http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61115&rws=%2Fbenjamin-britten%2Fmusic-videos.rssAlthough Benjamin Britten's best known work may be <i>The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra</i>, much of his remarkable orchestral technique, broad musical palette and ability to revive the most traditional formal elements leave him with few peers in the 20th century.<p> Educated at the Royal Conservatory of Music, he signaled a second coming of English opera with his first major work for the stage, <i>Peter Grimes</i>. His other notable operas, still in wide performance today, include <i>Billy Budd</i> (1951), the <i>The Turn of the Screw</i> (1954), and <i>Death in Venice</i> (1973). His controversial <i>War Requiem</i> (1961) is also ubiquitously performed, as is his sophisticated work for chorus. His closing masterpiece was the abstract in the String Quartet no.3 (1975). After declining knighthood, Britten accepted a life peerage in 1976 and died later that year of heart failure. - Nate Cavalieri20th/21st Centuryen720Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:55:25 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61115&rws=%2Fbenjamin-britten%2Fmusic-videos.rss Although Benjamin Britten's best known work may be <i>The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra</i>, much of his remarkable orchestral technique, broad musical palette and ability to revive the most traditional formal elements leave him with few peers in the 20th century.<p> Educated at the Royal Conservatory of Music, he signaled a second coming of English opera with his first major work for the stage, <i>Peter Grimes</i>. His other notable operas, still in wide performance today, include <i>Billy Budd</i> (1951), the <i>The Turn of the Screw</i> (1954), and <i>Death in Venice</i> (1973). His controversial <i>War Requiem</i> (1961) is also ubiquitously performed, as is his sophisticated work for chorus. His closing masterpiece was the abstract in the String Quartet no.3 (1975). After declining knighthood, Britten accepted a life peerage in 1976 and died later that year of heart failure. - Nate Cavalieri