Britten Suite on English Folk Tunes Op. 90
BENJAMIN BRITTEN 1913-1976
SUITE ON ENGLISH FOLK TUNES 'A TIME THERE WAS......' Opus 90
Cakes and Ale
The Bitter Withy
Hankin Booby
Hunt the Squirrel
Lord Melbourne
The Suite on English Folk Tunes was Britten's last orchestral work, composed in 1974 and dedicated 'lovingly and reverently' to the memory of Percy Grainger. Grainger was, of course, a great collector of folk tunes, and several of the melodies on which Britten's suite is based had been at some point transcribed by the Australian composer.
Each movement is based on two themes, seven of the total of ten being drawn from Playford's English Dancing Master of 1650. The third movement, 'Hankin Booby', had originally been composed for woodwind, two trumpets and percussion to celebrate the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1967 and was included in the new suite virtually unchanged.
The title quotation is drawn from Thomas Hardy's poem 'Before Life and After', which Britten had set to music in 1953 as the final song of the cycle Winter Words. The full quotation holds the key to the melancholy nostalgia which pervades the suite:-
"A time there was, as one may guess
And as, indeed, earth's testimonies tell -
Before the birth of consciousness,
When all went well."
The suite's content thus reflects Britten's lifelong preoccupation with the corruption of innocence by experience, a concept felt particularly strongly in the poignant final movement.
Each movement is based on two themes, seven of the total of ten being drawn from Playford's English Dancing Master of 1650. The third movement, 'Hankin Booby', had originally been composed for woodwind, two trumpets and percussion to celebrate the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1967 and was included in the new suite virtually unchanged.
The title quotation is drawn from Thomas Hardy's poem 'Before Life and After', which Britten had set to music in 1953 as the final song of the cycle Winter Words. The full quotation holds the key to the melancholy nostalgia which pervades the suite:-
"A time there was, as one may guess
And as, indeed, earth's testimonies tell -
Before the birth of consciousness,
When all went well."
The suite's content thus reflects Britten's lifelong preoccupation with the corruption of innocence by experience, a concept felt particularly strongly in the poignant final movement.
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