Britten's Jubilate is written for SATB choir and Organ accompaniment.
Benjamin Britten's birthday (22nd November 1913, Lowestoft) falls on St. Cecilia's Day, a happy augury for the career of one of Britain's greatest composers. Essentially a vocal composer, Britten won international fame for his operas and song-cycles. He never abandoned the principles of tonality and was a 'modern' composer who reached a mass audience and a conservative whose originality no radical would sensibly deny. He shared with his predecessors Parry, Vaughan Williams, and Holst an intense interest in works for amateurs and children. His brilliant gifts as a pianist and conductor, coupled with his virtuosic inventiveness, also led him to compose music for great performers such as the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the singers Galina Vishnevskaya, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Janet Baker.
The greatest personal influence on his music was the Tenor Peter Pears, for whom he composed many operatic and vocal roles. In 1948 Britten, Pears and Eric Crozier founded the Aldeburgh Festival, now one of the most respected established for new English music. In 1952 he was made a Companion of Honour, in 1965 received the Order of Merit, and in 1976, the year of his death, he became the first composer to receive a life peerage.
