Music and Vinyl: Lord Berners - The Triumph of Neptune

Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (1883-1950) was a one-time diplomat, composer, artist and novelist who, unwittingly or not, fulfilled the role of "loveable English eccentric". He had a small keyboard installed in his Rolls-Royce - for composing on the move, dyed the white pigeons on his estate many colours, invited a horse to a tea party (indoors), built what was probably the last (architectural) folly in Britain (with a notice: "Members of the Public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk"), and reportedly drove around wearing a pig's head mask to scare the locals.

Lord Berners, painting . . .

Visitors at Berner's legendary parties included all the great and good of the time, including Igor Stravinsky - who said at the time he was the best modern British composer. His music also appealed to Diaghilev, who commissioned The Triumph of Neptune for his Ballets Russes. Wise Music Classical has this programme note for the ballet:

"The Triumph of Neptune was written for Diaghilev’s Russian ballet to a harlequinade scenario by Sacheverell Sitwell. In the face of Diaghilev’s lack of enthusiasm for modern English painting, Sitwell had the brilliant idea of basing the sets and costumes on the penny-plain, tuppence-coloured traditional toy theatre prints of which there then were two exponents still working in London. Diaghilev was enchanted, and managed to secure some original, spangly, foil-stone pantomime costumes for his dancers. Cyril W Beaumont’s The Diaghilev Ballet in London contains a mouth-watering description of the production. The choreography was by Balanchine, later director of the New York City Ballet. The cast included Danilova, Soklova, Lifar and Balanchine himself. There were waltzes, hornpipes, classical dances and spectacular scenes called ‘Cloudland’ or ‘The Frozen Forest’ (the latter known to the Lyceum stage hands as ‘Wigan by Night’)."