Britten Thematic Catalogue

Beta Version

BTC739 THREE TWO-PART SONGS

For boys' or women's voices and piano
Subtitle: For boys' or women's voices and piano
Other titles: Three studies in canon

Title on manuscript source.

Period of composition: 15 - 29 Feb 1932
First performance: 12 Dec 1932 >>
Type of performance: Concert performance
Location: The Ballet Club (Mercury Theatre), London, Macnaghten-Lemare concert.
Performance details:

Carlyle Singers, Benjamin Britten pf, Iris Lemare cond.

Genre: Choral
Text: Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)

Notes

These part-songs were the first of Britten's works to be published. They were originally called 'Three studies in canon' (as marked on the fair copy). The revisions in May 1932 included the transposition of 'The ride-by-nights' and 'The rainbow' into G minor and C major respectively. Britten notes in his diary that he brought these songs to a lesson with John Ireland to discuss the transpositions (25-27 May 1932) and later on to discuss the proofs (10 Oct 1932).The third song, 'The ship of rio', was later arranged for medium voice and piano in 1963.

Movements

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