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Free download of rediscovered Britten and Auden song Free download of rediscovered Britten and Auden song
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My forthcoming book, Under Another Sky, is about the encounter with Roman Britain: the way people have interpreted, fantasised about and projected ideas on to the 400-year period, from the time when its physical remains began to be rediscovered until the present. Roman Britain is, I found, an intensely generative space, which has inspired poems by Housman and Owen, plays by Fletcher and Shakespeare, music by Elgar and Vaughan-Williams – not to mention centuries' worth of extraordinary scholarship.My forthcoming book, Under Another Sky, is about the encounter with Roman Britain: the way people have interpreted, fantasised about and projected ideas on to the 400-year period, from the time when its physical remains began to be rediscovered until the present. Roman Britain is, I found, an intensely generative space, which has inspired poems by Housman and Owen, plays by Fletcher and Shakespeare, music by Elgar and Vaughan-Williams – not to mention centuries' worth of extraordinary scholarship.
Two artists inspired by Roman Britain were WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. In 1937, Auden's radio play Hadrian's Wall was broadcast from Newcastle, with incidental music by the composer.Two artists inspired by Roman Britain were WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. In 1937, Auden's radio play Hadrian's Wall was broadcast from Newcastle, with incidental music by the composer.
In common with most live broadcasts at the time, only the transcript survives: it is a delightful, unashamedly pedagogic play about the history of the wall using a family daytrip to the fort of Housesteads as a framing device. Auden used what we would now call found texts in the work, drawing on, for example, a wonderful travelogue by a writer called William Hutton, who walked to the wall in 1801 from Birmingham, traversed its length twice, then walked back to the Midlands. (He was 78 – and walked an average of 17 miles a day on his 35-day trip.)In common with most live broadcasts at the time, only the transcript survives: it is a delightful, unashamedly pedagogic play about the history of the wall using a family daytrip to the fort of Housesteads as a framing device. Auden used what we would now call found texts in the work, drawing on, for example, a wonderful travelogue by a writer called William Hutton, who walked to the wall in 1801 from Birmingham, traversed its length twice, then walked back to the Midlands. (He was 78 – and walked an average of 17 miles a day on his 35-day trip.)
One of the elements of the play was a poem, Roman Wall Blues; a lyrical exploration of the loneliness of the Roman border soldier posted to the edge of the world. "Over the heather the wet wind blows/I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose", it begins. Britten set it to music.One of the elements of the play was a poem, Roman Wall Blues; a lyrical exploration of the loneliness of the Roman border soldier posted to the edge of the world. "Over the heather the wet wind blows/I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose", it begins. Britten set it to music.
But that music – though apparently Peter Pears could hum phrases of it until the end of his life – was thought lost until filmmaker John Mapplebeck made the chance discovery that a friend of his, a then 99-year-old former employee of the Bank of England, had a handwritten copy of the vocal line, saved from the recording session.But that music – though apparently Peter Pears could hum phrases of it until the end of his life – was thought lost until filmmaker John Mapplebeck made the chance discovery that a friend of his, a then 99-year-old former employee of the Bank of England, had a handwritten copy of the vocal line, saved from the recording session.
The song briefly featured in Mapplebeck's 2007 South Bank Show about Auden and the manuscript ended up in the Britten-Pears archive. When I was researching my book, curious to see the manuscript, I contacted composer Colin Matthews, who was Britten's assistant in the 1970s and is director of music at the Britten-Pears foundation. Not only did he offer to hunt down the music for me, he also, with extraordinary generosity, volunteered to complete the work with a piano part. Having done so he even, along with Auden's estate, graciously allowed me to publish the whole score in my book (the point being that you can, if the mood takes you, play and sing the song yourself).The song briefly featured in Mapplebeck's 2007 South Bank Show about Auden and the manuscript ended up in the Britten-Pears archive. When I was researching my book, curious to see the manuscript, I contacted composer Colin Matthews, who was Britten's assistant in the 1970s and is director of music at the Britten-Pears foundation. Not only did he offer to hunt down the music for me, he also, with extraordinary generosity, volunteered to complete the work with a piano part. Having done so he even, along with Auden's estate, graciously allowed me to publish the whole score in my book (the point being that you can, if the mood takes you, play and sing the song yourself).
Matthews also arranged for the song to be recorded through the contemporary music label NMC, performed by the crack team of singer Mary Carewe and pianist Huw Watkins (I love that the Roman squaddie is sung by Mary, with her sexy, feminine voice). The best news of all is that the song is available as a free download from the NMC website. That all this has come to pass is one of the most pleasing – and unexpected – outcomes of working on the book, and I'm very happy it will have an audience beyond those who switched on the wireless on 25 November, 1937. It's a lovely song – bluesy, cabaret-style with a dash of Gershwin. I hope you enjoy it.Matthews also arranged for the song to be recorded through the contemporary music label NMC, performed by the crack team of singer Mary Carewe and pianist Huw Watkins (I love that the Roman squaddie is sung by Mary, with her sexy, feminine voice). The best news of all is that the song is available as a free download from the NMC website. That all this has come to pass is one of the most pleasing – and unexpected – outcomes of working on the book, and I'm very happy it will have an audience beyond those who switched on the wireless on 25 November, 1937. It's a lovely song – bluesy, cabaret-style with a dash of Gershwin. I hope you enjoy it.
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