Te Deum in C (Britten)
musical setting of Te Deum composed by Benjamin Britten
The Te Deum in C is a sacred choral composition by Benjamin Britten, a setting of the Te Deum on the English text from the Book of Common Prayer. Britten wrote it between 11 July and 17 September 1934. It is scored for a treble solo, four-part choir (SATB) and organ.
History and versions
Britten dedicated the work: "Written for Maurice Vinden and the Choir of St Mark's, N. Audley St, London". It was first performed in concert at the medieval church of St Michael, Cornhill, London, on 13 November 1935 by the St Michael's Singers and organist George Thalben-Ball, with soprano May Bartlett, conducted by Harold Darke. The work was among Britten's first compositions to be published, by Oxford University Press.
Commissioned by the BBC, Britten orchestrated the work between 14 and 20 January 1936, for harp or piano and string orchestra. This version was first performed in concert at the Mercury Theatre, London, on 27 January 1936 in the Lemare concert series, by the Choir of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, conducted by Reginald Goodall. Britten played the viola in the unnamed orchestra.
In 1961, Britten composed Jubilate Deo, also in C major, as a companion piece.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 8, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q2179413. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1961.
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This entry incorporates text from “Te Deum in C (Britten)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.