I was watching a film on Netflix the other night called “The Dig” (2021), starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, about the archaeological excavation at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939 that uncovered an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. The film is based on a novel of the same name by John Preston, inspired by true events.
Interestingly, at a point one of the characters (a fictionalized version of real-life archaeologist Peggy Piggot, played by Lily James) relates an anecdote about the cellist Beatrice 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.
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?
Whether it was faked or not, it’s a lovely illusion. I for one wish to hang on to it.
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 Frederick Delius, including his Double Concerto (with her sister, May Harrison, as the violin soloist).
In addition, she wrote an autobiography, “The Cello and the Nightingales.”
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)