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Notes

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Pears met Benjamin Britten in 1934 when he was a member of the BBC Singers. They gave their first recital together in 1937 at Balliol College, Oxford. Britten wrote for Pears a variety of leading roles in almost all his principal operas, from 'Peter Grimes' in 1945 to 'Death in Venice' in 1973. Pears made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in October 1974 as Aschenbach in 'Death in Venice'. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House and other opera houses in Europe and the United States. He was also a celebrated interpreter of Franz Schubert's Lieder, usually with Britten as an accompanist and he gave performances as the evangelist in Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Passions'.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Peter Pears (1910–1986)

Date

1963

Medium

plaster

Measurements

H 34.3 x W (?) x D (?) cm

Accession number

5909

Acquisition method

donated by the trustees of the estate of Bettina Ehrlich, 1986

Work type

Bust

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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Artist or maker

Georg Ehrlich

1897–1966

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