Who Are These Children?
Who Are These Children? is a song cycle for tenor and piano composed in 1969 by Benjamin Britten (1913–76), and published as his Op. 84. It consists of settings of twelve poems by the Scottish poet William Soutar (1898–1943).
It was written to mark the 700th National Galleries of Scotland Concert. It was dedicated to Tertia Liebenthal, honorary organiser of the Edinburgh lunch-hour concerts. The first performance was at Edinburgh on 4 May 1971 by Peter Pears (tenor) and the composer (piano); Liebenthal had by then died, and it was given in her memory.[1][2][3]
A performance typically takes about 20 minutes. The songs are:[4]
- "A Riddle (The Earth)"
- "A Laddie's Sang"
- "Nightmare"
- "Black Day"
- "Bed-time"
- "Slaughter"
- "A Riddle (The Child You Were)"
- "The Larky Lad"
- "Who Are These Children?"
- "Supper"
- "The Children"
- "The Auld Aik"
Four of the poems (Nos. 3, 6, 9 and 11) are in Scottish Standard English; the other eight are in Lowland Scots. The latter comprise five pithy miniatures (which Soutar called "Bairn-Rhymes"), a "Bairn's Song" (No. 12) and two riddles; the former "deal with darker themes, particularly the plight of children in the context of violence and war".[3]
The cycle was recorded by the original performers for Decca in November 1972 at The Maltings, Snape. The producer was Ray Minshull and the recording engineer Kenneth Wilkinson.[5]
References
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey (1992). Benjamin Britten: A Biography. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 497–498, 545. ISBN 0-571-14324-5.
- ^ Evans, Peter (1979). The Music of Benjamin Britten. London, Melbourne and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. pp. 385–391. ISBN 0-460-04350-1.
- ^ a b "Who are these Children?". Britten-Pears Foundation. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ "Texts to Who are these children?: Song Cycle by Benjamin Britten". The LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ Liner notes to Decca LP SXL 6608.
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- 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)
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