Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (18 September 188319 April 1950), also known as Gerald Tyrwhitt, was a British composer, novelist, painter, and aesthete. He was also known as Lord Berners.

Biography

Early life and education

Berners was born in Apley Hall, Stockton, Shropshire, in 1883, as Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt, son of The Honorable Hugh Tyrwhitt (1856–1907) and his wife Julia (1861–1931), daughter of

William Orme Foster William Orme Foster (29 October 1814 – 29 September 1899) was an English ironmaster, coalmaster and owner of the large industrial firm John Bradley & Co, which he inherited from his uncle, James Foster in 1853. He served as a Liberal MP for S ...

, Apley's owner. His father, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer, was rarely home. He was brought up by a grandmother who was extremely religious and self-righteous, and a mother who had little intellect and many prejudices. His mother, who was the daughter of a rich

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

, and who with a strong interest in fox hunting, ignored his musical interests and instead focused on developing his masculinity, a trait Berners found to be inherently unnatural. Berners later wrote, "My father was worldly, cynical, intolerant of any kind of inferiority, reserved and self-possessed. My mother was unworldly, naïve, impulsive and undecided, and in my father's presence she was always at her worst".

Adult life

In 1918, Berners became the 14th holder of the Berners Barony, after inheriting the title, property, and money from an uncle. His inheritance included

Faringdon House Faringdon House is a Grade I listed 14,510 square feet house in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England. It was built in about 1770–1785 for the Poet Laureate Sir Henry James Pye. It became the country home of Lord Berners, who inherited it in 1918. H ...

, in

Faringdon Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Ridg ...

, Oxfordshire, which he initially gave to his mother and her second husband; on their deaths in 1931 he moved into the house himself. In 1932, Berners fell in love with Robert Heber-Percy, 28 years his junior, who became his companion and moved into Faringdon House. Unexpectedly, Heber-Percy married a 21-year-old woman,

Jennifer Fry Jennifer Fry (born 24 March 1989) is a South African badminton player. She was a 2015 All-Africa Games The 11th African Games took place from September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversar ...

, who had a baby nine months later. For a short time, she and the baby lived at Faringdon House with Heber-Percy and Berners. As well as being a talented musician, Berners was a skilled artist and writer. He appears in many books and biographies of the period, notably portrayed as Lord Merlin in

Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist. The eldest of the Mitford sisters, she was regarded as one of the "bright young things" on the London ...

's ''

The Pursuit of Love ''The Pursuit of Love'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945. It is the first in a trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fa ...

''. He was a friend of the Mitford family and close to Diana Guinness. Berners was notorious for his eccentricity, dyeing pigeons at his house in Faringdon in vibrant colours and at one point entertaining Penelope Betjeman's horse Moti to tea. There were paper flowers in the garden and the interior of the house was adorned with joke books and joke notices, such as "Mangling Done Here". As a visitor,

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...

, recalled: Other visitors to Faringdon included Igor Stravinsky,

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Tom Driberg Thomas Edward Neil Driberg, Baron Bradwell (22 May 1905 – 12 August 1976) was a British journalist, politician, High Anglican churchman and possible Soviet spy, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1942 to 1955, and again from 195 ...

. His

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

automobile contained a small

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

keyboard which could be stored beneath the front seat. Near his house he had a 100-foot viewing tower, Faringdon Folly, constructed as a birthday present in 1935 for Heber-Percy, a notice at the entrance reading: "Members of the Public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk". Berners also drove around his estate wearing a pig's-head mask to frighten the locals. He was subject throughout his life to periods of depression which became more pronounced during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and following the production of his last ballet ''Les Sirènes'' he lost his eyesight.

Death and epitaph

He died in 1950 aged 66 at Faringdon House, bequeathing his estate to Robert Heber-Percy, who lived there until his own death in 1987. His ashes are buried in the lawn near the house. Berners wrote his own

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

, which appears on his gravestone: :Here lies Lord Berners :One of the learners :His great love of learning :May earn him a burning :But, Praise the Lord! :He seldom was bored.

Music

Berners' early music, written during his period at the British embassy in Rome during World War I, was avant-garde in style. These are mostly songs (in English, French and German) and piano pieces, many written using his original name, Gerald Tyrwhitt. Later pieces were composed in a more accessible style, such as the ''Trois morceaux'', ''Fantaisie espagnole'' (1919), ''Fugue in C minor'' (1924), and several ballets, including ''The Triumph of Neptune'' (1926) (based on a story by

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

) and ''Luna Park'', commissioned for a C. B. Cochran London revue in 1930.''Luna Park'', Chester Music
/ref> His final three ballets, ''A Wedding Bouquet'', ''Cupid and Psyche'' and ''Les Sirènes'', were all written in collaboration with his friends Frederick Ashton (as choreographer) and

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

(as music director). Berners was also friendly with

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

. Walton dedicated ''

Belshazzar's Feast Belshazzar's feast, or the story of the writing on the wall (chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel), tells how Belshazzar holds a great feast and drinks from the vessels that had been looted in the destruction of the First Temple. A hand appears and ...

'' to Berners, and Lambert arranged a ''Caprice péruvien'' for orchestra, from Lord Berners' opera ''Le carrosse du St Sacrement''. There are also scores for two films: ''

The Halfway House ''The Halfway House'' is a 1944 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Mervyn Johns, his daughter Glynis Johns, Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay. The film tells the story of ten people who are drawn to stay in an old Welsh count ...

'' (1943) and ''

Nicholas Nickleby ''Nicholas Nickleby'' or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (or also ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the ...

'' (1947), for which Ealing’s music director,

Ernest Irving Kelville Ernest Irving (6 November 1878 – 24 October 1953) was an English music director, conductor and composer, primarily remembered as a theatre musician in London between the wars, and for his key contributions to British film music as ...

, provided the orchestrations.Lane, Philip
Notes to Naxos CD 8.555223
(2021) Berners himself once said that he would have been a better composer if he had accepted fewer lunch invitations. But English composer

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early life and career Born on 16 January 1943 in ...

, quoted in

Peter Dickinson Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories. Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...

’s biography of Berners, disagrees saying: "If he had spent more time on his music he could have become a duller composer".

Dinah Birch Dinah Lynne Birch (born 4 October 1953) is an English literary critic. She is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact and Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool. She was a student at St Hugh's College, Oxford and als ...

, reviewing ''The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me'', a biography of Berners written by Robert's granddaughter,

Sofka Zinovieff Sofka Zinovieff (born 1961) is a British author and journalist. Early life Zinovieff was born in London. Her parents were Peter Zinovieff and Victoria Gala Heber-Percy. Her paternal grandparents were White Russians who had left Soviet Russia f ...

, concurs saying: "Had he committed himself to composition as his life's work, perhaps his legacy would have been more substantial. But his music might have been less innovative, for its amateur quality — 'amateur in the best sense', as Stravinsky insisted — is inseparable from its distinctive flair". Berners was the subject of BBC Radio 3's

Composer of the Week ''Composer of the Week'' is a long-running biographical music programme produced by BBC Cymru Wales and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. It is broadcast daily from Monday to Friday at 12 noon for an hour, each week's programmes being a self-containe ...

programmes in December 2014.

Literature

Berners wrote four autobiographical works and some novels, mostly of a humorous nature. All were published and some went into translations. His autobiographies ''First Childhood'' (1934), ''A Distant Prospect'' (1945), ''The Château de Résenlieu'' (published posthumously) and ''Dresden'' are both witty and affectionate. Berners obtained some notoriety for his

roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...

'' The Girls of Radcliff Hall'' (punning on the name of the famous lesbian writer), initially published privately under the pseudonym "Adela Quebec", in which he depicts himself and his circle of friends, such as

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the t ...

and

Oliver Messel Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel (13 January 1904 – 13 July 1978) was an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century. Early life Messel was born in London, the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Messel a ...

, as members of a girls' school. This frivolous satire, which was privately published and distributed, had a modish success in the 1930s. The original edition is rare; rumour has it that Beaton was responsible for gathering most of the already scarce copies of the book and destroying them. However, the book was reprinted in 2000 with the help of Dorothy Lygon. His other novels, including ''Romance of a Nose'', ''Count Omega'' and ''The Camel'' are a mixture of whimsy and gentle satire.

Bibliography

Fiction

* 1936 – ''The Camel'' * 1937 – ''The Girls of Radcliff Hall'' * 1941 – ''Far From the Madding War'' * 1941 – ''Count Omega'' * 1941 – ''Percy Wallingford and Mr. Pidger'' * 1941 – ''The Romance of a Nose'' ee Collected Tales and Fantasies, New York, 1999

Non-fiction

* 1934 – ''First Childhood'' * 1945 – ''A Distant Prospect'' * 2000 - ''The Chateau de Resenlieu'' * 2008 - ''Dresden''

Legacy

In January 2016, he was played by actor

Christopher Godwin Christopher Godwin (born 5 August 1943) is a British actor who has been active since the late 1960s. TV and recording career He made his TV debut at the age of 25, when he took on the role of PC Grange in an episode of '' Softly, Softly''. He ...

in episode 3 of the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

drama ''What England Owes''.

Sources

* * * * * * *

References

External links

*
Oxfordshire Blue Plaque to Lord Berners
erected on Faringdon Folly on 6 April 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Berners, Gerald Tyrwhitt, 14th Baron 1883 births 1950 deaths 19th-century LGBT people 20th-century LGBT people 20th-century classical composers English classical composers English opera composers Male opera composers English male classical composers British ballet composers English film score composers English male film score composers People educated at Eton College People from Faringdon LGBT classical composers LGBT film score composers English autobiographers English gay writers LGBT classical musicians LGBT peers Literary peers Musicians who were peers English LGBT novelists English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English composers LGBT politicians from England 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers 20th-century British male musicians 14 20th-century English nobility