Britten drew plenty of fire for being (a) clever, (b) successful and (c) homosexual. Not everyone was as mischievous or ungrateful as those who called Billy Budd ‘Twilight of the Sods’ (supposedly the conductor Thomas Beecham, who was never short of a bon mot), or ‘The Buggers’ Opera’ (reputedly Britten’s prickly composer colleague, William Walton).

But some were.

THEODOR ADORNO

German musicologist 1903–69

A taste for bad taste, a simplicity founded in ignorance, immaturity that fancies itself clear minded, and a lack of technical capacity [faults he said were shared with Stravinsky and Shostakovich]. (1949)

W. H. AUDEN

British poet 1907–73

I think you are the white hope of music. (1942)

Wherever you go you are and probably always will be surrounded by people who adore you, nurse you and praise everything you do. But beware. You see, Bengy dear, you are always tempted to make things too easy for yourself in this way, i.e. to build yourself a warm nest of love by playing the lovable talented little boy. If you are really to develop to your full stature, you will have, I think, to suffer, and make others suffer. (1942)

JANET BAKER

British mezzo-soprano 1933–

To be with him was a bit like being with the Queen: in those circumstances you’re never quite natural. I suppose it’s almost like the sensation of being in love. Something happens to time, and one seems to be living in a highly volatile present. Nothing matters except the other person, and the moments you spend with them. (1981)

From those who worked with him he demanded absolute loyalty. The commitment had to be complete. If anybody fell below his high standards, they were asking for trouble. (1981)

BEVERLEY BAXTER

Canadian-born theatre critic and Conservative MP 1891–1964

(on Gloriana)
For minutes at a time – minutes piled upon minutes – it was as clamorous and ugly as hammers striking steel rails. (1953)

LENNOX BERKELEY

British composer 1903–89

(on hearing Britten play the first act of Peter Grimes on the piano in 1944)
Though greatly excited, I was not astonished, because I knew already that he was capable of something like this, and was expecting it.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN

American composer and conductor 1918–90

You are among the few composers whose work I cherish, in the most personal way. (1973)

Ben Britten was a man at odds with the world. It’s strange, because on the surface Britten’s music would seem to be decorative, positive, charming, but it’s so much more than that. When you hear Britten’s music, if you really hear it, not just listen to it superficially, you become aware of something very dark. There are gears that are grinding and not quite meshing, and they make a great pain. (1980)

R. V. BRITTEN

Father 1877–1934

Oh! Ben, my boy, what does it feel like to hear your own creation? Didn’t you want to get up and shout – It’s mine! It’s mine! (1933)

ERIC CROZIER

Producer of Britten’s operas 1914–94

From the first bar he was on top of his form, like a trained athlete beginning a race, nervously intense, poised, determined to succeed, and revelling in his mastery – and at such times he radiated a kind of magnetism that inspired everyone who played or sang with him. (1966)

I have been puzzled and astonished to see how much he has altered and how ugly he has become. His neck is thicker, his features coarser, and when his face is in repose his expression seems to be largely compounded of arrogance, impatience and hostility. (1966)

JOHN DRUMMOND

Television producer and arts administrator 1934–2006

Eventually Britten agreed to be interviewed [for a film about the singer Kathleen Ferrier] on condition that neither Nancy Evans, Ferrier’s closest friend, nor Evans’s husband, the librettist Eric Crozier, appeared in the programme. In a way typical of how things were at Aldeburgh. The proposal to exclude him and his wife was preposterous, and one I found it very hard to accept. (2000)

I never had any difficulty with Pears, right up to the end of his life, but with Britten I always felt I was walking on eggshells. It made for uncomfortable meetings. (2000)

QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER

1900–2002

The record of Les Illuminations has arrived, and Ruth [Lady Fermoy] & I have played it several times, & listened with the greatest joy. There is no sound here [the Castle of Mey in northern Scotland] except the shushing of the sea & the crying of the seabirds, & this music is exactly right for the atmosphere here of sea & sky & silence. I find it extraordinarily moving. (1970)

OSIAN ELLIS

British harpist 1928–

Ben liked his players. He knew them by their names. He would remember your wife’s name, even your kid’s name – which is very unusual for a conductor. He was the one conductor who made you play your best – you couldn’t do enough for him. I don’t know another conductor who does that for you. (1991)

DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU

German baritone 1925–

(on taking part in the premiere of Britten’s War Requiem)
I was completely undone; I did not know where to hide my face. Dead friends and past suffering arose in my mind. (1989)

(on Britten’s 1972 performance of Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, the year before his heart operation)
The applause kept swelling and would not die down. I can still see Ben, tottering slightly during and after the performance.

It made him seem like a tall tree shaken by the wind. His ‘wonderful’ at the end was almost inaudible. He seemed like someone who makes a religious profession in a delirium. Blissful and exhausted, he held out the score to the public in honour of Schumann. (1989)

Ben found it difficult to deal with the world. Though he was careful never to let anyone see that side of him, darkness reigned all the more frequently in his music, speaking of the shadow side of life. (1989)

E. M. FORSTER

British novelist 1879 –1970

I am rather a fierce old man at the moment, and he is rather a spoilt boy, and certainly a busy one. (1950)

ALAN GARNER

British novelist 1934–

(on writing his novel Elidor)
I found myself playing the War Requiem in the frequent periods of floor-walking and breast-beating, and at the end of each playing I usually saw the answer to the problem. I should say that I am musically illiterate: my response is always limited to the emotional. I turned up the volume, wept, and then wrote. (1965)

JOHN GIELGUD

British actor and producer 1904–2000

(on producing Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
I do hope we have done some credit to your beautiful work, which I love more and more. (1961)

COLIN GRAHAM

British opera producer 1931–2007

He was besotted by youth – he just worshipped youth and tried to maintain it in himself, in his own life, until the day he died. (2003)

WALTER GREATOREX

Britten’s music master 1877–1949

So this is the little boy who likes Stravinsky! (1928)

JOYCE GRENFELL

British comedienne 1910–79

Of course Ben B is famous for hot weather friendships that cool in a trice and out goes whoever is the victim. But let’s hope it’s different this time. Why not? (1960)

(on singing to Britten a song she had written about the Aldeburgh Festival)
I sang it well and the reaction was so extraordinary that I was quite flummoxed. Ben ran to me and embraced me, weeping! He was very touched and moved. It was very dear and entirely unexpected. (1967)

PETER HALL

British theatre director 1930–

There is something thoughtful about him – like a precise headmaster who is going to stand no nonsense. But he has infinite charm and a great sense of humour. He has a reputation for gathering a court around him so that he can play the wilful emperor. But he is already a living legend. (1972)

VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON

British composer, BBC music executive 1901–47

I do wholeheartedly subscribe to the general opinion that Mr Britten is the most interesting new arrival since Walton, and I feel we should watch his work very carefully. (1933)

DAVID HEMMINGS

British actor, formerly boy soprano 1941–2003

You couldn’t have had a better father, or a better friend. I loved him dearly, I really did – I absolutely adored him. I didn’t fancy him, I wouldn’t have gone to b … – well, I did go to bed with him, but I didn’t go to bed with him in that way. (2003)

ROBIN HOLLOWAY

British composer 1943–

This music has the power to connect the avant-garde with the lost paradise of tonality. (1977)

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