In the 1960s, Benjamin Britten enjoyed a prestige in British society that few other composers had ever known. Among the official honors he had received was the Order of the Companions of Honor and the Order of Merit; in the last year of his life (1976) he was given a life peerage and was created Baron Britten of Aldeburgh.
With his life partner Peter Pears, Britten had founded a music festival in Aldeburgh in 1948, which eventually outgrew its original venue, at which point a new concert hall was built in neighboring Snape Maltings. The new facility was opened on June 2, 1967, by Queen Elizabeth II in person; the opening concert, with works by Delius, Holst and Handel, opened with a festive work composed by Britten for the occasion, The Building of the House for orchestra and chorus. It may not be a coincidence that the title recalls Beethoven’s overture, The Consecration of the House, written for the inauguration of a new theater in Vienna in 1822.
It is a testament to Britten’s genius that he was able to honor the official function with appropriately celebratory music that was, at the same time, fresh and vibrant, never dry for a moment. The work includes hymn melody, taken from 16th-century paraphrase of Psalm 127 as edited by Britten’s friend and collaborator, Imogen Holst. The hymn, surrounded by agile orchestral countersubjects, enters after an animated orchestral introduction. This outline is somewhat reminiscent of a Bach chorale fantasy, but Britten combines that form with an A-B-A design. The B section, for orchestra alone, is quiet, intensely chromatic and rhythmically complex, introducing an element of mystery. Then, a recapitulation brings back the fast tempo and the church hymn, so that the “consecration of the house” may be celebrated in style.
Except the Lord the house doth make,
And thereunto doth set his hand,
What men do build it cannot stand,
Likewise in vain men undertake
Cities and holds to watch and ward,
Except the Lord be their safeguard.
Though ye rise early in the morn
And so at night go late to bed,
Feeding full hardly with brown bread,
Yet were your labour lost and worn.
But they shall thrive whom God doth bless,
Their home shall stand through storm and stress.