New Benjamin Britten 50p set to strike a chord with Change Checkers
The new Benjamin Britten 50p is not likely to be seen in your change until 2014
The Royal Mint’s latest 50p coin is certain to “strike a chord” with Change Checkers.
That’s because it celebrates the centenary of the birth of one of the UK’s most prominent classical composers – Sir Benjamin Britten.
Born in Suffolk on 22 November 1913, Britten studied at the Royal School of Music before going on to write some of the 20th Century’s best known opera, choral and classical pieces, including Peter Grimes (1945), a Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (1945) and the War Requiem (1962).
The new 50p design has been created by another composer and artist, Tom Phillips CBE, RA. Commenting on his design Phillips says: “What I wanted the coin to speak of was music. Thus the stave soon entered the design… and his name married well with the stave. The natural accompaniment with Britten’s passion for poetry as our preeminent composer of opera and song, was some kind of key quotation. The words which eventually suggested themselves, come from the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. What better clarion call for a musical anniversary could there be than “Blow, bugle, blow: set the wild echoes flying?”
Sadly though Change Checkers will have to wait several months until you can hope to see the new Benjamin Britten coin in general circulation.