Britten Thematic Catalogue

Beta Version

BTC1126 UNTITLED PIECE (unfinished)

For piano
Subtitle: For piano
Other titles: Variations

Title under which they have been recorded (Unknown Britten, 2009).

Period of composition: ca. Summer 1965 - ca. Autumn 1965
Date notes

The opening of the sketch shares a page with a crossed-out ink copy of the first song of The poet's echo, op. 76, which was completed in August 1965; there was then was a gap of a few months before composition began on The burning fiery furnace, op. 77 during which Britten may well have sketched these variations.

Genre: Solo piano

Notes

Britten had composed Night piece (Notturno) (1963) as a test piece for the Leeds piano competition, and was invited to write another such piece for the second competition, to be held in September 1966. He stopped just before the end of the sixth variation, but the scheme of the work suggests at least another four were planned. See Letters from a life, volume 5.

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