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The Servant Problem

Texts and music about domestic service, with readings by Adrian Scarborough and Sophie Thompson. With Charlotte Bronte and Wodehouse, plus Bing Crosby and Haydn.

Adrian Scarborough and Sophie Thompson read prose and poetry on the often uneasy relationship between domestic servants and their employers. From St Zita, patron saint of servants, to Mrs Danvers and Jeeves, the put-upon "odd man", the awkwardly placed governess, and the exhausted servants to the Bennets at Longbourn, it's a story of hard work, a battle of wills, and a striving to make sense of status. Music includes Haydn's "Farewell Symphony", written to make a point to his employer, Richard Strauss's affectionate portrayal of knight and servant in Don Quixote, and Johnny Mercer's party with The Waiter and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid.

Producer: Elizabeth Funning.

1 hour, 15 minutes

Last on

Wed 23 Dec 2015 16:30
大象传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:00

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Le Nozze di Figaro - opera in 4 acts K.492

    Conductor: Colin Davis. Performer: 大象传媒 S O..
    • PHILIPS.
    • 426-195-2.
  • 00:04

    Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Wasps - Aristophanic suite (from incidental music)

    Conductor: James Judd. Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • NAXOS.
    • 8-.572304.

  • Mrs Beeton : The Book of Household Management, extract

  • Nancy Willard : Angels among the servants

  • 00:08

    Paul Reade

    The Victorian kitchen garden - suite for clarinet and harp

    Performer: Emma Johnson. Performer: Skaila Kanga.
    • ASV.
    • CD DCA 800.

  • Ruth Rendell : The St Zita Society

  • 00:12

    Arthur Sullivan

    The Gondoliers, or The King of Barataria - comic opera in 2 acts

    Conductor: John Pryce-Jones. Performer: D'Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra.
    • TER.
    • cdvir-8316.

  • Lady Violet Greville writing in The National Review 1892

  • 00:14

    Gioachino Rossini

    Il Barbiere di Siviglia - opera in 2 acts

    Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti. Performer: Thomas Hampson. Performer: Tuscany Orchestra.
    • VIRGIN.
    • VTDCD-417.
  • 00:18

    Traditional English

    The Farmer's Servant

    Performer: A. L. Lloyd. Performer: Al Jeffrey.
    • TOPIC.
    • TSCD 496.
  • 00:21

    Eric Coates

    Calling All Workers

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Reginald Kilbey.
    • EMI.
    • 3 52356 2.

  • Outline of work for odd man. Berrington Hall (National Trust) Late 19th century

  • 00:27

    John Rutter

    Dashing away with the smoothing iron - trad., arr. for chorus

    Conductor: John Rutter. Performer: The Cambridge Singers.
    • COLLEGIUM.
    • COLCD 120.

  • Jo Baker : Longbourn (extract)

  • 00:29

    (Trad)

    The Housewife's Lament

    Performer: Frankie Armstrong. Performer: Peggy Seeger. Performer: Sandra Kerr.
    • ARGO.
    • DA-82.

  • Jonathan Swift : Directions to Servants. 1731

  • 00:34

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony no. 45 in F sharp minor H.1.45 (Farewell)

    Performer: Ton Koopman. Performer: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
    • ERATO.
    • ECD-88173.

  • Daphne du Maurier : Rebecca (extract)

  • 00:44

    Franz Waxman

    Rebecca - music for the film [1940]

    Conductor: Paul Bateman. Performer: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • SILVA SCREEN.
    • FILMXCD 320.

  • Carol Anne Duffy : Warming her pearls

  • Kazuo Ishiguro : The Remains of the Day (extract)

  • 00:49

    Paolo Conte

    Jeeves

    Performer: Paolo Conte. Performer: Paolo Conte.
    • Wrasse Records.
    • WRASS-274.

  • P G Wodehouse : Right Ho Jeeves (extract)

  • 00:55

    Johnny Mercer

    The Waiter, The Porter & The Upstairs Maid

    Performer: Bing Crosby. Performer: Jack Teagarden. Performer: Mary Martin.
    • PROPER RECORDS.
    • P-1418.

  • Richard Wilbur : A Summer Morning

  • 00:57

    Claude Debussy

    Children's corner for piano

    Performer: Noriko Ogawa.
    • BIS.
    • CD-1205.

  • The Quarterly Review 1848 : Review of Jane Eyre (extract)

  • Charlotte Bronte : Jane Eyre (extract)

  • 01:05

    Richard Strauss

    Don Quixote Op.35

    Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Performer: Charles Pikler. Performer: John Sharp. Performer: Chicago S O..
    • ELATUS.
    • 0927-49614-2.

  • Milton : On his Blindness

Producer's note

Employers have long discussed 鈥淭he Servant Problem鈥� 鈥� the difficulty of finding and retaining good staff. But that has never been the only difficulty 鈥� the uneasy relationship between domestic servants and their employers encompasses many issues 鈥� too much work, too little work, questions of class and status, battles of wills about how things should be done, love across the uncrossable divide, not to mention the thorny issue of pay.

听

The curtain rises on this edition of Words and Music, with the overture to Mozart鈥檚 Marriage of Figaro 鈥� a bustling scene-setter as the household servants prepare for a forthcoming wedding. Then, to the accompaniment of Vaughan Williams鈥� March of the Kitchen Utensils, Mrs Beeton advises us as to how many staff we can expect to keep, strictly according to income. Nancy Willard鈥檚 paean to the patron saint of servants, St Zita, is followed by an extract from Ruth Rendell鈥檚 鈥淪t Zita Society鈥�, a novel set among the modern day servants of well-heeled London 鈥� the drivers, au pairs, nannies and 鈥渉elps鈥�.

听

Back in 1892, Lady Violet Greville voices her outrage at the laziness and affectation of the Flunkey, although laziness cannot be attributed to Rossini鈥檚 Figaro, ex-servant and now general factotum to anyone who calls.

听

The Farmer's Servant is a traditional English song, about the traditional problem of servants sowing their wild oats where they shouldn鈥檛, although it鈥檚 hard to imagine that the poor 鈥渙dd man鈥� at Berrington Hall, according to his job description, would have any time for anything other than work and sleep.

听

Jo Baker鈥檚 book Longbourn follows the events of Pride and Prejudice, but the story here is all about the Bennet鈥檚 household servants who have a completely different set of priorities to that of the family鈥� in this extract it is the dreaded wash-day. And Peggy Seeger鈥檚 Housewife鈥檚 Lament, while perhaps not technically about a servant, certainly echoes the 鈥渟truggle with dirt鈥�.

听

Jonathan Swift has some subversive suggestions for the servantry, and Haydn, himself once a liveried servant as a musician, had to resort to subversion to make a point. His Farewell Symphony, in which the musicians gradually leave the orchestra, snuffing out their music stand candles, until only two violins are left, was written to bring home to his patron the Prince the fact that the musicians had been away at the court鈥檚 summer residence for Far Too Long. (It worked.)

听

And so to servants with ideas of their own 鈥� the troubling Mrs Danvers in Rebecca, who may have had some sympathy with the narrator of Carol Anne Duffy鈥檚 Warming her Pearls in that both of them had an all-consuming obsession with their ladies, and on, via Kazuo Ishiguro鈥檚 buttoned-up butler, to the inimitable valet Jeeves, who surely cannot be left out here鈥�

听

Both Johnny Mercer鈥檚 song about a party in the kitchen with the domestics and Richard Wilbur鈥檚 poem Summer Morning, suggest that perhaps servants experience the pleasures of life more authentically than their employers. And maybe the same was true of Jane Eyre, at least to start with, who enters via Debussy鈥檚 Dr Gradus ad Parnassum from Children鈥檚 Corner, composed with English titles as a nod to his daughter鈥檚 English governess. 听A review of Jane Eyre of 听1848 points up the awkward class status of the governess - both a lady and a servant, or perhaps neither. And as Jane and Mr Rochester begin their sparring, we end musically with Richard Strauss鈥檚 affectionate portrayal of knight and squire, also engaged in intense conversation, in Don Quixote.

听

Finally Milton, in his poem 鈥淥n his Blindness鈥� explores the true meaning of service, which turns out not to be busyness at all.

听

Elizabeth Funning (Producer)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 2 Mar 2014 17:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3
  • Wed 23 Dec 2015 16:30
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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