Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber: Their Lives and their Music (review)

An earlier book in the new series entitled 'Parallel Lives', pairing Ives and Copland, was also written by Daniel Felsenfeld, a composer and journalist. The present second volume is geared towards readers who are musically untrained but willing to apply themselves to detailed guided listening. The author chooses eight works (four by each composer) of various genres, including single-movement instrumental works (Barber's Adagio for Strings and Second Essay for orchestra, the Passacaglia from Peter Grimes), works for voice and orchestra (Britten's Serenade, Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915), multi-movement works (Britten's Third Quartet, Barber's Piano Sonata), and an entire opera (The Turn of the Screw). A CD containing much of the music discussed (from the Naxos catalogue) is packaged with the book.

One major problem with the book as a music appreciation text is that it is visually unappealing, with minimal page design and not a single photograph or music example. Moreover, sloppy production has failed to catch spelling errors in many important proper names (Gian Carlo Menotti, Myfanwy Piper, Chester Kallman, Shelley, Saint Nicolas, among others). Yet an undaunted reader will find that the writing in general is accomplished, evocative, and musically knowledgeable. A popularizing aim is evident in hip references to iPods and the television show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

The book combines brief biographies (broken into tiny chapters), a pair of essays on biographical topics (Britten and sexuality, Barber's failure with the opera Antony and Cleopatra), and listening guides, which comprise half the volume. The biographical material is condensed from other books, with the occasional favouring of sensational detail ('[John] Ireland sometimes came to lessons so smashed that he would either piss on the floor or make sexual passes at the teenager'; p. 17). Some of the listening guides seem overweighted with musical detail, while that for The Turn of the Screw is little more than a synopsis of every scene. Analytical commentary is plagued by music-historical gaffes (such as reference to the 'Renaissance' theory of the talea in relation to a passacaglia (p. 89), or to the hocket as a 'technique from Renaissance madrigals' in relation to Britten's quartet (p. 135)). The discussion of the Peter Grimes Passacaglia also incorrectly relates the final thematic return to the dramatic action (p. 96).

But in general, the first-time listener may find much material in the listening apparatus helpful, from descriptions of unfolding musical narratives to critical considerations of 'What Does the Piece Set Out to Accomplish?' Popularizing writing is vulnerable to lapses in tone, and I find that to be true here. The following general discussion of Britten's style, for instance, begins with insightful speculation but veers oddly into comedy: 'Britten's music itself reflects a sense of separation from the rest of the world—a bright surface that often belies a dark wash beneath, the spikiness that often offsets a lush, Tosca-like melody, creating a strange musical correlative. What at first seems simple, almost puerile, often slides and slips its way into something that sounds ominous, black, and heavy—like Vaughan Williams on a bender or a shot taken at Elgar from beneath' (p. 72).

Finally, given the parallel format of this book, which nevertheless mostly keeps its two subjects quite separate, the question arises: what is gained from the pairing of the two composers? The two most obvious shared characteristics are sexual orientation and (putatively) conservative musical style. The author considers the first topic in some detail in relation to Britten, concluding that his sexual proclivities, while not the sole key to understanding his work, can furnish 'important clues' (p. 77). But he never develops the question in a comparative way so as to distinguish between two homosexual lives, or two musical responses to sexual experience. He does spend some time defending both composers from charges of conservatism, rehabilitating their...