Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM, CH (22 November 1913

suffolk 4 December aldebourgh 1976) was an English composer, conductor

and pianist. He studied in the royal college of music and privately with the
composer Frank Bridge. He was a central figure of 20th-century British
classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music,
orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the
opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral
showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).

He was an enthusiastic composer of music for his close friends and

colleagues, including solo works for cello, harp, and oboe. In 1951, Britten
was primarily concerned with writing his opera Billy Budd. After he had
finished sketching it, he turned his attention to other projects, among them
overseeing the Aldeburgh Festival, which had begun four years previously
primarily as a showcase for English operas, and where many of his own
works were given their premires. In the same year Britten composed six
little pieces for solo oboe, to be performed by Joy Boughton (daughter of the
composer Rutland Boughton) during the Aldeburgh Festival.
Britten turned for inspiration to Ovid, the exiled Roman poet who died in 17
A.D. in obscurity on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. Ovid's greatest
work, Metamorphoses, is a fifteen-volume treatise of the disillusionment of
his generation described in terms of the instability of nature. Britten has
titled his Six Metamorphoses After Ovid using names of the some of the
legendary figures who appear in the great Roman poet's work. The
movements are:

1. Pan, who played upon the reed pipe which was Syrinx, his beloved.
2. Phaeton, who rode upon the chariot of the sun for one day and was
hurled into the river Padus by a thunderbolt.
3. Niobe, who, lamenting the death of her fourteen children, was turned
into a mountain.
4. Bacchus, at whose feasts is heard the noise of gaggling women's
tattling tongues and shouting out of boys.
5. Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image and became a flower.
6. Arethusa, who, flying from the love of Alpheus the river god, was
turned into a fountain.

1 " Pan", the fi rst movement includes descriptive prose . " Pan ,
who played with the reed pipe which was Syrinx , his beloved "
Pan is played by Ovid as a strong , powerful god with high selfesteem . Pan had an appetite for women , and like most of the
gods, usually have what they want. According to Ovid , Pan
chased Syrinx , a nymph of the forest, and tried to seduce her.
She pushed him away and fl ed into the forest to the point of the
river Ladon . At this point, the syrinx prayed to the gods to
transform in order to elude Pan and his prayer was granted . Pan
When caught , she disappeared , and instead of it, the re were a
handful of reeds swamp that produced a tone reminiscent of the
nymph . When you consider Ovid 's prose , "Pan" is not the
transformation of Syrinx into a fl ute, but rather the experience
from the perspective of Pan
As you can see in most of the movements of the Six
metamorphoses after Ovid, "Pan" is in ABA form . The nature of
pre - metamorphosis is shown in section and the action of
metamorphosis shown in section B of the movement.
2 The second movement of the Six metamorphosis is " Phaeton. "
In Ovid's Metamorphoses , Phaeton was the son of the sun god ,
Phoebus . Due to the taunts of other children, Phaeton called
Phoebus to verify that he was indeed her fathe r. In order to
prove his paternity , Phoebus Phaeton granted any wish.
Phaethon asked about the use of the winged chariot of his father.
At fi rst he denied it but eventually allowed Phoebus Phaeton use
this car. Once Phaeton was mounted immediately felt horses
Phoebus was not on board the car and jumped into the sky.
Phaeton was so scared he dropped the reins , while lost control
of the car. The car swerved up and then made a steep descent
and crashed . The earth caught fi re and had diffi culty Atlas
holding up the sky . Phoebus met the strength of all the gods , in
an eff ort to prevent the total destruction of the Earth. A beam
was launched into the sky to avoid the complete destru ction of
the Earth, and the Earth was saved . Phaeton lands in a river
nymphs and then bury charred Phaeton .
" Phaeton " does not fi t exactly to the defi nition of a
metamorphosis. Although " Phaeton " follow s an ABA form , the B

section in this
transformation .

case

is

not

the

music

that

rep resents

the

3 " Niobe " portrays the third of six Ovid's Metamorphoses : "
Niobe, that mourning the death of her fourteen children ,
became a mountain. " Niobe is a " crying " this sad character
representing Mountain Spilo . Niobe had fourteen children ,
seven sons and seven daughters. She felt superior to Latona , a
Titan, and that Latona had only two child ren. Enraged, Laton a
sent his two children, Apollo and Diana, to kill all the child ren of
Niobe . Niobe was so sad after the death of all his child ren which
became a mountain, where rivers were tears streaming down her
face.
Similar to "pan ", " Niobe " is an ABA form with sections A giving
a musical image of Niobe before and after metamorphosis , and
the B section showing the metamorphosis itself. The whole
movement is based on the development of a singular melodic
idea presented in the fi rst two measures .
4 The fourth movement of the Six Metamorphoses of Ovid 's
"Bacchus " , whose festivals the noise of the languages of
women and men screaming is heard. " " Bacchus " is the only
movement that has no transformation or metamorphosis as in
the other movements . Baco not transformed in any form or
fashion. "Bacchus " is not based on a particular story. 's
movement is a characterization of what a bacchanal as the
poetry of Ovid. Bacchus or priests supervised the holidays ,
which consisted in the worship of Bacchus. bacch analian in ,
the re was plenty of food, drink and women. Bacchus was usually
as drunk as his subjects. often the faithful became so drunk that
tore animals or humans with his own hands .
The movement Rondo shaped and the re are fi ve sections: A
( chorus) , B ( episode) , A ' (short chorus) , C ( episode) , and A
( coda based chorus) .

5 The fi fth movement of the work is " Narcissus, who fell in love
with his own image and became a fl owe r. " In the legend of Ovid,
Narcissus was a handsome young man who was loved for its
beauty by many men and women. However , he avoided all who
loved him , including a young man who prayed to Nemesis to
curse Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own image.
One day an exhausted Narciso saw a puddle and stopped to take
a break and drink. As Narcissus bent down to get a drink of
water puddle , fell in love with the beautiful image that returned

the refl ecting pool , not realizing that the picture was his. He
tried to embrace the beautiful youth , but to touch the water ,
ripples caused the image disappeared. Narciso asked after a
while , if a supernatural wall separated him from his true love.
Narciso fi nally believes that the beautiful youth returned to him,
but that image was imitating exactly all its exp ressions . It was
at this point where Narciso realized that he had fallen in love
with his own image. Narciso sat still and looked at his re fl ection
until he died. After his death , the nymphs mourned for him, but
on his return , after a while , Narci so had vanished. In place of
Narcissus had a golden fl ower with white petals .
" Narcissus" is in ternary form . Started in F minor , and ends in
C major . This particular movement is 6 /8 and is the fi rst
movement in the Six Metamorphoses of Ovid maintains a fi rm
time.

6 The fi nal movement of the Six Metamorphoses of Ovid 's "

Arethusa, who , fl ying from the love of god Alfeus river was
turned into a fountain. " According to Ovid , Arethusa was a
nymph who lived in Achaes and was well known for its beauty .
One day, Arethusa went swimming naked in a stream. After
swimming for a while , he heard a voice which proved Alfeus ,
the river god , who was in love with her . Arethusa was
frightened and ran away, but could not ove rcome Alphaeus. In
their fear, Arethusa prayed to Diana, goddess of the hunt , to
prote ct he r. Diana subsequently created a dense cloud to hide
Arethusa. Alfeus sought the nymph in the cloud , but could not
fi nd it. Finally, after a cold sweat nervously began to fl ow
through it , then Arethusa became a stream. Before Alfeus could
reach the nymph, the earth opened up and poured the stream
into the abyss. Arethusa fi nally re appeared on the island of
Ortigia , near Sicily , where he became a source .
" Arethusa " ABA shaped and is similar to some of the earlier
movements , making the common pattern of character
metamorphosis, a character transformed

1 "Pan", el primer movimiento, incluye la prosa descriptiva: "Pan,

quien jug con la fl auta de ca a, que era siringe, su amad a." Pan
es interpretado por Ovidio 1 como un fuerte, poderoso dios con
una alta autoestima. Pan tena un apetito por las mujeres, y
como la mayora de los dioses, por lo general tienen lo que
quieren. Segn Ovidio, Pan persigui a Siringe, una ninfa del
bosque, e intent seducirla. Ella le rech az y huy hacia el
bosque hasta el punto del ro Ladn. En este punto, la siringe
or a los dioses para que la transformaran con el fi n de eludir a
Pan y se le concedi su oracin. Cuando Pan la cogi, ella
desapare ci, y en lugar de ella, haba un puado de caas de
pantano que produjeron una un tono que re cord aba a la ninfa.
Cuando se tiene en cuenta la prosa de Ovidio, "Pan" no
representa la transformacin de siringe en una fl auta, sino ms
bien la experiencia desde la perspectiva de Pan.
Como se puede ver en la mayora de los movimientos de las Seis
metamorf osis despus de Ovidio, "Pan" es en forma de ABA. El
carcter de p re-metamorfosis se repre senta en la seccin A y la

accin de la metamorfosis se repre senta en la seccin B del

movimiento.
2 El segundo movimiento de los Seis metamorfosis es "Phaeton."
En las Metamorfosis de Ovidio, Faetn era hijo del dios del sol,
Phoebus. Debido a las burlas de otros nios, Phaeton llam a
Phoebus para comp robar que l era en re alidad su padre. Con el
fi n de demostrar su paternidad, Phoebus concedi a Phaeton
cualquier deseo. Faetn le pregunt por el uso del carro alado de
su padre. Al principio se lo neg pero al fi nal, Phoebus permiti a
Phaeton usar este carro. Una vez se mont Phaeton,
inmediatamente, los cab allos sintieron que Phoebus no estab a a
bordo del carro y saltaron hacia el cielo. Phaeton estaba tan
asustado que dej caer las riendas, a la vez que perdi el control
del carro. El carro se desvi hacia arriba y luego hizo una fuerte
bajada hasta estrellarse. La tierra se incendi y Atlas tuvo
difi cultad para sostener el cielo. Phoebus reuni la fuerza de
todos los dioses, en un esfuerzo para evitar la destru ccin total
de la Tierra. Un rayo fue lanzado por el cielo para evitar la
destruccin completa de la Tierra, y la Tierra se salv. Phaeton
aterriza en un ro y ninfas posteriormente entierran a Phaeton
carb onizado.
"Phaeton" no se ajusta exactamente a la defi nicin de una
metamorf osis. Aunque "Phaeton" sigue una forma ABA, la
seccin B, en este caso no es la msica que repre senta la
transformacin.

3 "Niobe" se retrata de la tercera de las seis Metamorfosis de

Ovidio: "Niobe, que lamentando la muerte de sus catorce hijos,
se convirti en una montaa."
Niobe es un "llanto"
que
representa este personaje triste de la montaa de Spilo. Niobe
tuvo catorce hijos: siete hijos y siete hijas. Ella se senta
superior a Latona, un Titn, ya que Latona slo tena dos hijos.
Enfurecido, Laton a envi a sus dos hijos, Apolo y Diana, a matar
a todos los hijos de Niobe. Niobe se puso tan triste despus de la
muerte de todos sus hijos que se convirti en una monta a,
donde los ros eran sus lgrimas que corran por su cara.
Similar a "pan", "Niobe" sigue una forma ABA con las secciones A
dando una imagen musical de Niobe antes y despus de la
metamorf osis, y la seccin B que representa la metamorfosis en
s. Todo el movimiento se basa en el desarrollo de una idea
meldica singular p resentada en los dos primeros compases.
4 El cuarto movimiento de las Seis Metamorfosis de Ovidio es
Bacchus, en cuyas fi estas se escucha el ruido de las lenguas

de las mujeres y los gritos de los homb res." "Bacchus" es el

nico movimiento que no tiene ninguna transformacin o
metamorf osis, como ocurre en los otros movimientos. Baco no
se transforma de ninguna forma o manera. "Bacchus" no se basa
en
una
historia
con creta.
El
movimiento
es
ms
una
caracterizacin de lo que es una bacanal segn la poesa de
Ovidio. Bacchus o sus sacerdotes supervisaban estas fi estas, que
consistan en la adoracin de Baco. En las bacanales, haba
mucha comida, bebida y mujeres. Baco era generalmente tan
borracho como sus sbditos. A menudo, los fi eles llegaron a
estar tan borrachos que destrozaban animales o se res humanos
con sus propias manos.
El movimiento tiene forma de Rond y hay cinco secciones: A
(estribillo), B (episodio), A'(estribillo abreviado), C (episodio), y
A (cod a basada en estribillo).

5 El quinto movimiento de la obra es "Narciso, que se enamor

de su p ropia imagen y se convirti en una fl or." En la leyenda de
Ovidio, Narci so era un joven apuesto, que fue amado por su
belleza por muchos hombres y mujeres. Sin embargo, evit a
todos los que lo amaban, incluyendo a un joven que or a
Nmesis para maldecir a Narci so, por lo que le hace enamorarse
de su p ropia imagen. Un da un Narci so ag otado vi un charco de
agua y se detuvo para tomarse un descanso y bebe r. Como
Narciso se inclin para tomar un trago del charco de agua, se
enamor de la bella imagen que le devolva el refl ejo del charco,
sin darse cuenta de que la imagen era la suya. Intent abraz ar la
hermosa juventud, pero al tocar el agua, ondulacin caus que la
imagen desapareciera. Narciso se pregunt despus de un rato,
si un muro sob renatural le separab a de su verdade ro amor.
Narciso fi nalmente cree que la juventud hermosa regre saba a l,
aunque esa imagen imitaba todas sus expresiones exactamente
igual. Fue en este punto, en el cual Narciso se dio cuenta de que
se haba enamorado de su propia imagen. Narci so se sent
inmvil y mir su refl ejo hasta que muri. Despus de su muerte,
las ninfas lloraron por l, pe ro a su regreso, despus de
un 2 tiempo, Narciso se haba desvanecido. En el lugar de Narci so
haba una fl or de oro con ptalos blancos.
"Narciso" est en forma ternaria. Comienza en Fa menor, y
termina en Do Mayor. Este movimiento en particular es de 6/8 y
es el primer movimiento en las Seis metamorfosis de Ovidio que
mantiene un tiempo fi rme.
2

6 El movimiento fi nal de los Seis metamorfosis de Ovidio es

"Aretusa, que, volando desde el amor del dios del ro Alfeus, fue
convertido en una fuente." Segn Ovidio, Arethusa era una ninfa
que viva en Achaes y fue bien conocida por su belleza. Un da,
Arethusa fue a nadar desnuda en un arroyo. Despus de nadar
un rato, oy una voz que result ser Alfeus, el dios del ro, que
estaba enamorado de ella. Aretusa se asust y huy de
inmediato, pero no pudo superar a Alfeo. En su miedo, Aretusa
or a Diana, diosa de la caza, para protegerla. Diana
posteriormente cre una densa nube para ocultar a Aretusa.
Alfeus busc a la ninfa en la nube, pe ro no pudo encontrarla.
Finalmente, despus de un fro sudor, nervioso, comenz a fl uir a
travs de ella, Aretusa enton ces se convirti en un arroyo. Antes
de que Alfeus pudiera llegar a la ninfa, la tierra se abri y verti
el arroyo al abismo. Aretusa fi nalmente reap are ci en la isla de
Ortigia, ce rca de Sicilia, donde se convirti en una fuente.
"Arethusa" tiene forma de ABA y, es similar a algunos de los
movimientos anteriores, toma el patrn comn de carcter, la
metamorf osis, un carcter transformado