Britten's poets

As part of his work with the Britten-Pears Foundation in Aldeburgh, UK, PhD student Florian Kräutli has been developing a new visualisation of the temporal relations between the song-cycles in composer Benjamin Britten’s lifetime of composing and the dates of the poets whose work the composer set.

Detail of a double-timeline representing (top) Benjamin Britten's lifetime and (bottom) the time span of the poets whose work he set.  Florian Kräutli for Britten-Pears Foundation. Screenshot.

It comprises two parallel timelines - a surprisingly under-exploited arrangement that Florian has made good use of before.  The top line shows the composer’s lifetime: circles are song-cycles, the size of the circle representing the number of poems in a given cycle.  The lower line shows all the poets Britten set, the size of the circle representing the number of each poet’s works set. The lateral position shows the date of composition (in the Britten timeline) or the mid-point of the poet’s life (in the longer poet timeline extending as far back as Sophocles).

Clicking on a poet highlights Britten’s settings; clicking on a song cycle highlights all the poets whose words are part of the cycle.

The timeline will be displayed as part of Britten’s Words, an exhibition at The Red House Gallery, Aldeburgh, from 1 May 2015.

Florian is funded by a CASE grant from the EPSRC, awarded by the Creative Industries KTN.

Exhibitions at The Red House Gallery, Aldeburgh.