The Red House

I've decided not to volunteer at the Red House, disappointing though this is. The barely-discussed issue of Britten's relationships with young boys which verged on, if not actually was, paedophilia, was raised by one of my Snape colleagues, and the trustees clearly did not have a response prepared, even though the subject must come up from time to time. The house is filled with portraits of these young boys for whose voices much of his music was composed, and the intensity of his friendships with them has filled many with unease, and sometimes downright abhorrence, over the years. The brief conversation provoked last week seemed to show that his sexuality was being conflated with his paedophilia, when of course there is no connection between the two. I was left feeling dismayed, slightly sick, and aware that I didn't want to be involved in any of it. Snape, his masterpiece, is different. It's about music only, mercifully not much of it his. I want to continue loving being there, and to forget the connection with this genius who may also have been a thoroughly odious man.