Benjamin Britten was born November 22, 1913 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and died December 4, 1976 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

In 1960, Benjamin Britten attended the London premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, with Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist. Britten was greatly inspired by Rostropovich’s performance and composed six works for him: the Cello Sonata (1961), the Symphony for Cello and Orchestra;(1963), Tema “Sacher” (1976), and three suites for unaccompanied cello (1964, 1967, 1971).

The first suite, composed in 1964, was premiered by Rostropovich at the Aldeburgh Festival in June of 1965. The work owes much to Johann Sebastian Bach’s six unaccompanied cello suites, yet with a uniquely modern twist. Like Bach’s suites, Britten’s first suite contains six core movements; however, the six movements of Britten’s suite are more like character pieces as opposed to dances. In addition, Britten’s six core movements are joined by a sustained, reflective Canto which serves as a framing device for the work (in the manner of the Promenades in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition). The Canto theme opens the work and returns after every two movements, suggesting Baroque ritornello form on an even larger scale. All the movements, including the Cantos, are performed attacca (without pause).

The witty Fuga is a masterclass in implied counterpoint, creating a fugue in only one voice as Bach did in his fifth cello suite and several of his violin works. The Fuga’s subject is almost certainly a nod to the subject of the C major fugue from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Following the Fuga is the impassioned Lamento, which is marked piangendo (weeping). After the first reprise of the Canto is the Serenata, which is performed entirely pizzicato and evokes the music of Claude Debussy and Spanish flamenco guitar. The Stravinsky-esque Marcia evokes bugles, fifes, and drums through its use of harmonics and col legno (striking the strings with the wood of the bow). The Canto returns a third time, now more menacing and dissonant to herald the eerie Bordone; this antiquated term refers to a drone such as the open D string that sounds throughout the movement. The work culminates in the fiery, virtuosic Moto Perpetuo, wherein phrases from the opening Canto are gradually introduced to bring the piece to a volatile conclusion.