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Re: brittens six metamorposes

Author: oboeblank
Date: 2006-04-13 21:34

Britten wrote the Phantasy quartet in 1932 and dedicated it to Leon Goosens who gave the premiere of the work in the 1934.
In 1935, he wrote the Two Insect Pieces for oboist Sylvia Spencer who played in early readings of the Phantasy quartet. The first performance of the Insect Pieces occurred in 1979 when Janet Craxton performed them during a memorial concert for Sylvia Spencer at the Royal College of Music.
In 1936, the Temporal Variations premiered at Wigmore Hall under the title Temporal Suite. They were composed for writer and journalist Montague Slater who was not an oboist but a very out-spoken communist. Despite being pleased with the piece, it never was performed again during Britten’s lifetime.
The Metamorphoses were composed in 1951 for Joy Boughton the daughter of composer Rutland Boughton who gave the first performance at the Aldeburgh festival.
As to Britten marrying an oboist, he was a homosexual who had a very long relationship with the British tenor Peter Pears.
To the other question as to why he wrote only four works, his main interest was opera and he was a prolific composer who helped to put English opera back on the map.

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