Count Omega
by Lord Berners
Lord Berners - Count Omega
Dramatised by Mike Steer. BBC Radio 3 10-02-1989
Composer Emanuel Smith is searching for a sensational climax to his symphony
when at a party he hears an enormous trombonist called Gloria who can hold a
note without apparent effort while it swells to a volume that is almost
physically painful before diminishing to silence. He pursues her, breaks a
tepid engagement for his new passion but then discovers she is false.
Rupert Graves . Emanuel Smith (A composer not to be confused with William Walton)
Annette Badlands . Gloria (A large lady of unusual musical talent)
Madam Dark . Jane Wenham
The Social Secretary . Anthony Newlands
Professor Grumbalious . Timothy Bateson
Evangeline . Susie Brand
James . Paul Gregory
Reverend Thomas Brown . Manning Wilson
Mrs. Brown . Rachel Gurney
Queen Mother . Elaine Prador
Narrator . Eric Stozel
Also taking part: Jennifer Pearcey, Brian Hewlett, Jonathan Tafler, Natasha Pyne and Steven Hattersley.
Music "L'Uomo Dai Baffi" (the bearded man) by Lord Berners performed by the Aquarius ensemble conducted by Nicholas Cleobury in Belfast.
Piano extracts played by Michael Maxwell Steer.
Special sounds created by Malcolm Clark of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop; directed by John Theocharis.
"The big drama of the week on Radio 3 - A pleasantly exotic whimsy." (The
Listener)
"These highly original (musical) works help to make the characters seem more
credible than on the printed page ... As a result Count Omega was magnified
by its translation from novel to radio play; and Lord Berners' fantasy
became a musical extravaganza." TLS
[Info from http://msteer.co.uk/biog/msradiocreds.html
berners and below]
Note - 'Fantastic Fiction' had a funny story about the publication of the book:
"Count Omega's" working title was "The Last Trump, the Tale of a Symphony
and its Composer". Berners's hero, Emanuel Smith is no self-portrait - he is
twenty-three, fair-haired and slender and has a profound contempt for opera
and ballet. Amory takes up the story: "[Emanuel] is searching for a
sensational climax to his symphony when at a party he hears an enormous
trombonist called Gloria who can hold a note without apparent effort while
it swells to a volume that is almost physically painful before diminishing
to silence. He pursues her, breaks a tepid engagement for his new passion
but then discovers she is false, a trick, she was merely miming to hidden
players. Nevertheless, the symphony is played and when Gloria puts down her
instrument and the note continues, chaos erupts. Emanuel goes to live
quietly in the country and marries his old fiancee The book is more skilful
than any fiction Berners had written before and touches on things that were
important to him, and it is readable and original".
Before publication Berners wrote, wickedly, to his erstwhile good friend
William Walton: "I am reserving you for a forthcoming novel 'Count Omega',
which I will send you as soon as it appears. I thought it only fair that the
funniest composer should be immortalised by my pen. I must inform you that,
should you, in Sitwellian fashion, propose to take action for libel, the
book has been gone through by a lawyer and that I have insured myself
against possible damages for libel". Walton's humour failed him, he
consulted his solicitor and demanded a pre-publication text. Berners
compounded his derring-do by writing direct to Walton's solicitor: "I am
shortly bringing out a book called 'Ridiculous Composers I have known'. If
your client Mr. William Walton should consider it necessary to see a copy
before publication, will you kindly tell him to apply". The situation was
defused and Walton thereafter would suffer convenient amnesia whenever the
topic was raised. Berners, in recounting the episode to Osbert Sitwell,
wrote: "There may be something in what dear old Mrs. Hunter used to say
about it being a mistake to be playful with someone who is not quite a
gentleman".
Jim
