| Activity | Composer. Britten was working on his first opera 'Peter Grimes' during his first visits to Dartington. The second opera, planned for Dartington but eventually went to Glyndebourne was the 'Rape of Lucretia'. This opera was originally conceived for production in the Barn Theatre and Dorothy Elmhirst offered £2000 towards it. Eric Crozier visited Dartington and told the Elmhirsts that it had been decided to transfer to Glyndbourne because the facilities were much better. Peter Cox was asked by Dorothy Elmhirst to see Britten and tell him that her £2000 was not available but could be called on by him for some other occasion. (Source Peter Cox, letter to Michael Kennedy, 27 Jun 1980, T/PC)
Ruth Elmhirst commissioned a piece from Britten as a 25th Wedding Anniversary present for Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, and the work he composed was the 'Five Flower Songs', for unaccompanied mixed chorus. Britten continued to visit Dartington, and almost every year Leonard and Dorothy would go to the Aldeburgh Festival, started by Britten and Peter Pears where many of his works were given their first performance. In the June after Dorothy's death the Aldeburgh Festival mounted an exhibition of photographs of Dartington and a concert was given in memory of Dorothy. |