Composers often found inspiration from other musicians, including some much earlier composers. When Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) composed his YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA in 1945 he crafted a piece that passes around a melody between each section of the orchestra. Britten used a melody by a much earlier English composer, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) -- a RONDEAU from a play called ABDELAZER.
Today's Beautiful Music features a performance by Voices of Music of Purcell's original RONDEAU...
as well as Benjamin Britten's YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE played by an orchestra of "young persons" conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.
