Britten, Edward Benjamin: Soirées musicales, 1st suite of 5 movements from Rossini op.9

Soirées musicales, (Musical Evenings), Op. 9, is a suite of five movements by Benjamin Britten, using music composed by Gioachino Rossini. The suite, first performed in 1937, derives its title from Rossini’s collection of the same name, dating from the early 1830s, from which Britten drew much of the thematic material.

The five-movement suite was expanded from incidental music Britten had written for a film in 1935, and was quickly used as the basis of a ballet by Antony Tudor. Other choreographers, including George Balanchine created ballets using Britten’s score.