Britten Thematic Catalogue

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BTC791 WHEN YOU'RE FEELING LIKE EXPRESSING YOUR AFFECTION

Song for high voice and piano
Composition date: Between Sep-Nov 1935
First performance: 15 Jun 1992 >>
Type of performance: Concert performance
Location: Blythburgh Church, Aldeburgh Festival
Performance details:

Lucy Shelton sop, Ian Brown pf

Genre: Solo vocal
Text: W.H. Auden (1907-1973) [attributed]
Duration: 1'

Notes

Britten does not identify the author of the text, and the manuscript is undated, but the song may be the one Hedli Anderson (for whom Britten wrote the Cabaret songs) remembered singing in connection with a GPO film during Auden's time with the Film Unit. An early sketch for the song can be found on the front of the full score for Negroes, which was written between September-November 1935. Furthermore, several of the GPO films concerned telephone systems, and the text of this song references a telephone operator.

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