Benjamin Britten based on a theme from Britten's Piano Concerto. Works commemorating Britten include "Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten" an orchestral piece written in 1977 by Arvo Pärt, and Sally Beamish's "Variations on a Theme of Benjamin Britten", based on the second Sea Interlude from "Peter Grimes"; she composed the work to mark Britten's centenary. Alan Bennett depicts Britten in a 2009 play "The Habit of Art", set while Britten is composing "Death in Venice" and centred on a fictional meeting between Britten and Auden. Britten was played in the premiere production by Alex Jennings. Tony Palmer made three documentary films about
Opera in English was the first English composer to experiment with Italian-style all-sung comic opera, unsuccessfully in "The Temple of Dullness" (1745), "Henry and Emma" (1749) and "Don Saverio" (1750), but triumphantly in "Thomas and Sally" (1760). His opera "Artaxerxes" (1762) was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria in English and was a huge success, holding the stage until the 1830s. His modernized ballad opera, "Love in a Village" (1762), was equally novel and began a vogue for pastiche opera that lasted well into the 19th century. Arne was one of the few English composers of the era who, although