Today marks the centenary of the first of Beatrice Harrison’s historic “nightingale” broadcasts. As a record collector and musical anglophile, I was familiar with Harrison, of course, from her recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto and her work with Frederick Delius and the composers of “the Frankfurt Gang.”
But I confess I learned of the nightingale broadcasts for the first time only last year, when watching a film on Netflix, called “The Dig” (2021), with Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. The film is based on a novel of the same name by John Preston, inspired by true events surrounding an archaeological excavation at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939, that uncovered an Anglo-Saxon ship burial.
At a point, one of the characters (a fictionalized version of real-life archaeologist Peggy Piggot, played by Lily James) relates an anecdote about Harrison, who used to rehearse in her garden, to the delight of the resident nightingales, who would allegedly join in. A live radio broadcast of Harrison playing “Londonderry Air” (a.k.a. “Danny Boy”) in a kind of avian duet is said to have entranced over a million listeners. That would have been on May 19, 1924.
I did a search on YouTube, and lo and behold! Recordings of these unusual collaborations exist! Apparently the original 10-inch shellac gramophone discs, issued by HMV in 1927, proved extremely popular.
Nightingales alone
“Londonderry” duet
“Songs My Mother Taught Me”
But was it all, in fact, faked?
Or not?
https://www.thestrad.com/playing-hub/defending-the-duet-the-cello-and-the-nightingale/14876.article
According to Kate Kennedy, in an article published today by the BBC, “beyond a shadow of a doubt,” the duets were real.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvvdq6z7r4o
Whether or not it was real or manufactured, it’s a lovely illusion. I for one wish to hang on to it. The broadcast inspired millions, a living dream of beauty, magic, and hope for a society still living with so much loss and sadness following the Great War. It proved so popular, in fact, that it was broadcast annually for the next 12 years.
Harrison is best-known to collectors for having made the first recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, with the composer conducting. She also gave first performances of a number of works by Delius, including his Double Concerto (with her sister, May Harrison, as the violin soloist).
Harrison plays Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Delius without nightingales, but a nice picture of Harrison with a terrier (she was also a great dog lover)
There are broadcasts, recordings, and books coming out of the U.K. to mark the anniversary. I am happy to report that Harrison’s autobiography, “The Cello and the Nightingales,” was reissued in the U.K. earlier this month. It will be available in the U.S. on July 16. Rather than link you to Amazon, which doesn’t need your money, for more information I’m sending you directly to the editor’s website. (Follow the link and scroll down.) You can decide from there from whom you might like to make your purchase.
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