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Festival Te Deum, Op. 32, was written by Benjamin Britten and was scored for SATB chorus and organ. This piece was commissioned in 1944 for the 100th anniversary of St. Mark’s Church in Swindon, Great Britain, and had its first performance on April 24, 1945.2

Musical influences

Britten attributed several composers for having a great impact on his compositional process. He wrote of the importance of Vienna and all of the great composers who had graced the city.4 He expressed a strong desire to study with Alban Berg at the suggestion of Frank Bridge. Although this never occurred, Britten stated that the expressionism and modernism of Berg’s Wozzeck influenced him to write Peter Grimes.5 He also expressed much gratitude to Arnold Schoenberg by writing, “Every serious composer today has felt the effect of his courage, single-mindedness, and determination, and has profited by the clarity of his teaching.”6 Britten greatly admired the works of Dimitri Shostakovich which is evident by the following, “What a pleasure, therefore, when many years later I met Dmitry, to find the man as lovable, as characteristic, as great and contemporary as his music.”7

Britten not only expressed admiration for modern composers but also those that came before him. Britten often spoke of Frédéric Chopin and his remarkable gift for beautiful melodies as well as colorful harmonies.8 One can see why Britten would identify this feature by examining his own gift for continuous, unfolding melodies. Britten showed great admiration for Franz Schubert's use of form and text. He believed Schubert had a heightened awareness of textual importance which he attempted to achieve in his works as well.9

One of his strongest admirations was for Giuseppe Verdi.10 He stated the following about his interactions with Verdi’s La Traviata: “That was the beginning of a devotion to the music of Verdi which grows greater as I grow older, as I get to know fresh works of his, and deepen my understanding of the ones I already know.”11 Britten found that Verdi’s ability to create melodies, gift of writing simple yet surprising harmonies, and balancing the voice to the power of the orchestra superb.12

Compositional process and musical style

“If you want to know why I started writing, it was because I liked music in a big way.”13 This was Britten’s response to a question about his reasons for composing. Britten’s compositional ideas as he began a work were based on rhythm, melody, timbre and form.14 As Britten described, “My method is quite simple. I plan my work away from the piano and away, moreover, from paper. I do 99 percent of my work thinking about it. Then when the music is fixed in my head I go to the paper and work out more precisely the details.”15

Britten’s musical style in his choral repertoire is that of simplicity, which is beautiful yet accessible.16 His early works are primarily tonal but move toward tonal ambiguity and extension as the composer developed.17 Even so, tonal relationships are still present.18 His pieces often show use of prominent intervals, often in a horizontal manner.19 Britten’s works place importance on texture, registration, and timbre.20 His compositional output shows an emphasis on form and, like Chopin, avoids repeating the same material.21 Britten places an emphasis on linear motion and includes lyric melody. This often includes one motive which is then used to develop and unify the piece.22

Britten’s spirituality

Very little is mentioned of Britten’s spirituality. One cannot look at his choral music without taking this into question due to the significant amount of church music in his repertoire. Obviously the best source on these matters is Britten himself, but his remarks on religion and beliefs are, at times, conflicting. Britten had a strong religious background since he was raised in the Anglican Church as a child. His mother placed importance on a life of faith during his childhood. Britten stated that he was Christian in his music; however, he did not believe in church doctrine.23 He later described that he believed in God and destiny. Peter Pears, Britten’s life partner, stated that Britten was an agnostic with a love for Jesus Christ, and Britten later clarified that he did not believe in the divinity of Christ.24

Many have discounted Britten’s spiritual life because of his lack of church attendance and outward signs of spirituality. However, many of Britten’s pieces have Biblical undertones, most notably his operas.25 Much is written about Britten’s homosexuality and the impact of this on his compositions. A much smaller area of research is the impact of his spirituality on these same compositions. Surely core beliefs impact a composer just as greatly as their sexual orientation. This area cannot be overlooked when discussing Britten’s choral music, especially those pieces written for the church.

History and creation of Festival Te Deum

Although Britten wrote several pieces for chorus, he set liturgical texts only three times. Britten composed his first Te Deum in C in 1935 and the Jubilate in 1961. His original Te Deum was then followed by Festival Te Deum in 1945.26 During this period he was also working on his opera Peter Grimes. The Te Deum in C was not well-received, but the Jubilate added later had a better reception.27 A comparison of Britten’s settings of this text shows a change in his style during these ten years. Festival Te Deum contains elements of style that one expects from Britten which is most likely why this piece had a better reception than the first.

Britten had a skillful ability to set text to music that brought out its meaning.28 The text of Festival Te Deum is an Ambrosian hymn used as a canticle in Morning Prayer, and it does not come from a Biblical source.29 Contrary to the title, this Te Deum is set in English.

Britten was known for his ability to write for amateur church choirs because he used uncomplicated material to show singers a new option for choral music.30 Even though Britten used beautiful rhythmic complexity in combination with simple melodic lines in order to write material which was easily sung without abandoning his personal style, he was dissatisfied with the first performance of this piece because of the choir’s poor ability.31

Analysis

Form: A (m. 1-52) B (53-90) A’ (91-128)

The overall form of this piece is ABA’. The organ opens the A section with continuous dotted half notes. The choir sings a unison line with a chant-like feel. The voices change meter frequently while the organ meter is static. The choral line opens with an E pentatonic sound, while an added A-sharp later suggests E Lydian. The crescendo through, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Sabaoth,” leads to the phrase, “Heav’n and earth are full of the majesty of Thy Glory,” closing in C major. The following phrase begins with imitation and quickly proceeds to imitative counterpoint with the text, “The holy church throughout all the world,” but quickly returns to unison to close the first section. During this, the organ pedal ascends with various half and whole steps from C2 to E3.

The B section begins with an a cappella, choral interjection in E minor. Here the registration and timbre are vastly different from the opening A section. The theme includes a minor third and the filling in of this in the soprano and the movement of the fourth in the bass. The interval of a fourth will become prominent throughout the development of the piece. This is followed by explosive interjections from the organ with the soprano theme in right hand and the bass theme in left hand and pedals. The following phrase has a change in rhythmic vitality, including the organ. This different character includes homophony between the voices and the organ which brings a calmer feel. The pedals contain the continuous movement of the important interval of the fourth. The chords of D and A give a new, contrasting major sound with the same motives. The a cappella interjection and organ explosions return. The calmer section again appears, now in A-flat. A phrase extension leads from e minor to the return of E major.

The final section, A prime, begins with a treble solo and begins in E pentatonic just as the opening section. The voices enter in a polyphonic style, and a building crescendo with a climbing bass line leads to one more climactic moment as the voices slowly come back to their homophonic opening and reach E major. All parts descend an octave to bring the work to a peaceful close. The treble solo enters in the final measures with a reminder of the Lydian mode by entering on an A-sharp as the choir sings an E major chord. The soloist climbs upward to an E to bring the piece to a harmonically satisfying close.

Other sources

Carpenter, Humphrey. Benjamin Britten: A Biography. New York: Charles Scribner, 1993.

Cooke, Mervyn, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Mark, C. Early Benjamin Britten: A Study of Stylistic and Technical Evolution. New York: Garland, 1995.

Mitchell, D. and Keller, H. “Britten, (Edward) Benjamin.” In The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

See also

List of compositions by Benjamin Britten

External links

[1]

This is a recording from 1963 of Festival Te Deum with the choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

[2]

This is a website of a foundation dedicated to promoting the works of Benjamin Britten as well as his work with Peter Pears. The foundation is based at the home they shared in Aldeburgh.