The Japanese government rejected the Sinfonia for its use of Latin titles from the Catholic Requiem for its three movements and for its somber overall character, but it was received positively at its world premiere in New York on 29 March 1941 under John Barbirolli.
It was his first major orchestral work that did not include a soloist and, according to musicologist Peter Evans, marks the peak of his early writing in this idiom.
In the early autumn (northern hemisphere) of 1939, Britten was approached through the British Council to write an orchestral work for a special festivity of an unspecified great power.
[6][7] At this point, Japan was engaged fully in its invasion of mainland China but had not yet entered World War II formally or become allied with Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy.
[11] In the autumn of 1940, Britten, who had left for North America in 1939, was summoned to the Japanese consulate in Boston, where he was read a long letter from Viscount Hidemaro Konoye, who served as organizer of the celebration.
[11] This section of the letter read, "We are afraid that the composer must have greatly misunderstood our desire ... [The music] has a melancholy tone both in its melodic pattern and rhythm, making it unsuitable for performance on such an occasion as our national ceremony.
He denied the alleged glumness of the Sinfonia and any intent of an insult, and said that the delay in receiving the contract had eliminated the possibility of composing a celebratory work within the deadline.
[13] The first British performance took place the following year,[14] and its belated Japanese premiere was on 18 February 1956, with the composer conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
This performance led to the Koussevitzky Music Foundations commission of Britten's opera Peter Grimes.
Britten's analysis, quoted in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra's program notes, reads: As can be seen from the following examples, two themes provide unity between the movements.
It was also an expression of the composer's lifelong pacifism and a reaction to the darkening political developments that led eventually to the Second World War.
While his publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, had supported him in his composition, it had also tried to encourage him to write more conventional pieces, suggesting, for example, a piano concerto for the BBC and a ballet for Sadler's Wells.
[17] Musicologist Peter Evans claims that, while Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra came afterwards, the Sinfonia represents the peak of Britten's early orchestral writing.