Benjamin Britten

The File comprises: (1) 25 July, 1950 (1 sheet), responding to Rainier's comments on Les Illuminations: "It is a work I am always self-conscious about, being only too aware of the great difficulty I had in writing it, & of great personal problems at the time. But one obviously exaggerates the importance of those, & it is a relief that so severe a critic as yourself can overlook the flaws!" (2) 26 January, 1953 (1 sheet), beginning: "I cannot pretend that there is much hope of my doing anything for Peter and Noel's [Mewton-Wood] concert in St Ives in June...." (3) 31 December, 1954 (1 sheet), in reply to Rainier's suggestion that Elizabeth Sprigge might lecture at Aldeburgh. (4) 16 July, [1961] (personal postcard, with envelope post-marked 1961), referring to a performance at Aldeburgh. (5) Letter without date (1 sheet), with envelope (postmark obscure), beginning: "It was a great pleasure to hear your Quanta at the Festival [1963] - it is a fine piece, with exciting & imaginative ideas". (6) personal postcard (30 October, 1970): "I am recovering now - but, o, how slowly it takes nowadays when one is getting old! However I hope to be well enough to cope with conducting this new TV opera in November - what a curious business that all is, scarcely real at all."