Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was a leading British composer, conductor and pianist. He produced works in a wide variety of forms, opera being a particular strength. His most famous works include the War Requiem and the opera Peter Grimes. Britten was homosexual, and, according to biographer Donald Mitchell, “it was chiefly pre-pubescent boys to whom Britten was attracted”. In Britten's Children (2011), John Bridcut chronicles Britten’s many intense friendships with young boys between the ages of 9 and 14. Although clearly attracted to young people, Bridcut concludes that Britten’s behavior never went beyond bed-sharing, kissing and skinny dipping.

David Hemmings, who sang for Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw, writes of Britten’s infatuation with him at the age of eleven (Mitchell & Reed, 2011, cited in references below):

"I went on to stay with Britten in this wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere and he cared for me, he developed my voice and he was a deeply considerate father figure. It was only later that I learnt that he was very much infatuated with me and that caused some problems between himself and his long-time companion, Peter Pears. In all of the time that I spent with him he never abused that trust. [...] And when I listen to The Turn of the Screw now, I remember that moment, and it is perhaps one of the best gifts that anybody could give anyone, and I thank Benjamin Britten for that because no one else could have given it to me — particularly at eleven years old."

Britten dedicated one of his arrangements to thirteen-year-old Bobby Rothman, with whom he had shared a room (Mitchell & Reed, 2011):

"When Britten stayed with the Rothman family, he shared a room with the thirteen-year-old Bobby: [...] "many an evening we used to spend [...] a lot of time just really talking he in the bed next to me [...] His fondness for me was something that was beyond my normal social connections, and I was a little overwhelmed that someone should be so fond of me [...] I can still remember us talking late at night one time, and finding when it was really time to call it quits and go to sleep […] he said, ‘Bobby, would you mind terribly if, before we fell asleep, I came over and gave you a hug and a kiss?’ It was just one of those touching moments [...] And I’ve got to say I really did not know what to do except say, ‘no, no I don’t mind’, and he gently got up and gave me a gentle hug and kiss and said goodnight.”

Since his death, considerable information has emerged concerning Britten's close emotional attachments to young boys, some of them performers in his own works. A prominent example was David Hemmings who, at the age of twelve, created the role of Miles in Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw, based on the Henry James novella. (Hemmings went on to become a well-known film actor.)

Britten's last opera was Death in Venice (1973), based on the novella by Thomas Mann, in which an elderly writer becomes obsessed with a beautiful young boy.

Trivia

• Described by Virped's now-banned Twitter account as a "non-abusing hebephile".

Further reading

• John Bridcut, Britten's Children, Faber and Faber, 2006.
• Humphrey Carpenter, Benjamin Britten: A Biography, Faber and Faber, 1992.