Britten Thematic Catalogue

Beta Version

BTC631 THE BIRDS

For soprano and strings
Period of composition: 3 Jun - 4 Aug 1929
Revised: 4 Aug-30 Dec 1929, 30 Dec 1929-30 May 1930
Genre: Solo vocal
Text: Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)
Dedication: Dedicated to Mrs R.V. Britten.

The dedication is phrased slightly differently on each of the fair copy scores.

Notes

This was later revised for medium voice and piano, and published in 1934 (see 'Related works'). Britten submitted this piece for a composition scholarship at the Royal College of Music in 1930.

All content copyright (C) Britten-Pears Foundation 2012 unless stated. Please note all BTC numbers are provisional at this stage.