Peter Pears - Definition and Overview

Peter Neville Luard Pears (June 22 1910 – April 3 1986) was an English tenor and life-long partner of the composer Benjamin Britten.

He studied at Keble College, Oxford, serving as organist at Hertford College, but left without taking his degree. He later studied for two terms at the Royal College of Music. He met Britten in 1936 and lived with him from 1939.

Several of Britten's works contain a main tenor role written specifically for Pears. These include the role of Captain Vere in Billy Budd and the title role in Peter Grimes. These roles are both extremely conflicted characters, who cause the deaths of innocent young men. He was also a celebrated interpreter of Schubert's Lieder, usually with Britten as accompanist, and a notable Evangelist in Bach's Passions.