Probably the best known English composer of the twentieth century, Benjamin Britten, wrote many successful operas, including Billy Budd and The Turn of the Screw, as well as pieces for choir and orchestra. He is particularly known for his vocal music, and he often collaborated with the famous poet W. H. Auden, who would write lyrics Britten would set to music.  

 

The most popular piece Britten wrote, however, might be A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a set of variations for orchestra written for British television. It uses a theme by the English renaissance composer Henry Purcell to showcase the sound of each instrument in the orchestra one after another.