미국 서곡 (An American Overture)

An American Overture (originally titled Occasional Overture), Op. 27 is an orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten. It was composed in 1941, while Britten and his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, lived in the United States. Personal difficulties, global events, and the desire to earn more money goaded Britten to leave England and pursue a career in the United States. Britten began to compose An American Overture while he and Pears were living at the home of the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson in Escondido, California. The work had resulted from a proposal initiated in August 1941, by the conductor Artur Rodziński for a short orchestral work he intended to conduct in concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in October and November of that year respectively. Britten completed the work on October 16, during a guest stay at the home of Elizabeth Mayer in Amityville, New York. For reasons undetermined, Rodziński never conducted An American Overture, possibly because it was never delivered to him. Britten soon became critical of the work and entered a period of creative crisis, which was further worsened by the poor reception to his operetta Paul Bunyan, difficulties with the American Federation of Musicians, and his unreciprocated attraction to the young son of a hardware store owner in Amityville. Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, but left behind the score to An American Overture. After being acquired by a musical rental agency, the score was deposited in the New York Public Library in the mid-1950s. A staff archivist discovered it and contacted Britten about it in 1972, whereupon the composer replied that he did not recall the work. After indicating that he preferred to have the score destroyed, he allowed permission for it to be available for private viewing by library patrons, but demanded that it never be published. After Britten's death, it was published by Faber Music. Its world premiere took place on November 8, 1983, played by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle.