Benjamin Britten wrote a specially commissioned work for the Centenary of the College in 1956.
Old Boy David Wells-Cole (1953-1959) writes:
Last week (August 2024) I went to the Britten-Pears Archive in Aldeburgh to present
my copy of Benjamin Britten’s Antiphon (signed by Britten on the day of the performance)
to the Archive. I had made a prior arrangement with them to do this, and they were
very happy to accept it.
The Archivist Dr Christopher Hilton was incredibly enthusiastic about the collection
and told us that it is the biggest archive in the world dedicated to one single composer.
He also said on looking at my photostat copy of the music that the writing was
Imogen Holst’s: apparently she transcribed a lot of Britten’s pieces.
I sang in the Centenary performance of this work. I know that Britten was there,
but I can’t remember if he actually conducted it.
Fellow Chorister Charles Beresford ( 1952-1957) adds:
Yes, Britten did conduct us at the first performance at the Centenary. I was honoured to be one of the three soloists in it and still have my signed copy. The other first performance during the celebrations was Heathcote Statham’s Mag and Nunc in G for double choir, also conducted by its composer. A memorable weekend!
I’m interested to hear that the handwriting was that of Imogen Holst while she was his amanuensis. She did so much to build up Dartington and then Aldeburgh with Britten. The attached reference to an article by Christopher Tinker about her might be of general interest :
You can hear Antiphon, here, from a later recording, sung by the College Choir.
More details about the piece can be found here:
https://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Benjamin-Britten-Antiphon/4965
