' (''The Illuminations''), Op. 18, is a

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rare ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

, first performed in 1940. It is composed for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

soloist and

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

, and sets verse and prose poems written in 1872–1873 by

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, part of his collection '' Les Illuminations''.

History

Britten began writing the cycle in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

in March 1939 and completed it a few months later in the United States. It was the first of his song cycles to gain widespread popularity. The cycle was originally written for a soprano; Britten's biographer David Matthews comments that the work is "so much more sensuous when sung by the soprano voice for which the songs were conceived".Matthews, p. 56 Nevertheless the work can be, and more often is, sung by a tenor: Britten conducted the piece with

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...

as soloist within two years of the premiere. The first performance of the cycle was given on 30 January 1940 at the Aeolian Hall, London, by

Sophie Wyss Sophie Adele Wyss (5 July 189725 December 1983) was a Swiss soprano who made her career as a concert singer and broadcaster in the UK. She was noted for her performances of French works, many of them new to Britain, for giving the world premieres ...

, to whom the cycle is dedicated. (There are also dedications for individual sections.)

Boyd Neel Louis Boyd Neel O.C. (19 July 190530 September 1981) was an English, and later Canadian conductor and academic. He was Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto. Neel founded and conducted chamber orchestras, and cont ...

conducted his string orchestra.

Structure

The work takes about 21 minutes in performance. The nine sections are: * 1. Fanfare * 2. Villes * 3a and 3b. Phrase and Antique * 4. Royauté * 5. Marine * 6. Interlude * 7. Being beauteous * 8. Parade * 9. Départ The work begins with a single sentence (taken from the poem "Parade") "" ("I alone have the key to this savage parade"). Seemingly, Britten takes this to mean that only the artist, observing the world with detachment, can make sense of the "savage parade" that is human life. The sentence is sung three times during the cycle.

Recordings

''Les Illuminations'' has been frequently recorded. Among the tenor versions is a 1963 set by Pears and the composer with the

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

. Soprano versions include those by

Jill Gomez Jill Carnegy, Countess of Northesk (''née'' Gomez; born 21 September 1942) is a Trinidadian and British soprano who enjoyed an active career on the operatic stage and in the concert hall in a wide repertoire, and has made many recordings. Lif ...

and John Whitfield with the Endymion Ensemble (recorded 1987) and Felicity Lott and Steuart Bedford with the English Chamber Orchestra (recorded 1994)."Phaedra; Five French folksong arrangements; Les illuminations"
an
"Illuminations (Les) / Our Hunting Fathers / Chansons Françaises"
World Cat, accessed 13 October 2014

Ballet versions

The work has been choreographed by

Sir Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositi ...

and Richard Alston."Britten, Benjamin: Les Illuminations op. 18"

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 thro ...

, accessed 12 May 2013

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Illuminations, Les Song cycles by Benjamin Britten 1940 compositions Classical song cycles in French Musical settings of poems by Arthur Rimbaud