Benjamin Britten - one
of the twentieth-century's most important composers - spent
much of his life in Aldeburgh and nearby Snape. The
inspiration he drew from the area is most notable in the
famous 'Four Sea Interludes' from his opera Peter Grimes. The
violinist Yehudi Menuhin once commented, "If wind and water
could write music, it would sound like Ben's."
In November 2003, a striking tribute to Britten and his music
was unveiled on the beach just north of Aldeburgh. Scallop - a
four-metre high steel sculpture - was conceived by Suffolk-born
artist Maggi Hambling (new window), and made by
Aldeburgh craftsmen Sam and Dennis Pegg.
It stands near the Thorpe Road car park on the coast road
between Aldeburgh and
Thorpeness.
Google map of Aldeburgh (new window).
The phrase "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" (from
Peter Grimes) is pierced through the steel, to be read against the
sky. Images of wings rising in flight, swimming fish and the ripple
of waves are all suggested by the work, whose scallop forms also
recall ancient symbols of pilgrimage, Venus and the sea.
Indeed, Maggi Hambling thinks of Scallop as a conversation with
the sea. "An important part of my concept is that at the centre of
the sculpture, where the 
sound of the waves and
the winds are focused, a visitor may sit and contemplate the
mysterious power of the sea," she says.
Scallop was given to Suffolk Coastal by the artist and by the
Adnams Charity, which co-ordinated the raising of funds from
numerous individual donors and grant-making trusts - including the
Foundation for Sport & the Arts, the Britten-Pears Foundation,
the Monument Trust and the Scarfe Charitable Trust.
Find out more about Benjamin Britten's life and work on the
Britten-Pears Foundation website (new
window).