It is composed for soprano or tenor soloist and string orchestra, and sets verse and prose poems written in 1872–1873 by Arthur Rimbaud, part of his collection Les Illuminations.
Britten began writing the cycle in Suffolk in March 1939 and completed it a few months later in the United States.
[1] Nevertheless the work can be, and more often is, sung by a tenor: Britten conducted the piece with Peter Pears as soloist within two years of the premiere.
Seemingly, Britten takes this to mean that only the artist, observing the world with detachment, can make sense of the "savage parade" that is human life.
Among the tenor versions is a 1963 set by Pears and the composer with the English Chamber Orchestra.