Main content

The Cello and the Nightingale

100 years after a pioneering 大象传媒 outside broadcast, when cellist Beatrice Harrison duetted with a nightingale, Kate Kennedy examines Harrison's legacy and the first big radio hit.

Exactly 100 years ago, late in the evening, the 大象传媒 broadcast a live duet, from a wood in deepest Surrey, between the acclaimed cellist Beatrice Harrison and a nightingale that sang as she played. It was the first ever wildlife outside broadcast, and the first true radio hit that would become an annual spring event for over a decade.

Writer and musician Kate Kennedy examines the somewhat overshadowed career of 鈥淭he Lady of the Nightingales鈥 to whom British composers were queuing up to write for. She revisits the events surrounding that landmark broadcast, along with new archival evidence to counter any doubts that occasionally arise about the night's authenticity. And from an ancient wood somewhere in southern England, Kate attempts to recreate that intimate duet between cello and nature鈥檚 great songster, to explore the ways birdsong and music can become intertwined.

With contributions from cellist Julian Lloyd Webber; poet and 大象传媒 Head of History Robert Seatter; biographical editor Patricia Cleveland Peck; cellist Adrian Bradbury; communications historian Iain Logie Baird; nature writer Richard Mabey; musician and singer Sam Lee.

Producer: Adrian Washbourne
Technical Producer: Richard Courtice
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
A TellTale Industries production for 大象传媒 Radio 3

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Sun 19 May 2024 19:15

Broadcast

  • Sun 19 May 2024 19:15

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh explore the puzzle of Beethoven鈥檚 poor health.

Classical music in a strongman's Russia 鈥 has anything changed since Stalin's day?

What composer Gabriel Prokofiev and I found in Putin's Moscow...

Six Secret Smuggled Books

Six classic works of literature we wouldn't have read if they hadn't been smuggled...

Grid

Seven images inspired by the grid

World Music collector, Sir David Attenborough

The field recordings Attenborough of music performances around the world.