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
The idea of communing with birds in a tranquil Surrey garden resonated with so many people across the globe during the unsettled period between the wars; Beatrice’s public persona would never stray far from this idyll.
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
This priceless jewel-book was the most elaborate commission ever taken on by Sussex art metal worker Henry Broun-Morison. It was commissioned by Harrison as a present for her friend H.R.H. Princess Victoria. The date is unrecorded, but the numerals on the spine point to the 1920s. This little artistic treasure, described by Beatrice as ‘Damascene work with crystals and a ruby’, incorporates within its spine the very A-string on which she had played the Elgar Concerto under Sir Edward’s direction. Every turn of the page reveals the next bar in the slow movement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, a work which had so helped to define Beatrice’s career. The final page carries the composer’s autograph.
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?
In the collections of the Museum of Music History there are literally hundreds of photographs portraying Beatrice with a succession of animals and Faithful Friends.
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
Harrison later in life, echoing her own pose from the earlier portrait on the wall behind her
Letters from Sir Edward
Transcripts of two charming letters from Sir Edward, dated December 1919. One can only imagine the artistic compromises Elgar (and indeed Beatrice) must have suffered to allow this masterpiece to be heard by thousands of grateful listeners.
A Special Relationship
This letter from Harrison’s life-long friend Princess Victoria begins ‘My Darling Baba, your sweet letter touched me so much’.
A French Connection
The Museum of Music History holds many letters received from Frederick Delius and his wife Jelka. The composer’s relationship with the Harrison sisters developed early on in their careers, after he heard their performance of the Brahms Double. This letter urges Beatrice to premiere his new Concerto in New York, under his baton.
‘Fair Women’
This fascinating item is from wartime Britain. ‘I want all the most beautiful, and all the kind help possible’ writes Dame Clara Butt. The phrase ‘Pageant of Fair Women’ was later crossed through and changed to ‘Pageant of Freedom’.
Festivals for the Birds
A personal invitation to one of the many ‘festivals’ held in the garden at Foyle Riding. The woodcut, monogrammed HT [the American painter and illustrator Harry Everett Townsend], is both touching and harrowing.
Calling Hitler’s Tune
This extraordinary cartoon—carried by the Birmingham Mail on 15 May 1933—personifies Britain as the ‘Cellist in the Garden’.
A Child’s Charity Concert for Children
This is one of the earliest professional images of Beatrice, who was then just about as tall as her cello. The concert took place at the Barnfield Hall in Exeter on 27th January 1904, and the Western Times reported that “… she displayed a talent well beyond her years … and was vociferously recalled and presented with baskets of flowers and bon-bons.” .
Playing at the Wigmore Hall
A regular contributor to the Wigmore series, this programme dates from 1927. It is interesting to read the many telegrams from family and well-wishers sent direct to the hall for Beatrice to read on her arrival.
Exhibition credits: Dr Kate Kennedy, Dr Alice Little, Dr Paul Stubbings
Images: Museum of Music History; with thanks to the Harrison Sisters Trust