All the Gods : Benjamin Britten's Night-piece in Context

Christopher Wintle's in-depth examination of Britten's Notturno includes a full set of sketches, the printed score, an introductory essay and two appendices, providing a new model for the study of Britten's work in general. Peter Pears once described Benjamin Britten as `a Greek who worships all the gods'; and in order to come to terms with Britten's music it is necessary to recognize a language deeply embedded in this Western tradition. This book is devoted to Night-piece (Notturno), written for the first Leeds International Pianoforte Competition of 1963.

It addresses the work from many points of view: historical, documentary, analytical, formal, kinetic, hermeneutical, and affective.

It also includes a wide range of illustrated allusions to other music, a full set of sketches, the printed score, arrays of modes and voice-leading graphs, and two appendices that take the issues of intensification and neapolitan relations further.

In so doing, it provides a new model for the study of Britten's work in general.