sovay: (I Claudius)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2018-06-16 03:50 am

I want my girl and I want my pay

For some reason I did not know until tonight that W.H. Auden's "Roman Wall Blues" existed. (Thank Cyril Tawney.) Or that it had been set to music by Benjamin Britten in 1937 as part of a radio play called Hadrian's Wall, of which it is the only surviving part of the score. Or that a recent recording had been briefly available for download free of charge in 2013, which is most certainly not the case anymore.

[personal profile] spatch worked internet magic and got it for me. It's quite good and it does suggest that Britten had just heard Porgy and Bess for the first time.

Anyone with a decent tune for Rosemary Sutcliff's "The Girl I Kissed at Clusium," please feel free to chime in now.
thisbluespirit: (james maxwell)

[personal profile] thisbluespirit 2018-06-16 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
A BBC television serial was made of the book in 1977, scripted by Bill Craig, Donald Bull and Arden Winch, and with Anthony Higgins as Marcus Aquila.[7]

Well, I can't help you with yr singing issues, but ARDEN WINCH. He is the often v good, and also maybe the slashiest old Brit TV writer I've yet come across, (excepting the people who were responsible for Raffles). I am now wondering just how much he got away with in a Children's BBC serial. 0_o

(There's no sign of either Radio production at radioarchive, but I'd imagine the 96 one is a cert to turn up eventually.)
thisbluespirit: (james maxwell)

[personal profile] thisbluespirit 2018-06-16 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
I was hoping you would chime in! I figured if anyone I knew had a line on British TV from 1977, it would be you.

Ha, what gave you that idea? *looks innocent*

I went looking for both the TV serial and the 1957 radio drama about eight years ago, but nothing came of it. At this point I would settle for anyone who had heard or seen one of the adaptations and remembered the tune. It's a recognition token; it has to be in at least one of them.

Yeah, there's no guarantee the 1958 one survives at all, but the 96 one should and the 1977 TV adaptation is actually out in region 2, I see. (Simply Media have been releasing a lot more old BBC stuff since they came along - Network do mainly ITV). And, that being the case, I checked YT and you can find it all there - ep1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2-xs4JYSUg

Have fun!
Edited 2018-06-16 08:33 (UTC)
isis: (head)

[personal profile] isis 2018-06-16 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I actually have a copy of the 1977 series that I got a few years back via a network of Eagle fans. It's - kind of ridiculous in ways, but a faithful adaptation (much more so than the movie!) and if you can ignore things like Cottia being far too old, and Esca's silly (but probably more authentic) facial hair, it's really fun.

I am delighted to see it's on Youtube now!
kore: (Locri Pinax Persephone Opens Likon Mysti)

[personal profile] kore 2018-06-17 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
....ooh, timesink indeed.
cyphomandra: fractured brooding landscape (Default)

[personal profile] cyphomandra 2018-06-16 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
That’s lovely!

Over a decade ago now I was working in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and I arrived from a Southern Hemisphere summer into a raw and chilly northern February; I went to Segedunum on my first free weekend and can remember standing looking out there in rather inadequate clothing (the local shops having all switched to selling delicate spring garments) and having vast amounts of empathy for all those poor Roman soldiers.
cyphomandra: fractured brooding landscape (Default)

[personal profile] cyphomandra 2018-06-16 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I send sympathies for your past shivering self, but that's a wonderful story.

Thank you! (and I did eventually find one last suitable winter coat in the back corner of a department store)
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2018-06-16 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
The wonderful Cyril really had an eye for that sort of thing! :o)
ladymondegreen: (Default)

[personal profile] ladymondegreen 2018-06-16 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Anyone with a decent tune for Rosemary Sutcliff's "The Girl I Kissed at Clusium," please feel free to chime in now.

I don't know an official one, but my brain makes one when I see it. Should I record it?
ladymondegreen: (Default)

[personal profile] ladymondegreen 2018-06-16 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I sent it via email. Let me know if it doesn't come through?
ursula: second-century Roman glass die (icosahedron)

[personal profile] ursula 2018-06-16 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for posting: this is really cool!
kore: (Default)

[personal profile] kore 2018-06-17 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
//GRABS the Britten/Auden
thanate: (Default)

[personal profile] thanate 2018-06-18 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
These are grand, and I have just added both linked books to my library holds.
handful_ofdust: (Default)

[personal profile] handful_ofdust 2018-06-18 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Roman Wall Blues", or "Sent Down: The Musical.":)
choco_frosh: (Default)

[personal profile] choco_frosh 2018-06-18 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I was going to ask how the hell you missed that "Roman Wall Blues" existed, since I trend to blithely assume that the Venn-circle "Poetry Schreiber has read" fits neatly inside the "Stuff sovay has read" one. It's so often true (and that poem is so up your alley). I forget that things like A-Levels make weird exceptions to the rule.