Editing Peter Pears (section)

===America and wartime===
[[File:Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia (restored).jpg|thumb|Britten, photographed in the 1960s]]
In April 1939, Pears accompanied Britten as he sailed to [[North America]], going first to [[Canada]] and then to [[New York City|New York]]. Their relationship ceased to be platonic, and from then until Britten's death they were partners in both their professional and personal lives.<ref>Headington, pp. 87–88</ref> When the [[World War II|Second World War]] began, Britten and Pears turned for advice to the British embassy in Washington and were told that they should remain in the US as artistic ambassadors.<ref name=p197/> Pears was inclined to disregard the advice and go back to England; Britten also felt the urge to return, but accepted the embassy's counsel and persuaded Pears to do the same.<ref name=p197>Powell, p. 197</ref>

In 1940 Britten composed ''Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo'', the first of many song cycles for Pears.<ref>Headington, pp. 98–99</ref> The composer and biographer [[David Matthews (composer)|David Matthews]] described the cycle as Britten's "declaration of love for Peter".<ref>Matthews, p. 56</ref> The partners made a private recording of the work in New York shortly after it was completed, but the public premiere was not for a further two years.<ref>Headington, p. 99</ref> In 1941, spurred by a magazine article by [[E. M. Forster|E M Forster]] about the [[Suffolk]] poet [[George Crabbe]], Pears bought Britten a copy of Crabbe's collection of narrative poems ''[[The Borough (poem)|The Borough]]''. He suggested to Britten that the section about the fisherman Peter Grimes would make a good subject for an opera. Britten agreed, and, a Suffolk man himself, was struck with a deep nostalgia by the poem. He later said, "I suddenly realised where I belonged and what I lacked". He and Pears began to plan their return to England.<ref>Headington, pp. 110–111</ref> They made the perilous Atlantic crossing in April 1942.<ref>Powell, p. 210</ref>

Having arrived in England, Britten and Pears successfully applied for official recognition as [[conscientious objector]]s, Pears's application running much more smoothly than Britten's.<ref>Matthews, p. 66</ref> One of their early performances together after their return was the public premiere of the Michelangelo cycle at the [[Wigmore Hall]] in September 1942.<ref>Headington, p. 120</ref> Their recording of the work for [[EMI Classics|HMV]] was released in February 1943.<ref>"The Gramophone Company Limited", ''The Times'', 12 February 1943, p. 3</ref> Britten was by now so obsessed with the sound of Pears's "heavenly voice" that he went out of his way to discourage sopranos from singing his earlier song cycle, ''[[Les Illuminations (Britten)|Les Illuminations]]'', though it had been specifically composed for the soprano voice.<ref>Headington, pp. 122–123</ref> For Pears, Britten composed one of his most popular works, the [[Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings]] (1943).<ref>Powell, p. 229</ref>

In early 1943 Pears joined [[English National Opera|Sadler's Wells Opera Company]]. His roles included Tamino in ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', Rodolfo in ''[[La bohème]]'', the Duke in ''[[Rigoletto]]'', Alfredo in ''[[La traviata]]'', Almaviva in ''[[The Barber of Seville]]'', Ferrando in ''[[Così fan tutte]]'' and Vašek in ''[[The Bartered Bride]]''.<ref>Headington, p. 124</ref> His growing operatic experience and expertise affected the composition of Britten's opera ''[[Peter Grimes]]''. The composer had envisaged the central figure, based on Crabbe's brutal fisherman, as a villainous baritone, but he began to rethink the character as "neither a hero nor a villain" and not a baritone but a tenor, written to fit Pears's voice. In January 1944 Britten and Pears began a long association with the [[Decca Records|Decca Record Company]], recording four of Britten's folk song arrangements.<ref name=decca/> In May of the same year, with [[Dennis Brain]] and the [[Boyd Neel]] Orchestra, they recorded the Serenade.<ref name=decca/>