Britten Thematic Catalogue

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BTC1127 THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE

Second parable for church performance, op. 77
Period of composition: Oct 1965 - 5 Apr 1966
Date notes

Britten began discussing the subject matter of the second Parable with William Plomer in the summer of 1964.

First performance: 9 Jun 1966 >>
Type of performance: Church performance
Location: Orford Church, Aldeburgh Festival
Performance details:

Peter Pears Nebuchadnezzar, Bryan Drake The astrologer, John Shirley-Quirk Ananias, Robert Tear Misael, Victor Godfrey Azarias, Peter Leeming The herald and leader of the courtiers, EOG chorus, Richard Adeney fl, Neill Sanders hn, Roger Brenner alto trbn, Cecil Aronowitz va, Keith Marjoram db, Osian Ellis harp, James Blades perc, Philip Ledger org

Colin Graham prod, Annena Stubbs costumes

Genre: Stage work
Text: William Plomer (1903-1973), from the ''Book of Daniel'', Chapter 1-3

Also incorporating the Benedicite from The Book of Common Prayer.

Performing forces:

Cast and instruments

Principals: Nebuchadnezzar ten, The astrologer bar, Ananias bar, Misael ten, Azarias bass, The herald and leader of the courtiers bar

Chorus of courtiers 3 ten, 2 bar, 2 bass, attendants 5 trbl

Instruments: fl (=picc), hn, alto trbn, va, db (=Babylonian drum), harp (=little harp), perc (5 small untuned drums, anvil (small untuned steel plate), 2 tuned wb, lyra block, Babylonian drum, multiple whip), chamber org (=small cymb)

The work is to be performed without conductor.

Duration: 64'
Dedication: 'To Donald and Kathleen Mitchell'

Donald Mitchell (b. 1925), British musicologist, critic and publisher and close adviser and friend of Britten; and his wife Kathleen Mitchell, educationalist and writer.

Notes

The framing plainchant is the sequence 'Salus aeterna'.

Resources

All content copyright (C) Britten-Pears Foundation 2012 unless stated. Please note all BTC numbers are provisional at this stage.