Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten Volume Six: 1966–1976 ed. by Philip Reed and Mervyn Cooke, and: Britten in Pictures by Lucy Walker (review)

Benjamin Britten often claimed that the sole means of expression for him was music. He struggled with writing and hated being photographed. When asked to contribute an essay on Death in Venice to a volume celebrating Thomas Mann’s centenary in 1975, Britten wrote: ‘I can say no more than that my reactions to this novella are expressed in the opera I have based on this work’ (Letters from a Life, vi. 611). Such reticence notwithstanding, Britten kept copies of almost all his written documents and photographs, which are now preserved at the Red House in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. These materials are showcased in two new books published by Boydell Press in association with the Britten–Pears Foundation (BPF): Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Volume Six: 1966–1976, edited by Mervyn Cooke and Philip Reed, and Britten in Pictures, edited by Lucy Walker. These publications show that Britten’s words and images still have the power to reveal a great deal about the composer.

Letters from a Life is the final instalment of a six-volume series begun in 1991. Although the series has seen changes in its editorial staff—the first two volumes were edited by Donald Mitchell and Philip Reed, Mervyn Cooke became involved in volume 3, and the final three volumes were edited by Cooke and Reed alone—the belief that these letters together should constitute a ‘documentary biography’ has remained constant (vol. 6, p. xxxvi). In his introduction to the first volume, Mitchell explained that the editors’ intention was to ‘establish the pattern of Britten’s life’ in describing both the moments of inspiration and the mundane routines, or, as Mitchell put it, ‘the music and the haircuts’ that make up the life of a composer (vol. 1, p. 3). This last volume maintains this delicate balance, deftly navigating a pathway through the final decade of the composer’s life that blends discussion of musical milestones with a detailed account of how Britten’s illness led to his gradual withdrawal from the world of performing and composing.

Volume six covers the years during which Britten wrote such important works as the Church Parables, Death in Venice, the Third String Quartet, and the cantata Phaedra. As in previous volumes, Reed and Cooke use lengthy discursive footnotes to guide the reader. In the introduction, Reed describes the process of assembling these footnotes as the ‘forensic combing of the archival material’ (p. xxxv), and the painstaking attention to detail is what makes this series so valuable for scholars. Nearly every reference to a person, work of art, or event is provided with a thorough annotation. Reed and Cooke have also scoured Britten’s personal library, located at the Red House, so that researchers may consult the specific copy of a book that Britten used in composing a particular piece. For references to BBC radio broadcasts or Decca recordings, the editors indicate when the performance was transmitted or released and on which newly issued CD the reader can find it today. The result is a formidable catalogue of information that may serve as a starting point to investigating nearly any facet of Britten’s music or late life.

Of course, in any volume of selected letters, the question is always what has been left out. As Reed acknowledges in a footnote in the introduction, he, Cooke, and Mitchell are considered to be part of the Aldeburgh ‘stable’ that has often been accused of protecting Britten’s image (p. xxxiv n. 9). Scholars on...