Title: Music and Sexuality in Britten: Selected Essays Author: Philip Brett Publisher: University of California Press Publish Date: 2006 Pages: 280 Genres:: Non-Fiction, Compilation, Gay, Literature Reviewer: SexHerald Staff

Rating:

Few would argue that an artist’s creations are by default an extension and reflection of his thoughts, soul, and sexuality. Music and Sexuality in Britten is an anthology of essays in which author Philip Brett observes the current of isolation and persecution that ran throughout homosexual composer Benjamin Britten’s works.

The opening essay examines Britten’s “Peter Grimes,” an opera he composed based on a long poem by George Crabbe. The storyline goes as follows: A bitter man’s unhappiness and eventually negligent ways lead to the death of his three young workhouse apprentices. In “Peter Grimes,” Philip Brett posits that consciously or otherwise on the part of Britten, his interpretation of the piece threw homosexual oppression and the sadomasochism sometimes present in same-sex (and all!) relationships into high relief. Brett’s meticulously analyzes, tracks, labels, and codes emotional inflections in the notes of the studied operas. An example of this can be found in the following observation: “The F major chord on peace, sounding forced as though Ellen is engineering the drift of conversation towards a showdown, becomes the F pedal over which Peter sings, to an earlier melody signifying his stubborn pride,’ Buy us a home, buy us respect, etc.” Other Britten operas studied include “Lucretia,” “Billy Budd,” “Dream,” and “The Turn of the Screw.”

Music is the tapestry of emotion, feeling made audible, much in the way Kahlil Gibran said work is love made visible.. Shame, guilt, and anger at being marginalized were all colors of the gay rainbow during Britten’s time and their echo is built into the structure of his compositions. The crux of these essays is, there is no separating an artist’s life from his work. Every creative work is ultimately a summation and autobiography.

Music and Sexuality in Britten clearly geared towards the academic music professional, at least this layperson found it to be so. It only makes sense that sexual themes would be so clearly delineated throughout any artistic work as it is an act of creation, an adaptation, interpretation and ultimately reproduction of the self. Opera is a confession, a diversion and ultimately extension of the self, and in Britten’s and Brett’s case, the gay self.

The bottom line of Music and Sexuality in Britten is: You can’t hide behind what you create, because the proof is in the puddin’. I could see these writings being a possible delight for those in the field but a bit of rough going for the reader craving somewhat lighter fare.