Expanded Perceptions of Identity in Benjamin Britten's Nocturne, Op. 60 Page: 56
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pattern: One, Four, Seven. Song Three is the only song without the "Nurslings" theme that is
not one of the more nightmarish ones. Thus, the joining of the inverted "Nurslings" theme
and the harp from Song Three at the end of the cycle provides a formal and thematic closure.
Song Eight assimilates all of the aspects of Britten's personality that can be observed
in the rest of the cycle. Britten's pacifist statements in Song Five and Song Six, which seem
so separate from the other songs of the Nocturne, are integrated. All seven of the obligato
instruments come back, even the timpani and english horn, which were associated with the
statements about war. Britten's personal identity as an Englishman may also be discerned in
Song Eight. The vivid imagery of nature and night in the poem lends itself to the nocturne
and pastoral genres, and, as noted earlier, Shakespeare is part of England's creative heritage.
However, Britten seeks inspiration from Mahler, a continental composer, when setting this
song, further reinforcing his creative interpretation of an identity as an English composer.
In this reconciliation of multiple features of identity, the one that perhaps stands out
the most is Britten's idealized innocence. After the grand pause in measure 401, the harp
from Song Three is the only obligato instrument that rejoins the strings in finishing the piece.
In Song Three, the harp helped to create a world in which the desire for young boys and the
search for a mother figure could be sublimated into a longing for the innocence of childhood.
The harp carries this association with purity to the end of Song Eight. Additionally, the
rocking theme returns, and it becomes clear that this figure might be heard more explicitly as
a lullaby, another symbol of childhood and innocence. As Arnold Whittall so eloquently
writes,
'Lullaby' may indeed have been a more potent musical icon for Britten than serenade,
pastoral, or nocturne: and that could have been because - psychological speculation56
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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/m1/61/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .