Written by Anna Vorhes

Born
November 22, 1913, Lowestoft, United Kingdom

Died
December 4, 1976, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Instrumentation
Strings

Duration
16 minutes

Composed
1934 during his last year at the Royal College of Music

World Premiere
March 6, 1934, by the Norwich Symphony Orchestra, Britten conducting

Something interesting to listen for
Like Mozart, Britten created an abundance of melodies.  Each movement of this exquisite symphony uses two melodies that Britten created at an earlier point in his life.  He also enjoyed experimenting with what timbres can be created by the standard string family of violin, viola, violoncello and bass.  The strings play in the normal fashion with bows in a technique called arco, and they put their bows down and play pizzicato.  If you pay attention, you may also hear some players strumming as if a violin or viola is a guitar.

Program Notes

Most people know that Mozart was an incredible child prodigy.  Far fewer people know that Benjamin Britten, born about 150 years later, was as incredible a child prodigy.  Britten was born just before the First World War in Great Britain.  He started playing the piano and by the age of seven was playing several instruments.  One biographer estimates between the age of seven and eighteen, Britten wrote eight hundred compositions.

Educationally, Britten began his formal academic musical training at age seventeen when he was accepted to the Royal College of Music in London.  He had been studying composition with Frank Bridges since he was fourteen.  At the Royal College, he would continue developing his compositional knowledge.  After he finished his studies he created this delightful little piece.  It combines his technical ability and demonstrates classical forms with a sense of whimsey.  He drew on his own earliest works, choosing melodies written in his childhood to become the themes of the four movements.  Then he chose descriptive and alliterative titles.

The first movement is "Boisterous Bourrée".  A bourrée is a dance done originally in social settings during the Baroque era, which quickly became a staple of the ballet world.  During the Baroque, suites were collections of dances.  The first theme is drawn from his 1924 Suite #1 for piano, also called a bourree.  You may notice counterpoint which is somewhat unusual in sonata form but is also a style Britten developed well.  The second theme is from the earliest composition Britten used in this entire suite, written in 1923.  It was originally a song for voice and piano titled "A Country Dance: Now the King is Home Again" on text from Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Foresters.  The two themes intertwine in clear sonata form.  (Of course when using the melody in a instrumental work Britten omits the words.)  Listen for the recapitulation (restatement of the themes) to begin after you hear what it sound like rather miscellaneous high notes.

The second movement, titles "Playful Pizzicato", is an exercise in playing without the bow.  The first theme is from Britten's 1924 Piano Sonata from the scherzo and trio movement of that sonata.  The more lyric second theme is a song for voice and piano titled "The Road Song of the Bander-log" originally with text from a Rudyard Kipling poem.  It was also written in 1924.  The instructions from the composer for the "Playful Pizzicato" are "as fast as possible, always pizzicato".  The tempo slows a bit as the second theme is introduced, but overall this is very energetic!

The third movement "Sentimental Saraband" is the longest of this short composition.  It returns to a Baroque idea, offering a sarabande, a slow and stately dance with a halting rhythm.  It's in ABA form overall.  The A section uses a melody from Suite #3 for piano written in 1925.  Listen for a pedal G in this first theme. (A pedal G means that the low strings will play a long G under many different chords in the other instruments.)  The second theme is Waltz for Piano written in 1923.  The Two themes are combined in the traditional "slow" movement.  Even in this slow movement, Britten uses pizzicato sound, with a different effect than in the previous movement.

"Frolicsome Finale" uses a melody from Britten's Piano Sonata #9 written in 1926 along with a melody that might have been written just for the Simple Symphony.  It's identified as "Song - 1924" but the referenced material is unknown.  This movement is a long build to the triumphant end.

If you were (or are) a string player, you may recognize this work.  The notes and techniques are easy enough for a young or amateur orchestra to play the work to good effect.  To hear the very fine musicians of the SDSO play this as it was intended is a real treat.