Composers Datebook

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, Britten's good friend, the British poet W. H. Auden, also living in the U.S., 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"— which shared its page with a picture of New York major Fiorello La Guardia sampling Camp Fire Girls' donuts — 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. Britten's next opera, "Peter Grimes," would receive its 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 Serge Koussevitsky's young protege, Leonard Bernstein.