Duration: 31.1s

In order to show you how a big symphony orchestra is put together, Benjamin Britten has written a big piece of music, which is made up of smaller pieces that show you all the separate parts of the orchestra. These smaller pieces are called variations, which means different ways of playing the same tune. First of all, he lets us hear the tune or the theme, which is a beautiful melody by the much older British composer Henry Purcell. Here is Purcell's theme played by the whole orchestra together.