Britten in America

Britten in America

From Composers Datebook by American Public Media

May 5, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Benjamin Britten's first opera, Paul Bunyan, its American theme, and its premiere in 1941.

Synopsis Benjamin Britten was the most famous English opera composer of the 20th century, but ironically his first opera, Paul Bunyan , had an American theme and premiered at Columbia University in New York City on today's date in 1941. Britten lived in America from 1939 to 1942. When his American publisher suggested he write something that could be performed by any high school, his good friend, British poet W.H. Auden fashioned a libretto around the tall tales of the mythical American folk hero, the giant logger Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. The New York Times review of the premiere of Paul Bunyan was a mixture of praise and pans. “Mr. Britten is a very clever young man,” wrote Olin Downes, but firmly suggested the young composer was capable of much better things. His next opera, Peter Grimes , would receive its world premiere in London, in 1945, by which time Britten was back in England for good, but like Paul Bunyan had an American connection: it was originally commissioned for $1000 by the Koussevitsky Foundation of Boston, and so received its American premiere at the Berkshire Music Festival in 1946 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. Music Played in Today's Program…

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, Koussevitsky Foundation, Berkshire Music Festival, Virgin, Teldec

Books & works: Paul Bunyan, Peter Grimes

Places: Columbia University, New York City, England, Boston

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