Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The 2021 Berlin Family Lectures with Ian Bostridge
"Musical Identities"
Lecture three: "Meditations on Death"
April 24, 2021
This lecture examines identity's ultimate dissolution—death—and explore some of the ways in which classical composers have confronted it, in private and public mode. The lecture focuses on three works by Benjamin Britten: the song cycle, The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945), written shortly after Britten's return from Bergen-Belsen; The War Requiem (1962); and Britten’s last opera based on the novella by Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (1973).
This is the third lecture in a three lecture series presented in the spring of 2021 at the University of Chicago.
Named for Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin, the Berlin Family Lectures bring leading scholars, writers, and creative artists from around the world to the University of Chicago. Learn more at http://berlinfamilylectures.uchicago.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
The 2021 Berlin Family Lectures with Ian Bostridge
"Musical Identities"
Lecture three: "Meditations on Death"
April 24, 2021
This lecture examines identity's ultimate dissolution—death—and explore some of the ways in which classical composers have confronted it, in private and public mode. The lecture focuses on three works by Benjamin Britten: the song cycle, The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945), written shortly after Britten's return from Bergen-Belsen; The War Requiem (1962); and Britten’s last opera based on the novella by Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (1973).
This is the third lecture in a three lecture series presented in the spring of 2021 at the University of Chicago.
Named for Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin, the Berlin Family Lectures bring leading scholars, writers, and creative artists from around the world to the University of Chicago. Learn more at http://berlinfamilylectures.uchicago.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
