November 22 is, among other things, the feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. It is also, appropriately, the birthday of Benjamin Britten, who was born 100 years ago today in Suffolk, England. During a long and productive career that started when he was only a teenager, Britten established himself as Britain's greatest composer, and one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Along with more than a dozen operas to his credit, Britten penned masterpieces in almost every genre, including the War Requiem, Curlew River, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and the Ceremony of Carols, among many others.
During his lifetime, Britten never received the recognition he deserved, cast as retrograde by the ruling class of academic composers who saw music as little more than mathematical exercise, rather than an artform with the power to move, elevate, terrify, and inspire. Fortunately, Britten's reputation has rebounded in recent years, and everyone from John Adams to Thomas Adès and Nico Muhly cite him has a major influence. (See here for additional video encomiums to Britten.)
Although Britten lived nearly his entire adult life in Aldeburgh, on the east coast of England, he spent three formative years right here in NYC, in a brownstone on Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights (see above photo). Britten moved there with his partner, Peter Pears, and collaborator W.H. Auden in 1939 to avoid the rising tide of World War II, composing his first opera, Paul Bunyan,and conceiving his second—the great Peter Grimes. Sadly, the house is no longer there—it was torn down in 1945 to make way for the BQE—but the street otherwise retains its quiet, colonial character. The appeal for someone accustomed to living near the water isn't hard to imagine. (You can read more about the house in this Times article.)