Britten, Benjamin: Les Illuminations op. 18 (1939) 21'

for high voice and strings

Music Text  
Arthur Rimbaud (F)

World premiere complete
1/30/1940
Aeolian Hall, London
Sophie Wyss, soprano / Boyd Neel Orchestra / Boyd Neel


Repertoire Note  


Britten continued his imaginative exploitation of string orchestra sonorities begun in the Frank Bridge Variations with these exhilarating settings of poems by Arthur Rimbaud, begun in Suffolk in March 1939 and completed a few months later in the USA. Originally written for soprano Sophie Wyss, the work can, and often is, performed by a tenor: Britten first performed the piece with Peter Pears as early as 1941. The work has been successfully choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton and Richard Alston.

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