ABSTRACT
Benjamin Britten was born in November 1913, the fourth of four children, and six years younger than his brother Frank Bridge– a Benjamin in a Biblical sense. Britten's first attempts at composition date from 1919 when he was six – incidental music for a play he had written himself entitled The Royal Falily. Britten began piano lessons at about the age of eight but, no doubt thanks to his mother, he was already way ahead in his musical development. Bridge was a mentor and parental figure for the young Britten and there is nothing else in the history of British music quite like this relationship between the generations. In the meantime 'A Poison Tree' is full of spiky and characterised rhythms that suggest more posture than feeling. The destination and the means of getting there represent a mix of enchantment and whimsy that is also to be found in these de la Mare settings, which are both arcane and naive.
