A Time There Was... A profile of Benjamin Britten
- Episode aired Apr 6, 1980
- 1h 43m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
33
YOUR RATING
An in-depth portrait of one of England's greatest composers. Winner of the Prix Italia.An in-depth portrait of one of England's greatest composers. Winner of the Prix Italia.An in-depth portrait of one of England's greatest composers. Winner of the Prix Italia.
- Awards
- 1 win
Photos
Beth Britten Welford
- Self
- (as Beth Welford)
Nellie Hudson
- Self
- (as Miss Hudson)
Storyline
Featured review
Disappointingly shallow, simple TV doc about Britain's greatest composer
This late-70s TV film is composed mostly of clips/interviews with people who knew Britten, including most poignantly his lifelong companion Sir Peter Pears; some of the comments made are funny or heartwarming, but alas very little in this film is truly illuminating or intellectually discerning -- it's a very basic point-by-point account of Britten's life that just touches on the basics, nevermind giving us any actual insight into the man's deeper personality, his conflicts over his sexuality, or most importantly his music. His great contemporaries and (presumable) influences Elgar, Delius, Holst and Bridge are barely mentioned; lesser luminaries of the British scene and other significant composers from abroad including his great friend Shostakovich are either ignored completely or touched on only in passing. The great conflicts in Britten's music between the conservative and the avant-garde, the melodic and rapturous, the sacred music and the secular man, are nowhere to be found. Although I enjoyed a lot of the reminiscences of friends and family, personal observations only go so far when trying to describe a man as difficult, intense and many-sided as Britten. To me this is the greatest of all English composers, but this documentary is a poor starting point for those ignorant of his genius and certainly offers nothing to the specialist.
helpful•83
- OldAle1
- May 4, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Benjamin Britten: A Time There Was...
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content