Expanded Perceptions of Identity in Benjamin Britten's Nocturne, Op. 60 Page: 9
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Tennyson's poem "Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white," which was written for
possible inclusion in the Serenade but ended up being left out. Carpenter observes that the
rocking string rhythms that unify the Nocturne, as seen in Example 1, were featured
prominently in "Now sleeps the crimson petal."20 Mitchell argues that not only was the
creation of "Now sleeps the crimson petal" significant in the development of the Serenade, it
was a "crucial compositional link between the two works."21
Finally, the Nocturne is more often than not considered as just one component of
Britten's total creative output. Sources that take this approach usually analyze the Nocturne
superficially and seldom delve into what this work might imply about Britten and his
personal identity. Christopher Palmer includes the Nocturne in his discussion "Embalmer of
the Midnight: The Orchestral Song-cycles" in The Britten Companion and Ralph Woodward
inserts it into his chapter on "Music for Voices" in The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin
Britten. Peter Evans lumps the Nocturne briefly into the chapter on "Later Vocal Works" in
his book The Music of Benjamin Britten, and even more generally, both Michael Kennedy
and Humphrey Carpenter include a few short pages on the work in their biographies of
Britten.
Since the work's premiere in 1958, only two investigations devoted to the Nocturne
on its own have been made available. In the Winter of 1959, Imogen Holst, daughter of
Gustav Holst and assistant to Benjamin Britten, wrote a short article about this piece for
Tempo.22 Holst's contribution consists of around four pages of glowing prose about the
20Carpenter, 384.
21Donald Mitchell, ""Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal:" Britten's Other "Serenade"," The Horn Call- Journal of
the International Horn Society 22 (1991): 9-14. Mitchell's article, short as it is, is the only source to really
explore the importance of "Now sleeps the crimson petal" to both the Serenade and the Nocturne, rather than
simply mentioning this connection in passing.
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Perkins, Anna Grace. Expanded Perceptions of Identity in Benjamin Britten's Nocturne, Op. 60, thesis, May 2008; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6064/m1/14/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .