A perfect example of the young Britten's masterful vocal writing in a Christmas choral suite destined to become a major repertoire work.

Songlist: Christ's Nativity, Sweet was the Song, Preparations, New Price, New Pomp and Carol of King Cnut.

Both beautiful and inspiring words and music with these delightful songs.

Songlist: To Daffodils, The Succession of the Four Sweet Months, Marsh Flowers, The Evening Primrose, Ballad of Green Broom

At the opening of Act 2 of Gloriana, Queen Elizabeth 1 is on a state visit to Norwich. After a formal address of welcome she is entertained by a Masque. To these unaccompanied Choral Dances, dancers representing Time and Concord, country girls and young rustics and fishermen all pay homage and tribute to the Queen

Songlist: Time, Concord, Time and Concord, Country Girls, Rustics and Fishermen, Final Dance of Homage

Written for SSA voices and harp (or piano), this popular Christmas choral collection is perfect for your holiday concert.

Songlist: Procession, Wolcom Yole, There Is No Rose, The Yonge Child, Balulalow, As Dew In Aprille, This Little Babe, Interlude, In Freezing Winter Night, Spring Carol, Deo Gracias, Recession, Spring Carol

Written for SATB voices and harp (or piano), this popular christmas choral collection is perfect for your holiday concert.

Songlist: Procession, Wolcom, Yole, There Is No Rose, The Yonge Child, Balulaow, As Dew In Aprille, This Little Babe, Interlude, In Freezing Winter Night, Spring Carol, Deo Grcias, Recession, Spring Carol

Benjamin Britten : Opera Arias - Book 1 - Soprano   

Contents: Embroidery Aria (from Peter Grimes) - Glitter of Waves (from Peter Grimes) - I'm Full of Happiness (from Albert Herring) - Is This All (from Albert Herring) - Let Her Among You (from Peter Grimes) - Now Then! Notebook! (from Albert Herring) - She Sleeps As a Rose (from Rape of Lucretia) - Time Treads Upon Hands (from Rape of Lucretia) - Tis Safe For Kings (from Gloriana).

Songlist: LET HER AMONG YOU WITHOUT FAULT, EMBROIDERY ARIA, GLITTER OF WAVES AND GLITTER OF SUNLIGHT, NOW THEN! NOTEBOOK, FLORENCE!, IS THIS ALL YOU CAN BRING?, I'M FULL OF HAPPINESS, SOLILOQUY AND PRAYER, SHE SLEEP AS A ROSE, TIME TREADS UPON THE HANDS OF WOMEN

Benjamin Britten : Opera Arias - Book 2 - Soprano   

Contents: Run, Poor Sweep Boy! (from The Little Sheep) - Soon the Coach Will Carry You Away (from The Little Sweep) - The Journey - Nearly There (from The Turn of the Screw) - Lost in My Labyrinth (from The Turn of the Screw) - Go to Sleep, My Dolly Dear (from The Turn of the Screw) - Come, Now a Roundel (from A Midsummer Night's Dream) - Be Kind and Courteous (from A Midsummer Night's Dream) - Injurious Hermia (from A Midsummer Night's Dream).

Songlist: RUN, POOR SWEEP BOY!, SOON THE COACH WILL CARRY YOU AWAY, JOURNEY, THE - NEARLY THERE, TOWER, THE - HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS, LOST IN MY LABYRINTH, GO TO SLEEP, MY DOLLY DEAR, COME, NOW A ROUNDEL, BE KIND AND COURTEOUS, INJURIOUS HERMIA

Titles: Echo * My Heart * Angel * The Nightingale and the Rose * Epigram * Lines written during a sleepless night

Songlist: Echo, My Heart, Angel, The Nightingale and the Rose, Epigram, Lines written during a sleepless night

These songs were written at the special wish of Her Majesty the Queen for her mother's seventy-fifth birthday, August 4th 1975. Its first public performance was given on the 9th January 1976, at Schloss Elmau in Germany by Osian Ellis and Peter Pears. The collection of pieces are intended for High Voice and Harp. The poems for which the music was written for are by Robert Burns.

These four songs are taken from A Birthday Hansel Op.92 which was written at the special wish of Her Majesty The Queen for her mother's seventy-fifth birthday, 4th August 1975. All of the songs are wonderfully flowing and expressive and are arranged for High Voice with piano accompaniment. Titles: Afton Water * Wee Willie * The Winter * My Hoggie

Titles: Lord, I married me a wife * She's like the Swallow * Lemady * Bonny at morn * I was lonely and forlorn * David of the White Rock * The False Knight * Bird Scarer's Song

Titles: Lord, I married me a wife * She's like the Swallow * Lemady * Bonny at morn * I was lonely and forlorn * David of the White Rock * The False Knight * Bird Scarer's Song

These four fantastic cabaret songs are splendid examples of the genre. They not only provide ample evidence of the composer's and poet's wit and high spirits, but are also wholly characteristic of a particular kind of vernacular music that resulted from the collaboration of two brilliantly endowed young men in the thirties. Arranged for Piano and voice. Titles: Tell me the truth about Love * Funeral Blues * Johnny * Calypso

A terrific collection that brings together nine of Britten's previously unpublished songs, written over a period of 25 years from 1935 onwards. Many were originally intended to be part of song-cyles but were cut during the final revisions. This edition includes a helpful introduction and information regarding each song. Titles: A Poison Tree * Birthday Song For Erwin * Cradle Song * If Thou Wilt Ease Thine Heart * Not Even Summer Yet * The Red Cockatoo * When You're Feeling Like Expressing Your Affection * Wild With Passion

A terrific collection that brings together nine of Britten's previously unpublished songs, written over a period of 25 years from 1935 onwards. Many were originally intended to be part of song-cyles but were cut during the final revisions. This edition includes a helpful introduction and information regarding each song. Titles: A Poison Tree * Birthday Song for Erwin * Cradle Song * If Thou Wilt Ease Thine Heart * Not Even Summer Yet * The Red Cockatoo * When You're Feeling Like Expressing Your Affection * Wild with Passion.

Titles: A Riddle (The Earth) * A Laddie's sang * Nightmare * Black day * Bed-time * Slaughter * A Riddle (The child you were) * The Larky lad * Who are these Children? * Supper * The Children * The Auld Aik * Dawtie's Devotion * The Gully * Tradition

Five songs from Harmonia Sacra, for High Voice and Harp or Piano, all realised by Benjamin Britten. Titles: A Hymn on Divine Musick * Lord! I Have Sinned * Hymn to God the Father * A Divine Hymn * Oh! That Mine Eyes Would Melt.

The first performance of the Songs and Proverbs of William Blake Op.74 was given by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival on 24 June, 1965. Available here is Britten's fantastic song-cycle of pieces set to the lyrics and proverbs of William Blake, for Baritone Voice with Piano accompaniment. Titles: Proverb I * London * Proverb II * The Chimney-Sweeper * Proverb III * A Poison Tree * Proverb IV * The Tyger * Proverb V * The Fly * Proverb VI * Ah, Sunflower * Proverb VII * Every Night and every morn.

Titles: The Cold Wind Blew * The Spring Came and the Summer Fall * So Helson Smiled and Bunyan Smiled

63 songs, with extensive historical introductory notes. Includes all art songs originally composed for voice and piano published by Boosey & Hawkes. The content is the same for the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice volumes, with newly published transpositions as necessary. Contents: The Birds - A Charm of Lullabies (5 songs) - Evening, Morning, Night - Fish in the Unruffled Lakes (6 songs) - The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (8 songs) - On This Island (5 songs) - Sechs Hölderlin Fragmente (6 songs) - Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo) - Songs from the Chinese (6 songs, transcribed for voice and piano) - Three Songs from The Heart of the Matter (with horn) - Winter Words (8 songs plus 2 songs cut from the cycle) - Two Ballads (duets).

Songlist: Song, Morning, Nocturne, Dance Song, Prologue, Evening, Epilogue, Seascape, Night, Proud Songsters, The Choirmaster's Burial, The Birds, A Cradle Song, The Highland Balou, Sephestia's Lullaby, A Charm, The Nurse's Song, To Lie Flat On The Back, Night Covers Up The Rigid Land, The Sun Shines Down, Fish In The Unruffled Lakes, What's In Your Mind?, Underneath The Abject Willow, Oh My Blacke Soule!, Batter My Heart, O Might Those Sighes And Teares, Oh, To Vex Me, What If This Present, Since She Whom I Loved, At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners, and more

60 songs, with extensive historical introductory notes. Includes all art songs originally composed for voice and piano published by Boosey & Hawkes. The content is the same for the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice volumes, with newly published transpositions as necessary. Contents: The Birds - A Charm of Lullabies (5 songs) - Evening, Morning, Night - Fish in the Unruffled Lakes (6 songs) - The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (8 songs) - On This Island (5 songs) - Sechs Hölderlin Fragmente (6 songs) - Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo) - Songs from the Chinese (6 songs, transcribed for voice and piano) - Winter Words (8 songs plus 2 songs cut from the cycle) - Two Ballads (duets).

Songlist: Morning, Nocturne, Dance Song, Evening, Seascape, Night, Proud Songsters, The Choirmaster's Burial, The Birds, A Cradle Song, The Highland Balou, Sephestia's Lullaby, A Charm, The Nurse's Song, To Lie Flat On The Back, Night Covers Up The Rigid Land, The Sun Shines Down, Fish In The Unruffled Lakes, What's In Your Mind?, Underneath The Abject Willow, Oh My Blacke Soule!, Batter My Heart, O Might Those Sighes And Teares, Oh, To Vex Me, What If This Present, Since She Whom I Loved, At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners, Thou Hast Made Me, Death, Be Not Proud, Let The Florid Music Praise!, and more

Existing edition of A Charm of Lullabies (BH 5000052) extended by an appendix containing two settings originally intended for the cycle but discarded by the composer: A Sweet Lullaby (Nicholas Breton) and Somnus, the Humble God (John Denham). These two songs were first performed at the 2018 BBC Proms by Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) and Joseph Middleton (piano), and the first recording, by the same performers, is available on Chandos (CHAN10944). The publication includes lyrics with German and French reference translations, plus introduction by Eric Crozier, performance notes by Nancy Evans, and editorial note on the additional songs by Colin Matthews.

This landmark publication includes 61 songs, combining the contents of the seven published books of Britten folksong arrangements in High and Low Voice editions. Some of the songs have never before been transposed. The songs of Volume 6, for voice and guitar, have been transcribed for voice and piano for this edition. Editor Richard Walters has done a splendid job of bringing this collection to publication, not only assembling the material but also writing an excellent, informative, and thought provoking Preface that gives insight into Britten's work...Having all these songs together in one volume is a real boon to voice teachers and students alike, not to mention accompanists...All music libraries and voice studios will want to own this collection.--Journal of Singing

This landmark publication includes 61 songs, combining the contents of the seven published books of Britten folksong arrangements in High and Low Voice editions. Some of the songs have never before been transposed. The songs of Volume 6, for voice and guitar, have been transcribed for voice and piano for this edition. Editor Richard Walters has done a splendid job of bringing this collection to publication, not only assembling the material but also writing an excellent, informative, and thought provoking Preface that gives insight into Britten's life and work...Having all these songs together in one volume is a real boon to voice teachers and students alike, not to mention accompanists...All music libraries and voice studios will want to own this collection.--Journal of Singing Contents: VOLUME 1: BRITISH ISLES: The Salley Gardens - Little Sir William - The Bonny Earl o' Moray - O Can Ye Sew Cushions? - The Trees They Grow So High - The Ash Grove - Oliver Cromwell - VOLUME 2: FRANCE: La Noel Passee - Voici le Printemps - Fileuse - Le Roi s'en va-t'en Chasse - La Belle est au Jardin d'amour - Il es quelqu'un sur terre - Eho! Eho! - Quand j'etais chez mon pere - VOLUME 3: BRITISH ISLES: The Plough Boy - There's none to Soothe - Sweet Polly Oliver - The Miller of Dee - The Foggy, Foggy Dew - O Waly, Waly - Come you not from Newcastle? - VOLUME 4: MOORE'S IRISH MELODIES: Avenging and Bright - Sail on, Sail on - How Sweet the Answer - The Minstrel Boy - At the Mid Hour of Night - Rich and Rare - Dear Harp of my Country! - Oft in the Stilly Night - The Last rose of Summer - O the Sight Entrancing - VOLUME 5: BRITISH ISLES: The Brisk Young Widow - Sally in Our Alley - The Lincolnshire Poacher - Early One Morning - Ca' the Yowes - VOLUME 6: ENGLAND: I Will Give My Love an Apple - Sailor-boy - Master Kilby - The Soldier and the Sailor - Bonny at Morn - The Shooting of His Dear - EIGHT FOLKSONG ARRANGEMENTS (1976): Lord! I Married Me a Wife - She's Like the Swallow - Lemady - Bonny at Morn - I Was Lonely and Forlorn - David of the White Rock - The False Knight Upon the Road - Bird Scarer's Song - OTHER ARRANGEMENTS: Tom Bowling - The Crocodile - Dink's Song - Greensleeves - The Holly and the Ivy - I Wonder as I Wander - Pray Goody - The Deaf Woman's Courtship - Soldier, Won't You Marry Me? - The Stream in the Valley

Britten's second 'religious' cantata, The World of the Spirit was written for the BBC radio in 1938. With detailed prefatory notes by Donald Mitchell and Philip Reed.

for SATB with SATB solos and organ Imogen Holst orchestrated the work for wind quintet, percussion, organ (ad lib) and strings (1952), and there is also a version for SSAA and organ arranged by Edmund Walters (1966) Text: Christopher Smart Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 One of Britten's most popular and performed works in this genre, Rejoice in the Lamb was written for the 50th anniversary of St. Matthew's church, Northampton in 1943. The remarkable vicar, Walter Hussey, was a great patron of the arts. His vision for St. Matthew's and later for Chichester Cathedral, where he moved to become Dean, is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of the Anglican Church in the last century.Britten called his work a Festival Cantata and it is structured with choral and solo movements. The text by the supposedly mad Christopher Smart (1722-1771) is part of a poem called Jubilate Agno which he composed in a mental asylum having been committed there by his father-in-law for apparent religious mania. He died in a debtors' prison. It was W.H. Auden who brought the poem to Britten's attention. It is easy to see why Britten was so attracted to Smart's poem. It has great colour, drama, bizarre imagery, and the central issue of the individual against the crowd, or against authority, was one to which Britten was to return repeatedly in his works. Britten had developed a deep interest in Purcell's music at this time and had made keyboard realisations of accompaniments for a number of songs which he performed with Peter Pears. Purcell's influence can easily be heard in the Hallelujah sections. The challenges in this work are many and varied though the difficulty level is not great overall. It is an ideal concert work and is popular with performers and audiences alike. Practical issues include really quiet singing while projecting the voice at the start; dealing with the rhythmic complexities of the first quick section ('Let Nimrod the mighty hunter') and getting the most out of the words and the dynamic contrasts here; the unanimity of the dotted rhythms in the Hallelujah sections; the fielding of four soloists who can put across the character of these zany movements (the cat, the mouse, flowers); the realisation of the depth of passion in the 'For I am under the same accusation as my Saviour' section; the brilliance of the final quick section with all the bizarre musical instrument rhymes; and finally realising the 'stillness and serenity' of the slow music before the final Hallelujah. There is much to consider and much devil in the detail. However, the work is emphatically worth any amount of effort to realise Britten's inspiration. Duration: 17 minutes Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011

Cantata for tenor solo, chorus (SATB), semi-chorus (SA), four solo boys, string orchestra, piano duet, percussion and organ Scoring: Piano duet; organ; strings; percussion (Timpani/side drum, bass drum, tenor drum, cymbal, triangle, gong, whip, tambourine) Text: Eric Crozier Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes Difficulty level: 3 Saint Nicolas (note the name has no 'H' in it!) was written for the centenary of Lancing College in Sussex, the independent secondary boarding school on the south coast of England which Peter Pears had attended in his teens. It has a vast chapel intended by its founder, Revd Nathaniel Woodard, as the cathedral for all the schools of his extensive foundation known collectively as 'Woodard' schools. St. Nicolas is famous for many legendary miracles and for being the original 'Santa Claus'. Crozier's libretto is designed to tell the story of his life, to recount some of his most celebrated acts and to give the audience/congregation the opportunity of joining in two beautiful hymns at key moments: 'All people that on earth do dwell' and 'God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform'. The narration is all done by the choir, though the tenor sings first-person narratives as well in his role as the mature Nicolas. The young Nicolas is sung by a boy in movement II. There is a dramatic moment at the end of this movement when the boy's voice does a tumble and the tenor proclaims in the voice of Nicolas as a young man: 'God be glorified'. The third movement is an accompanied recitative in which the soloist sings of Nicolas devoting himself to God through the agonies and torment of the many distractions and temptations of life. His faith wins through and he sings a final touching phrase: 'and Love was satisfied'. The sea whips up a storm in the next movement: 'He journeys to Palestine'. It threatens to overturn the ship and drown everyone on board. There is wailing from the sopranos and altos of the semi-chorus and agonised calls from the tenors and basses to 'man the pumps'. Finally, Nicolas begs God to let the storm cease and offers thanks for their safe delivery. Britten creates a palpable sense of relief in the final pages.

This set of mainly unison songs for young voices is a gift for a concert of music for upper voices. It is a substantial work taken as a whole but its individual movements are both short and straightforward in their various challenges. Britten wrote the work for the boys of his brother's preparatory school (age 7-13), Clive House, Prestatyn, in Wales to sing. However he encountered a problem with copyright over the use of the Lone Dog. He therefore wrote Begone, dull care to replace it. When these issues were resolved years later the song was included as an appendix item in the 1994 edition. The real beauty of these songs is that Britten never writes down for the children. These are art songs in the best sense of the word and mix both dark and light humour with seriousness and romance to create a little world of changing scenes and emotions. The texts are, as always, carefully chosen to give Britten maximum variety of mood and to challenge and encourage the childrens interest and involvement. The piano parts carry a lot of the responsibility for the creation of mood and atmosphere and ideally need a pianist of reasonable accomplishment to do them justice. In There was a monkey Britten writes an increasingly challenging part which is very effective in making the charged mood rise to its climax. However, he writes an easier alternative part which can be played if the pianist finds the other too difficult. The mixture of texts gives Britten wonderful opportunities for word painting.

Songlist: BEGONE, DULL CARE, TRAGIC STORY, A, CUCKOO!, EE-OH!, NEW YEAR CAROL, A, I MUN BE MARRIED ON SUNDAY, THERE WAS A MAN OF NEWINGTON, FISHING SONG, USEFUL PLOUGH, THE, JAZZ-MAN, THERE WAS A MONKEY, OLD ABRAM BROWN, LONE DOG

These Christmas carols have become contemporary classics. The Serene Sweet Was the Song contrasts with a moving lament on the hardships of Christmas, A Wealdon Trio, and a memorable setting of Hardy's fine poem The Oxen.

Songlist: Sweet Was the Song, A Wealden Trio, The Oxen

Dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra.

This book by Dr. Richard Cox explores Benjamin Britten's vast choral repertory describing salient features of each work and assessing its accessibility. (260 pages.)

Most of Britten's rich Purcell realizations had previously been out fo print for some years. This new edition, with new music engravings and extensive historical notes, includes 9 songs from Harmonia Sacra, 24 solos songs and 6 duets from Orpheus Britannicus, and selections from Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen. Contents: Ah! Belinda, I am prest with torment - Alleluia - The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation - But ere we this perform - Come away, fellow sailors - Dialogue of Corydon and Mopsa - Evening Hymn - Fairest Isle - Fear no danger to ensue - Hark the ech'ing air - How blest are shepherds - I attempt from love's sickness to fly - I spy Celia - I take no pleasure - I'll sail upon the Dog-star - If music be the food of love (1st version) - If music be the food of love(3rd version) - In the black dismal dungeon of despair - Job's Curse - Let sullen discord smile - Lord, what is man - Lost is my quiet - Mad Bess - Man is for the woman made - A Morning Hymn - Music for a while - No, resistance is but vain - Not all my torments - Oft she visits this lov'd mountain - On the brow of Richmond Hill - Pious Celinda - Pursue thy conquest, love - The Queen's Epicedium - Saul and the Witch at Endor - Shake the cloud from off your brow - Shepherd, leave decoying - So when the glittering queen of Night - Sound Fame thy brazen trumpet - Sound the trumpet - Sweeter than roses - Take not a woman's anger ill - Thanks to these lonesome vales - There's not a swain of the plain - Thou tun'st this world - 'Tis holiday - Turn then thine eyes - We sing to him - What can we poor females do? - When I am Laid in earth - Why should men quarrel?

Most of the distinctive Purcell realizations by Benjamin Britten, vocal parts edited by Peter Pears, have been out of print for sone years. This new edition collects 49 selections for high voice and 45 selections for medium/low voice. Includes 9 songs from Harmonia Sacra, 24 solo songs and six duets from Orpheus Britannicus, The Queen's Epicedium, and selections from Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen. Contents: Ah! Belinda, I am prest with torment - Alleluia - The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation - But ere we this perform - Dialogue of Corydon and Mopsa - Evening Hymn - Fairest Isle - Fear no danger to ensue - Hark the ech'ing air! - How blest are shepherds - I attempt from love's sickness to fly - I spy Celia - I take no pleasure - I'll sail upon the Dog-star - If music be the food of love (1st version) - If music be the food of love (3rd version) - In the black dismal dungeon of despair - Job's Curse - Let sullen discord smile - Lord, what is man - Lost is my quiet - Mad Bess - Man is for the woman made - A Morning Hymn - Music for a while - No, resistance is but vain - Not all my torments - On the brow of Richmond Hill - Pious Celinda - The Queen's Epicedium - Saul and the Witch at Endor - Shepherd, leave decoying - So when the glittering Queen of Night - sound Fame the brazen trumpet - Sound the trumpet - Sweeter than roses - Take not a woman's anger ill - There's not a swain of the plain - Thou tun'st this world - 'Tis holiday - Turn then thine eyes - We sing to him - What can we poor females do? - When I am laid in earth - Why should men quarrel?