For the first time, songs written by Herbert Murrill, Bletchley Park Codebreaker, conductor of the Bletchley Park Musical Society, and BBC’s Head of Music, will be gathered together and performed at the once-secret wartime site in a special recital.
Murrill, who worked as a Sergeant throughout World War Two decoding Japanese ciphers, was a driving force behind the Bletchley Park Musical Society, who produced an impressive range of operatic, orchestral and choral performances throughout the war.
Outside his role in intelligence, Murrill was deeply involved with the BBC, eventually rising to Head of Music. At only 24 he had become the youngest ever professor of composition at the Royal Academy.
Whilst a tiny handful of Murrill’s compositions circulate worldwide, including widely acknowledged masterpieces, a large body of his prolific output has lain forgotten in the BBC archives since his untimely death in 1952.
After recently uncovering an archived collection of Murrill’s songs, unperformed since the 1940s and never recorded, Murrill’s great-nephew, Crispin Lewis is initiating a project to publish, record commercially, and perform all of them.
Eclectic in style – sometimes serious, at times absurd, with influences of Elizabethan music, jazz, French café music and colourful poetry, Murrill’s songs are attractive and surprising.
Join baritone and conductor Crispin Lewis, his father Raymond Lewis (nephew of Herbert Murrill) and oboist Rachel Broadbent in this musical rediscovery.
Crispin Lewis said: “It is an enormous honour for our family to have my great uncle commemorated with an event at Bletchley Park, where he inspired a flourishing and busy musical life whilst solving Japanese ciphers. As for many households, it was a family secret that he worked at Bletchley whilst simultaneously working as an esteemed composer, rising to Head of Music at the BBC.
Discovering the archive of his music, it was a surprising and joyful experience to unearth songs of such quality, which have remained silent for over 70 years. Many have been sitting in hand-written manuscript, unperformed, and never recorded, since the 1940s.
It couldn't be any more fitting than that they should be heard at the place where Murrill made so much music happen, and made such a difference to the morale and well-being of his fellow codebreakers.”
Tickets for the recital on Saturday 15 June 2024, at the Fellowship Auditorium at Bletchley Park, are on sale now. Tickets £15.00. Friends of Bletchley Park enjoy a 10% discount. Event start 18.00. Full details and booking link: https://bletchleypark.org.uk/event/herbert-murrill/
