Britten Thematic Catalogue

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BTC855 ON THE FRONTIER

Theatre music
Composition date: Oct 1938
First performance: 14 Nov 1938 >>
Type of performance: Theatre performance
Location: Arts Theatre, Cambridge
Performance details:

Group Theatre, Benjamin Britten pf, Sidney Ellison, Bernard Brown tpt, Brian Easdale perc & music director

Genre: Incidental music
Text: (of play and vocal numbers) W.H. Auden (1907-1973) and Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986)
Performing forces:

Male v, chorus (SSMezTBarB) - 2 tpt (C) - perc (sus cym, sd, td, bd) - acd, pf (2 and 4 hands)

Notes

Auden and Isherwood dedicated the play to Britten with the following verse:

The drums tap out sensational bulletins;/Frantic the efforts of the violins/To drown the song behind the guarded hill:/The dancers do not listen; but they will.

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