 The composer and biographer David Matthews described the cycle as Britten's "declaration of love for Peter".The partners made a private recording of the work in New York shortly after it was completed, but the public premiere was not for a further two years.In 1941, spurred by a magazine article by E M Forster about the Suffolk poet George Crabbe, Pears bought Britten a copy of Crabbe's collection of narrative poems "The Borough".