"Britten's Boys" article in The Guardian

[ahinton]

.............and thus the interesting discussion of an important issue is driven neatly off-road and into private scraps. Sigh.

No; only the scrappers have driven off the road of the topic. Let them argue among themselves at the roadside over which of their insurers will meet what cost of what damage to whose vehicle while the rest of us resume an intelligent discussion of this subject.

[Simon]

Indeed. I suppose I should have ignored this silly post:


"... let's just remind ourselves of the old saw "'right-wing intellectual' is a contradiction in terms.

Actually, the Daily "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" helps its 'readers' out on this one: ..."


Sorry guys.

[Mandryka]

The Savile business seems to have created a journalistic appetite for another 'big name paedophile' story. Britten is a strange target, as his name is unknown to the vast majority of people who buy newspapers or watch the news - and, because he is not a figure from 'popular' culture, any revelations about him would only be of interest to a very small reader/viewership.

Britten has been dead for well over thirty years- in all that time, no one has come forward with any revelations about improper conduct toward minors (or, indeed, toward anyone). The only mildly 'sensational' story was Tippett's revelation that he and BB once had (one) night in the sack, but both were adults at the time.

So, we must only conclude that Kettle is being prurient - prurience being something that Guardian journalists suffer from every bit as much as Daily Mail hacks - with a view to making a bit of a name for himself (and maybe a bit of money, too - his Dad can't have left him much of an inheritance, as working for the OU doesn't pay that well, I hear, though possibly rather better than working for the Guardian).

As for the bone-headed imbecile who said that 'right-wing intellectual (was) a contradiction in terms' (not an original witticism, even if it was funny)...well, he's obviously never heard of T.E.Lawrence, has he?

Finally, anyone who thinks that there is any difference between the Guardian and the Daily Mail, apart from a (superficial) political viewpoint, obviously hasn't read the former paper in a long while (and probably has never read the latter paper at all). Click on 'Culture' (ha!)on the Guardian website and you'll find a load of guff about X-Factor, Hollywood films and the latest 'pop' releases. Pabulum for the masses, just as at the DM.

[MrGongGong]

Click on 'Culture' (ha!)on the Guardian website and you'll find a load of guff about X-Factor, Hollywood films and the latest 'pop' releases. Pabulum for the masses, just as at the DM.

I thought I would test that

so I get this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/classicalmusicandopera

hummmmmmm I guess I must have a different internet to you then

[doversoul1]

I thought I would test that

so I get this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/classicalmusicandopera

hummmmmmm I guess I must have a different internet to you then

You cheated and wnet too far. Mandryka means this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/uk-edition

[Mary Chambers]

I more or less stopped reading newspapers a few years ago. I look online for particular articles that might be interesting, but I very rarely buy a paper.

Never mind. There was an enjoyable discussion of the latest (and final) volume of Britten's Letters and Lucy Walker's new Britten in Pictures on the last Music Matters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nzncw/Music_Matters_Andras_Schiff_Britten_Letters_Irvine_Arditti/

[MrGongGong]

You cheated and wnet too far. Mandryka means this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/uk-edition

Since when was being able to read " cheating"
There is a point about the word. "Music" meaning a limited group of genres but there's plenty of other stuff there when I looked

[Black Swan]

I don't know why this forum has given any credence to this drivel. It borders on homophobia. Let's appreciate Britten for the composer he was not some speculation on his interests. This is the drivel that has forced homosexuals to hide their sexual orientation. Let's get on with it. It is the same sort of prurient journalism that for years has tried to link Tchaikovsky's homosexuality with his music. Let's just enjoy the music.

john

[Barbirollians]

I don't know why this forum has given any credence to this drivel. It borders on homophobia. Let's appreciate Britten for the composer he was not some speculation on his interests. This is the drivel that has forced homosexuals to hide their sexual orientation. Let's get on with it. It is the same sort of prurient journalism that for years has tried to link Tchaikovsky's homosexuality with his music. Let's just enjoy the music.

john

I don't think the fact that Britten was gay has much to do with it at all ( unlike the appalling way his legacy has sometimes been treated in Aldeburgh - no statue for example). I think it has more to do with hysteria post Savile .

As stated above I do think the way he treated some of these boys when they had outlived their musical usefulness was reprehensible - the problem with the article is that it proceeds on the basis of a premise that Britten wanted to have sex with the boys even if he never abused them - which does not seem to have much evidential basis if any .

[Bryn]

As for the bone-headed imbecile who said that 'right-wing intellectual (was) a contradiction in terms' (not an original witticism, even if it was funny)...well, he's obviously never heard of T.E.Lawrence, has he?

Poor Mandrake clearly does not comprehend the phrase "old saw".

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't think the fact that Britten was gay has much to do with it at all ( unlike the appalling way his legacy has sometimes been treated in Aldeburgh - no statue for example). I think it has more to do with hysteria post Savile .

As stated above I do think the way he treated some of these boys when they had outlived their musical usefulness was reprehensible - the problem with the article is that it proceeds on the basis of a premise that Britten wanted to have sex with the boys even if he never abused them - which does not seem to have much evidential basis if any .

As for his "monument" (to adapt the Wren motto): listen around you.

[Black Swan]

Thanks for your thoughts, which I support your right to your opinion. Let's not forget the number of revered members of the classical music community that have treated people reprehensibly. I stand by my comment that it is basically blatant homophobia.

John

[Mary Chambers]

Aldeburgh does have Maggi Hambling's Scallop, with the words from Peter Grimes ("I hear those voices that will not be drowned"), which in my opinion is far more interesting than a conventional statue. Some of the local people don't approve, of course, but it's definitely a monument to Britten.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/The_Scallop,_Maggi_Hambling,_Aldeburgh.jpg

Not to mention the beautiful John Piper memorial window in the church.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3263/3153162355_92a45e31a9_z.jpg

[Barbirollians]

Thanks for your thoughts, which I support your right to your opinion. Let's not forget the number of revered members of the classical music community that have treated people reprehensibly. I stand by my comment that it is basically blatant homophobia.

John

I am afraid there is as little evidence for that assertion as there is for Mr Kettle's inference that Britten must have wanted to have sex with boys he wrote music for.

Mary, indeed and of course Scallop is now enormously popular despite the idiots who opposed it . The feeling I had at the time was that much of the opposition to it was homophobic rather than aesthetic.

[Simon Biazeck]

I think the "problem" many people (and this includes some of the residents of Aldeburgh ) have with Britten is simply that he was a gay man.
I thought Jonathan Reekie was good on R4 last night , open and honest.
Maybe a poster saying "Britten was gay, get over it" on the Moot Hall ?
(Adnams of course)

Brilliant!