Canticle V: Death of St Narcissus

While not an actively religious man, Benjamin Britten did make substantial contributions to sacred and quasi-sacred repertories. His five Canticles convey deep spirituality, but they also touch on secular topics and emotions. Canticle V: The Death of St. Narcissus (1974) sets a richly symbolic poem by T. S. Eliot. It has been interpreted to hold abundant homoerotic underpinnings (which, if correct, may partly explain Britten’s interest in the text), but it is also dark, mystical, and bordering at times on violence. Eliot brings together sexual implications with the older, mythic traditions of Narcissus and the arrow-riddled St. Sebastian. Britten claimed that he did not fully understand Eliot’s meaning, though he managed to produce a work of unambiguous power and drama. It was dedicated to William Plomer, the South African poet who provided several librettos for Britten. It was premiered by tenor Peter Pears, Britten’s longtime romantic partner, and harpist Osian Ellis. The composer would normally have set such a piece for voice and piano, taking the keyboard part himself. But recent heart surgery left him partially paralyzed in his hands. He would live just two more years, and this Canticle represents one of the final and most evocative instances of how influenced Britten was by Pears as both a man and a musician.

(c) Jason Stell