Benjamin Britten: Te Deum In C - Organ / Treble (Soprano) / SATB

Britten's Te Deum In C is arranged for Treble (Soprano) solo, SATB choir and Organ accompaniment.

In preparing for publication the 1935 orchestral version of Britten's Te Deum in C, it became clear that there were a number of discrepancies between the manuscript and the original 193 vocal score. Some of these were minor: different articulation and dynamic markings, something Britten was later very fussy about, but perhaps left unchanged on proof because of his relative inexperience at this stage of his career with the processes of music publishing.

Others were more important: wrong pedal notes, for example, which Britten failed to notice on proof, and which have been perpetuated in performances and recordings for nearly seventy years. These have been corrected in the new edition of the vocal score and in the orchestral score. So, although in essence the two versions are the same, the soundworld explored in each is quite distinct.

Britten's orchestral version should neither be viewed as an occasional piece nor considered solely a liturgical work, like many of his choral pieces from the 1930s and 1940s, it is equally performed at home, in church and concert hall.