My beloved man : the letters of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears /

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<p>Review in Fontes:&nbsp;http://muse.jhu.edu/article/650244</p>

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-425) and index.'When I am not with you' : August 1937 to January 1941 (Letters 1-12) -- 'My life is inextricably bound up in yours' : May 1942 to November 1944 (Letters 13-70) -- 'I don't know why we should be so lucky, in all this misery' : July 1945 to April 1949 (Letters 71-125) -- 'You are potentially the greatest singer alive' : Late 1949 to January 1954 (Letters 126-88) -- 'Why shouldn't I recognise that you are such a large part of my life' : May 1954 to December 1959 (Letters 189-246) -- 'Far away as you are, at least I feel there is contact!' : January 1960 to March 1968 (Letters 247-313) -- 'It is you who have given me everything' : January 1970 to June 1975 (Letters 314-53) -- 'My days are not empty' : January to November 1976 (Letters 354-65) -- Personalia. First names and nicknames ; Personalia -- List of works. Britten works ; Works by other composers ; Artworks ; Books, poems and plays ; Films.It's a life of the two of us.' This volume comprises the complete surviving correspondence between Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. The 365 letters written throughout their 39-year relationship are here brought together and published, as Pears intended, for the first time. While the correspondence provides valuable evidence of the development of Britten's works, more significant is the insight into his relationship with Pears and their day-to-day life together. Entertaining to read, domestic and intimate, the letters provide glimpses of cultural and artistic life in the twentieth century, including pacifism and conscientious objection, critical assessments of music and other artists, transport and communications development in the twentieth century, the 'Aldeburgh corpses', art collecting, gossip, everyday life in an English country house, the development of the Aldeburgh Festival, performance practice in early music, looking after dachshunds, travel, and a host of other topics. Above all, when read together, Britten and Pears's letters allow the clearest possible look 'behind the scenes' of one of the most productive creative partnerships of the twentieth century.