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Exhibition

Beatrice Harrison (1892-1965)

September 2024

Beatrice Harrison, remembered now mostly for her gloriously eccentric duets with nightingales, was one of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century. Her sound and her ability to draw different colours from her cello were unparalleled.

She studied cello in Germany with Hugo Becker, from whom she learnt her superb technique. She had a long and dizzyingly busy career championing new music across Europe and America. Many of these pieces were either premiered by her or composed for her by well-known composers, including Frederick Delius, John Ireland, Roger Quilter and Cyril Scott.

Our English Nightingale

Beatrice toured the Brahms Double Concerto with her sister, violinist May Harrison, and she performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto many times, under the composer’s and Sir Henry Wood’s batons. Elgar loved her playing. ‘Give it ’em, Beatrice! Never mind the notes – give ’em the spirit!’ he’d urged her in the wings before one performance.

An Uniquely Personal Gift

Beatrice Harrison loved birds and animals almost as much as she loved her instrument, and in the early 1920s she realised that when she practiced in her Surrey country garden, nightingales would join in with her music. After much persuasion, she convinced John Reith to send the BBC’s most technologically advanced microphones and a team of engineers to the woods in her garden.

Beatrice’s First Love?

It was to be a highly risky experiment, as millions listened in live one evening in May 1924 as Beatrice played alone, praying for the nightingale to join her. When it eventually did, the response from around the world was unparalleled.

It had been the BBC’s first broadcast outside the studio, and had opened a world of possibilities for broadcasting. And the song of the cello and the nightingale had touched the hearts of countless listeners, in the dark, post-war years. The experiment was repeated annually, until Beatrice, formerly known for her playing, became ‘the lady with the nightingales’.

An Extraordinary Career

Letters from Sir Edward

A Special Relationship

A French Connection

‘Fair Women’

Festivals for the Birds

Calling Hitler’s Tune

A Child’s Charity Concert for Children

Playing at the Wigmore Hall

Exhibition credits: Dr Kate Kennedy, Dr Alice Little, Dr Paul Stubbings

Images: Museum of Music History; with thanks to the Harrison Sisters Trust