Benjamin Britten is one of the most widely celebrated composers of the 20th century. He is perhaps most closely associated with vocal music, notably 16 operas, 15 song cycles, the five Canticles for various small combinations of voices and instruments, and the War Requiem, considered by many to be his masterpiece. But Britten composed plenty of purely instrumental music in the form of symphonies, concertos, chamber music and solo works. All this ingenuity and industry has landed Britten on the 2026 WWCMF Poster!

The string quartet is a form that Britten returned to throughout his life, his first appearing in 1931 as a student at the Royal College of Music. Though it is without opus number and remained unpublished for a long time, Britten eventually worked on a revision in 1974 near the end of his life. His first published and numbered string quartet is from 1941, composed in Escondido, CA, USA on a commission from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. (Britten spent much of the war in the United States as a cultural ambassador of the UK.) The second published quartet is from 1945, composed in England after the war for the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the death of Britten’s undisputed favorite composer, Henry Purcell. (Things get Chacony!) His last, the String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 94, was composed in 1975 between his home in Aldeburgh, UK, and Venice, Italy. It represents his final completed instrumental work, quoting liberally from his final opera, Death in Venice.

Each quartet is a work of astounding beauty, invention, and form, and together, they form a portrait of an extraordinary artist, pacifist and most conscientious of objectors. This evening’s performance consists of several movements from each of Britten’s three published string quartets in the manner of WWCMF’s Portrait of an Artist Series.

Doors open at 5 PM.

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Selectons from:

String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 (1941)

String Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36 (1945)

String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 94 (1975)

Artists: Girsky String Quartet: Natasha Bazhanov, violin; Timothy Christie, viola/commentary; Artur Girsky, violin; Rowena Hammill, cello