Benjamin Britten Britten was a celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in concert and on record. He also performed and recorded works by others, such as Bach's "Brandenburg concertos", Mozart symphonies, and song cycles by Schubert and Schumann. Together with Pears and the librettist and producer Eric Crozier, Britten founded the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and he was responsible for the creation of Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967. In his last year, he was the first composer to be given a life peerage. Britten was born in the fishing port of Lowestoft in Suffolk, on the
Snape branch line occasionally. In the early years of operation there was as many as three trains per day although this later reduced to two. This may have been because trains got longer as the haulage capabilities of early steam locomotives improved. Train locomotives never operated into the maltings themselves and shunting was carried out by horses or, in later year, by a Fordsons Tractor. In later years the Snape working was a bonus working operated by Ipswich engine shed drivers where the workings were carried out as quickly as possible (in order to qualify for the bonus?). Signalling was initially by one