Benjamin Britten

British composer Benjamin Britten’s Six Metamorphoses After Ovid is a piece of program music written for solo Oboe in 1951. The piece was inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses and each of the titular six metamorphoses is based on a character from Roman mythology and includes an inscription summarizing their story. The music for each metamorphosis reflects its character atmosphere or plot – for example the fifth metamorphosis Narcissus (‘who fell in love with his own image and became a flower’) is marked lento piacevole and is meant to convey the act of staring at a reflection in a pool. By virtue of the musicbeing written for a solo instrument Britten allows the performer to be highly expressive so that the characteristics of each God can be fully represented through the performance. With a performance time of ca. 13 minutes this virtuoso solo piece will quickly become a staple in any intermediate to advanced Oboe player’s repertoire.