The Golden Vanity (Britten)
The Golden Vanity is a musical setting of an adaptation by Colin Graham of a traditional folk song, also known as "The Sweet Trinity", for boys' voices (five soloists and chorus) and piano by the English composer Benjamin Britten (1913–76). The composer described it as a vaudeville. The boys act out parts as well as sing; Britten wrote on the score: "The Vaudeville should be given in costume but without scenery ... The action ... should be mimed in a simple way and only a few basic properties, such as telescopes and a rope, are needed ... A drum should be used for the sound of cannon fire".
The Golden Vanity was composed in 1966, and premiered on 3 June 1967 at the Aldeburgh Festival by the Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben), to whom it was dedicated. Britten's notes on the score indicate that the work came about as a result of a request from the boys of the Wiener Sängerknaben themselves, to perform on their tours. "They particularly asked that they should not have to play girls' parts", Britten wrote.[1] The Golden Vanity was published as his Op. 78.[2][3][4][5]
According to Graham, the Vienna Boys Choir gave a "riotous" performance at the premiere; but when they returned to England to perform it at the Royal Festival Hall some months later, they were "absolutely shattered and exhausted" after "one of their interminable world tours". Britten "was furious and lodged a formal complaint with the director of the choir for exploiting and exhausting the boys". The work was subsequently dropped from their repertoire.[2]
Britten set one of the darker versions of the song, in which the brave cabin boy is abandoned to drown. John Bridcut has summarised it thus: "It tells the story of a battle at sea, and a cabin-boy who ensures victory for the crew of The Golden Vanity by drilling holes in the pirate ship they are fighting, and sinking it. His captain reneges on his promised reward (the hand of his daughter), and leaves the boy to drown. But the spirit of the boy returns at the end of the piece, just as in Curlew River two years before."[5]
The work includes passing literary and musical allusions to Britten's 1951 opera Billy Budd.[3]
It falls into four sections:
- "There Was a Ship Came from the North Country"
- "Then Up Spake the Cabin-boy"
- "Casting His Clothes Off He Dived into the Sea"
- "They Laid Him on the Deck"
A typical performance takes about 18 minutes.[6]
Recordings
- 1993 – The Wandsworth School Boys' Choir, Benjamin Britten (piano), Russell Burgess (choral director). Decca CD 436 397-2; recorded 1970 [4][6][7]
- 1994 – Wiener Sängerknaben, Andrei Gavrilov (piano). Deutsche Grammophon CD 439 778-2 [8]
- 2005 – Monnaie Children's Choir, Bruno Crabbé (piano). Fuga Libera FUG507 CD [9]
References
- ^ Liner notes to Decca SET 445 (1970) and CD Box Set 475 6040, p.28
- ^ a b Carpenter, Humphrey (1992). Benjamin Britten: A Biography. Faber and Faber. pp. 467–468. ISBN 0-571-14324-5.
- ^ a b Evans, Peter (1979). The Music of Benjamin Britten. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. pp. 284–285. ISBN 0-460-04350-1.
- ^ a b Liner notes to Decca CD 436 397-2.
- ^ a b "Listening to Britten – The Golden Vanity, Op.78". Good Morning Britten. December 23, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
- ^ a b Benjamin Britten: The Golden Vanity, vaudeville for boys' voices & piano, Op. 78 at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ "Britten's Noye's Fludde and The Golden Vanity". The Gramophone. October 9, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
- ^ Wiener Sängerknaben, Andrei Gavrilov – Britten – The Golden Vanity at Discogs
- ^ Monnaie Children's Choir, Bruno Crabbé – Britten – Works for Children's Voices at Discogs
- v
- t
- e
- 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)
- Curlew River (1964)
- The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
- The Prodigal Son (1968)
- Plymouth Town (1931)
- Night Mail (1936)
- The Prince of the Pagodas (1956)
- 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)
- The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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) and Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi (1971)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Homage to Paderewski (1941)
- Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (1953)
- War Requiem (1989 film)
- Benjamin Britten (train)
- Benjamin Britten Academy
- Britten Inlet
- Britten Hall
- Britten Sinfonia
- Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century
- Britten's Children
- Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
- English Opera Group
- The Dark Tower
- Scallop (2003)