Editing Benjamin Britten (section)

===Last years===
[[File:Britten 1970s.jpg|thumb|upright|Britten {{circa| 1976}}]]
In September 1970 Britten asked [[Myfanwy Piper]], who had adapted the two Henry James stories for him, to turn another prose story into a libretto. This was [[Thomas Mann]]'s novella ''[[Death in Venice]]'', a subject he had been considering for some time.{{Sfn|Piper|1989|p=15}} At an early stage in composition Britten was told by his doctors that a heart operation was essential if he was to live for more than two years. He was determined to finish the opera and worked urgently to complete it before going into hospital for surgery.<ref name="graham">{{Harvnb|Graham|1989|p=55}}.</ref> His long-term colleague [[Colin Graham]] wrote:
{{Blockquote|Perhaps of all his works, this one went deepest into Britten's own soul: there are extraordinary cross-currents of affinity between himself, his own state of health and mind, Thomas Mann, Aschenbach (Mann's dying protagonist), and Peter Pears, who must have had to tear himself in three in order to reconstitute himself as the principal character.<ref name=graham/>|}}

After the completion of the opera Britten went into the [[The Heart Hospital|National Heart Hospital]] and was operated on in May 1973 to replace a failing heart valve. The replacement was successful, but he suffered a slight stroke, affecting his right hand. This brought his career as a performer to an end.<ref name=grove/> While in hospital Britten became friendly with a senior nursing sister, [[Rita Thomson]]; she moved to Aldeburgh in 1974 and looked after him until his death.{{Sfn|Oliver|1996|p=206}}

Britten's last works include the ''Suite on English Folk Tunes "A Time There Was"'' (1974); the Third String Quartet (1975), which drew on material from ''Death in Venice''; and the dramatic cantata ''[[Phaedra (cantata)|Phaedra]]'' (1975), written for [[Janet Baker]].{{Sfn|Carpenter|1992|p=596}}

In June 1976, the last year of his life, Britten accepted a [[life peer]]age – the first composer so honoured – becoming Baron Britten, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk.<ref name="TheLondon">{{London Gazette|issue=46954|page=9295|date=6 July 1976}}</ref>{{Efn|Some writers have supposed that Britten was earlier offered and had declined a [[knighthood]],{{Sfn|Powell|2013|p=458}} but his name is not included in the official list issued in 2012 by the [[Cabinet Office]] naming everyone (except those still living at the time of publication) who had declined an honour between 1950 and 1999.<ref>Rosenbaum, Martin. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16721511 "Government forced to release list of rejected honours"], BBC, 26 January 2012, accessed 24 May 2013; and [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61126/document2012-01-24-075439.pdf List of honours refused], Cabinet Office, January 2012</ref>}} After the 1976 Aldeburgh Festival, Britten and Pears travelled to Norway, where Britten began writing ''Praise We Great Men'', for voices and orchestra based on a poem by [[Edith Sitwell]].{{Sfn|Headington|1996|p=143}} He returned to Aldeburgh in August, and wrote ''Welcome Ode'' for children's choir and orchestra.<ref name="Kennedy114">{{Harvnb|Kennedy|1983|p=114}}.</ref> In November, Britten realised that he could no longer compose.{{Sfn|Matthews|2003|p=154}} On his 63rd birthday, 22 November, at his request Rita Thomson organised a champagne party and invited his friends and his sisters Barbara and Beth, to say their goodbyes to the dying composer.<ref name="Matthews155">{{Harvnb|Matthews|2003|p=155}}.</ref> When Rostropovich made his farewell visit a few days later, Britten gave him what he had written of ''Praise We Great Men''.<ref name="Matthews155"/>

{{Quote box| quoted=true|width=40%|bgcolor=#D8D8D8|align=right|quote= I heard of his death&nbsp;... and took a long walk in total silence through gently falling snow across a frozen lake, which corresponded exactly to the inexpressible sense of numbness at such a loss. The world is colder and lonelier without the presence of our supreme creator of music. |salign = right|source= [[Peter Maxwell Davies]], 1977.<ref name="max">[[Peter Maxwell Davies|Davies, Peter Maxwell]], [[Nicholas Maw]] and others. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/942546 "Benjamin Britten: Tributes and Memories"], ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'', New Series, No. 120, March 1977, pp. 2–6 {{Subscription}}.</ref>}}
Britten died of [[congestive heart failure]] on 4 December 1976. His funeral service was held at [[St Peter and St Paul's Church, Aldeburgh|Aldeburgh Parish Church]] three days later,<ref name="Matthews155"/> and he was buried in its churchyard, with a gravestone carved by [[Reynolds Stone]].<ref>Powers, Alan. [http://www.fpba.com/parenthesis/select-articles/p16_reynolds_stone_tribute.html "Reynolds Stone: A Centenary Tribute".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010183205/https://www.fpba.com/parenthesis/select-articles/p16_reynolds_stone_tribute.html |date=10 October 2018}}, Fine Press Book Association, accessed 27 May 2013.</ref> The authorities at [[Westminster Abbey]] had offered burial there, but Britten had made it clear that he wished his grave to be side by side with that, in due course, of Pears.{{Sfn|Headington|1993|p=277}} A memorial service was held at the Abbey on 10 March 1977, at which the congregation was headed by [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]].<ref>"Memorial service: Lord Britten, OM, CH", ''The Times'', 11 March 1977, p. 20.</ref>