Britten Thematic Catalogue
Beta Version
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Original title.
Sophie Wyss sop, Adolph Hallis pf
Nos 10 and 11 only
Britten's brother, Robert, who was headmaster at Clive House School.
The set was completed in May 1934, and, under the title 'Twelve songs for schools', was originally offered to and accepted by OUP in December of that year. However, problems over performing rights proved to be insoluble (Britten was a member of the Performing Right Society, but at that date OUP was not) and the songs were returned to the composer in January 1935. At a very late stage in the production of the first edition by Boosey & Hawkes one song, 'Lone dog', had to be removed because of copyright difficulties over the text, and Britten composed 'Begone, dull care' as a replacement. The omitted song was included as an appendix in the new edition published in 1994.
Britten arranged 'A new year carol' for chorus (SSA) and piano in 1971.