Winter Words (song cycle)

Song cycle based on Thomas Hardy's poetry

Winter Words, Op. 52, is a song cycle for tenor and piano by Benjamin Britten. Written in 1953, it sets eight poems by Thomas Hardy.[1] The cycle is named after Hardy's last published collection, but the poems are from different parts of his collected poems.[2]

The cycle was premiered at the Leeds Festival in October 1953, with Peter Pears singing and Britten at the piano. It was dedicated to John and Myfanwy Piper \-- Myfanwy Piper was the librettist of Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw, which was begun in 1953 and premiered the following year.[3]

A performance takes about 22 minutes.[3] The poems are:[4]

1. "At Day-Close in November"
2. "Midnight on the Great Western" (or, "The Journeying Boy")
3. "Wagtail and Baby (A Satire)"
4. "The Little Old Table"
5. "The Choirmaster's Burial" (or, "The Tenor Man's Story")
6. "Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches and Nightingales)"
7. "At the Railway Station, Upway" (or, "The Convict and Boy with the Violin")
8. "Before Life and After"

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Winter Words". Britten-Pears Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
2. ^ Johnson, Graham (2003). Britten, Voice and Piano - Lectures on the Vocal Music of Benjamin Britten. Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 224–227\. ISBN 9780754638728.
3. ^ a b Benjamin Britten: Winter Words, song cycle for tenor & piano, Op. 52 at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
4. ^ "Winter words: Song Cycle by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

* v
* t
* e

Benjamin Britten

List of compositions

Opera and operetta|

* Paul Bunyan (1941)
* Peter Grimes (1945)
* The Rape of Lucretia (1946)
* Albert Herring (1947)
* The Little Sweep (1949)
* Billy Budd (1951)
* Gloriana (1953)
* The Turn of the Screw (1954)
* Noye's Fludde (1958)
* A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960)
* Owen Wingrave (1971)
* Death in Venice (1973)

Church parables|

* Curlew River (1964)
* The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
* The Prodigal Son (1968)

Film/Ballet|

* Plymouth Town (1931)
* Night Mail (1936)
* The Prince of the Pagodas (1956)

Orchestral|

* Sinfonietta (1932)
* Simple Symphony (1934)
* Soirées musicales (1937)
* Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (1937)
* Mont Juic (1937)
* Sinfonia da Requiem (1940)
* Matinées musicales (1941)
* An American Overture (1941)
* The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946)

Concertante|

* Piano Concerto (1938, rev. 1945)
* Violin Concerto (1939, rev. 1958)
* Young Apollo (1939)
* Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra (1940 rev. 1954)
* Cello Symphony (1963)

Vocal/Choral Orchestral|

* Our Hunting Fathers (1936)
* The Company of Heaven (1937)
* Les Illuminations (1939)
* Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943)
* Saint Nicolas (1948)
* Spring Symphony (1949)
* Nocturne (1958)
* Cantata academica (1959)
* War Requiem (1961)
* Cantata misericordium (1963)
* Children's Crusade (1969)
* Phaedra (1975)

Vocal|

* Beware! Three Early Songs (1922–26)
* Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (1940)
* The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945)
* Britten's Purcell realizations (1945)+
* 5 Canticles (1947–75, including Canticle I: My beloved is mine and I am his, Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac (1952), Canticle III: Still falls the rain (1954), Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi (1971) and Canticle V: The Death of Saint Narcissus (1974)
* A Charm of Lullabies (1947)
* Winter Words (1954)
* Songs from the Chinese (1957)
* Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente (1958)
* Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965)
* The Poet's Echo (1965)
* Who Are These Children? (1969)
* A Birthday Hansel (1975)

Choral|

* Friday Afternoons (1932–1935)
* A Boy was Born (1933)
* Te Deum in C (1934)
* Advance Democracy (1938)
* A Ceremony of Carols (1942)
* Hymn to St Cecilia (1942)
* Festival Te Deum (1944)
* Rejoice in the Lamb (1943)
* Five Flower Songs (1950)
* Hymn to St Peter (1955)
* Missa Brevis (1959)
* A Hymn of St Columba (1962)
* The Golden Vanity (1966)
* Children's Crusade (1968)
* Sacred and Profane (8 medieval lyrics) (1974)
* Jubilate Deo (1961)

Chamber/Instrumental|

* String Quartet in D major (1931)
* Phantasy Quartet (oboe quartet, 1932)
* String Quartet No. 1 (1941)
* String Quartet No. 2 (1945)
* Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria (organ, 1946)
* Six Metamorphoses after Ovid (oboe, 1951)
* Fanfare for St Edmundsbury (three trumpets, 1959)
* Cello sonata (1961)
* Nocturnal after John Dowland (guitar, 1963)
* Cello suites (1964, 1967, 1972)
* String Quartet No. 3 (1975)
* Tema "Sacher" (1976)

Collaborations|

* Homage to Paderewski (1941)
* Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (1953)

Film adaptations|

* War Requiem (1989 film)

Legacy|

* Aldeburgh Festival
* Britten Pears Arts
* Britten Pears Young Artist Programme
* Britten-Pears Orchestra
* Snape Maltings Concert Hall
* The Red House, Aldeburgh

Named after Britten|

* Benjamin Britten (train)
* Benjamin Britten Academy
* Britten Inlet
* Britten Hall
* Britten Sinfonia

Related articles|

* Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century
* Britten's Children
* Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
* English Opera Group
* The Dark Tower
* Scallop (2003)

Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

Other|

* MusicBrainz work

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template