Benjamin Britten: A Biography

by Humphrey Carpenter

A biography of Benjamin Britten which presents a panorama of British musical life since the 1920s.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

682 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inklings. He won a Mythopoeic Award for his book The Inklings in 1982.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purging bookshelves leads to more reading. I was ready to get rid of this biography until I read a bit and got totally sucked in. Britten said in 1946 when he was still rather young, "If I had been born in 1813 rather than 1913 I should have been a romantic, primarily concerned to express my personality in music." Carpenter's biography shows that even as a twentieth century composer, this is what he did. Carpenter tells the whole story about Britten, his personal charm, his incredible facility as a composer (it is not farfetched to compare him to Mozart), his fulfilling yet complicated relationship to his partner Peter Pears (which began when homosexuality was illegal in England), his struggle with the full expression of his own sexuality which worked itself out largely by means of composition, his habit of using people and discarding them with no notice even though he cared for people quite a lot. It's an extraordinary achievement that Carpenter manages all this while still illuminating Britten's works. His analyses, both psychological and musical, ring true to me and make me want to go back and listen again to great works like The Turn of the Screw and Death in Venice - as well as to discover some others that I don't know - like his last string quartet, #3. A moving and well-written book, but a reader who does not know Britten's work at all might find it too dense. It stays on my shelf!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fantastic biography. It took me a while to get through (nearly 600 pages, not including the appendices), but it really was a page-turner. Britten was absolutely fascinating and totally remarkable - definitely a musical idol of mine. There are some uncomfortable subjects covered here, but they are done so with frankness and elegance, which allows them to be discussed without attacking Britten (or anyone else). If you're at all interested in Benjamin Britten and/or his music I would highly recommend this.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is special to me, as I found it on a shelf as a 15 year old at music camp, and it's what started my now life-long obsession with this extremely complicated man. Britten's life is fascinating for a number of reasons, but to me it's the tentative balance between wanting to be accepted by society while simultaneously knowing that he is hated by it (as a queer man and a pacifist in the 40s!). I mean, that exact topic is the subject of a majority of his stage works, and much of his other vocal writing, as well.

Carpenter's prose is exciting, and given that he has also written a biography on W.H. Auden, he does a great job at connecting Britten's life with his artistic contemporaries, so you really get this nice, comprehensive view of the landscape at the time. If I were to recommend a biography on Britten, I do hesitate with Carpenter's, as I feel that while he does explore it in depth, he doesn't quite understand aspects of Britten's homosexuality, especially as it relates to his obsession with adolescent boys (Carpenter makes allusion to sexual abuse on Britten as a child, and while possible, should not be, in my opinion, the primary explanation for his sexuality, even when discussing the pedophilia). I do find Carpenter's discussion of Britten's sexuality to be quite comprehensive, however, and I am glad that it is not shied away from or dismissed as unimportant. The tensions between Britten, the boys (which he, apparently, was completely safe around), and his interpersonal relationships with adults never ceases to be fascinating.

Additionally, as a classical musician myself, I wish there was some deeper discussion of Britten's musical content, as I feel that Carpenter's analyses can be somewhat surface level, and often misunderstand nuance. His discussions of story-content in Britten's works are fantastic, I just wish I got that more on the musical side, as well!

Overall, a very fun read and well-written, but a bit dated and contains some certain historical flanderizations. Perhaps better suited for a non-musician audience? Has a special place in my heart!

[John Blore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Britten emerges from this book as a great technician, and one of Britain’s greatest composers. However his diaries reveal him as very conflicted in his sexuality both as he struggled with the acceptance of his homosexuality in those very difficult early years, and as he both enjoyed and feared the company of the young. I tired of the variations on this original theme! Much of his music is rooted in his own life experience with all its conflicts. I cannot agree with his general dismissal of Vaughan Williams apart from an appreciation of the Tallis Fantasia, his extreme damning of Brahms, and his later apostasy from his boyhood love of Beethoven. He was also negative about Elgar’s first symphony, one of the greatest pieces of English music. Nevertheless his diaries were open and honest!

[Shannon McCue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I REALLY REALLY LOVE BENJAMIN BRITTEN. this book will make you feel like you know him personally. i like carpenter's style and approach... lots of great quotations

or maybe i just need to sleep more.

[Lee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening, insightful, entertaining, and fundamental for anyone interested in twentieth-century music.