Advance Democracy

Advance Democracy is a 1938 piece for unaccompanied choir by British composer Benjamin Britten.

History

In 1938, in reaction to the Munich Agreement and threat posed by the Axis against the liberal order in Europe, the London Co-operative Society commissioned a propaganda piece to promote democracy.^[1]^[2] Poet Randall Swingler wrote the lyrics.^[3]

Music

The piece begins with text evoking the fascist menace, with a minor key and staccato.^[1] The call to advance democracy is underlined by a bright C major.^[3]

References

References

^ ^a ^b Spicer, Paul. "Advance Democracy (1938)". Hal Leonard. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
^ Rushworth, Charlotte. "Britten's Advance Democracy – A rallying cry for us all". Pink Singers. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
^ ^a ^b Jane, Caecilia. "Benjamin Britten and WW2 propaganda". A Historical Miscellany. Retrieved 22 February 2020.

External links

S:t Jacobs Ungdomskör - Benjamin Britten: Advance Democracy

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Benjamin Britten

List of compositions

Opera and operetta

Paul Bunyan (1941)
Peter Grimes (1945)
The Rape of Lucretia (1946)
Albert Herring (1947)
The Little Sweep (1949)
Billy Budd (1951)
Gloriana (1953)
The Turn of the Screw (1954)
Noye's Fludde (1958)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960)
Owen Wingrave (1971)
Death in Venice (1973)

Church parables

Curlew River (1964)
The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
The Prodigal Son (1968)

Film/Ballet

Plymouth Town (1931)
Night Mail (1936)
The Prince of the Pagodas (1956)

Orchestral

Sinfonietta (1932)
Simple Symphony (1934)
Soirées musicales (1937)
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (1937)
Mont Juic (1937)
Sinfonia da Requiem (1940)
Matinées musicales (1941)
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946)

Concertante

Piano Concerto (1938, rev. 1945)
Violin Concerto (1939, rev. 1958)
Young Apollo (1939)
Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra (1940 rev. 1954)
Cello Symphony (1963)

Vocal/Choral Orchestral

Our Hunting Fathers (1936)
The Company of Heaven (1937)
Les Illuminations (1939)
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943)
Saint Nicolas (1948)
Spring Symphony (1949)
Nocturne (1958)
Cantata academica (1959)
War Requiem (1961)
Cantata misericordium (1963)
Children's Crusade (1969)
Phaedra (1975)

Vocal

Beware! Three Early Songs (1922–26)
Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (1940)
The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945)
Britten's Purcell realizations (1945)+
5 Canticles (1947–75, including Canticle I: My beloved is mine and I am his, Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac (1952), Canticle III: Still falls the rain (1954) and Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi (1971)
A Charm of Lullabies (1947)
Winter Words (1954)
Songs from the Chinese (1957)
Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente (1958)
Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965)
The Poet's Echo (1965)
Who Are These Children? (1969)
A Birthday Hansel (1975)

Choral

Friday Afternoons (1932–1935)
A Boy was Born (1933)
Te Deum in C (1934)
Advance Democracy (1938)
A Ceremony of Carols (1942)
Hymn to St Cecilia (1942)
Festival Te Deum (1944)
Rejoice in the Lamb (1943)
Five Flower Songs (1950)
Hymn to St Peter (1955)
Missa Brevis (1959)
A Hymn of St Columba (1962)
The Golden Vanity (1966)
Children's Crusade (1968)
Sacred and Profane (8 medieval lyrics) (1974)
Jubilate Deo (1961)

Chamber/Instrumental

String Quartet in D major (1931)
Phantasy Quartet (oboe quartet, 1932)
String Quartet No. 1 (1941)
String Quartet No. 2 (1945)
Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria (organ, 1946)
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid (oboe, 1951)
Fanfare for St Edmundsbury (three trumpets, 1959)
Cello sonata (1961)
Nocturnal after John Dowland (guitar, 1963)
Cello suites (1964, 1967, 1972)
String Quartet No. 3 (1975)

Collaborations

Homage to Paderewski (1941)
Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (1953)

Film adaptations

War Requiem (1989 film)

Legacy

Named after Britten

Related articles

Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century
Britten's Children
Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
English Opera Group
The Dark Tower
Scallop (2003)

Category

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