by reading them aloud […]
Wednesday October 16 2019
In spring 1960 Britten’s friend and chairman of the Orient Line, Sir Colin Anderson, asked the composer to write a ‘theme tune’ for his new passenger liner Oriana which had been built to serve the UK to Australia route. He intended the tune to be recorded and played when she left port or tied up […]
Tuesday October 8 2019
The Foundation received an extraordinary gift in early September. Gillian Collymore donated a portrait by the artist Mary Potter to the collection which has been in her possession for several decades. The half-length portrait dates from 1958, a period at which Gill was a relatively frequent visitor to Aldeburgh, and captures her in a pensive […]
Thursday October 3 2019
The Red House shortlisted for two awards at School Travel Organiser Awards 2019 We are delighted to announce that The Red House have been shortlisted for two awards at the 2019 School Travel Organiser Awards. The Red House education team has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Education Team of the Year Award. This […]
Monday September 30 2019
This month’s Box of Delights is themed around Britten and Pears’ school days given September marks the return of students heading back to school. School Photographs Our first items in the Box of Delights are Britten’s and Pears’ school photographs. The first image is of Britten at South Lodge School, in Lowestoft in 1924. Our […]
Wednesday September 11 2019
The papers of Gladys Parr (1892-1988) have recently been catalogued and added to the online Integrated Catalogue. This adds another catalogued collection to those already held of significant female singers who worked with Britten and Pears. Parr’s collection of papers is small, but the material covers the entirety of her successful singing career through the […]
Monday September 2 2019
Sharing Suffolk Stories is an initiative developed by the Suffolk Archives, the county’s archive which maintains a historical record of Suffolk and its people. It is the perfect opportunity to uncover the hidden stories of people and places dating from the middle ages up to the present day. Britten’s High Street: The history of shopping […]
Thursday August 29 2019
This month’s Box of Delights is themed around Britten, Film, and Aldeburgh Cinema, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Aldeburgh Cinema this month. The Archive holds papers and correspondence that detail Britten and Pears’ interest in film and the Cinema. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner Emil and the Detectives was first published in […]
Tuesday July 30 2019
This month’s featured acquisition is a silk scarf designed by John Piper showing an image of Snape Maltings Concert Hall. The scarf was produced in several different colours and most probably sold in aid of the Snape Maltings Rebuilding Fund. The Snape Maltings Concert Hall was opened by the Queen on 2 June 1967 but […]
Wednesday July 24 2019
In June the Archive was delighted to receive the papers of contralto Norma Procter (1928-2017). This adds yet another collection to those already held of singers, librettists and producers who worked with Britten and Pears; illustrating that our archive is not just about Britten and Pears but about a network of collaborating creators and performers. […]
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29 June 2021