Hilda Tablet is a fictitious "

twelve-tone The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...

composeress" created by Henry Reed in a series of radio comedy plays for the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

's Third Programme. Hilda is the inventor of ''

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

renforcée'' (literally, "reinforced concrete music"), and the composer of the all-female

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

''Emily Butter'' set in a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

. She first appeared in the play ''A Very Great Man Indeed'' where the central character and narrator is the scholar, Herbert Reeve, played by

Hugh Burden Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 July 1962 (3 April 1913 – 16 May 1985) was a British actor and playwright. Early life Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was born as the eldest son of Harry Archibald Burden, a colonial officia ...

. Reeve plans to write a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

of the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Richard Shewin, and interviews various friends and relatives of the deceased author. Reed became intrigued by the character of Hilda and subsequently wrote a sequel ''The Private Life of Hilda Tablet'' in which Reeve is bullied into undertaking the biography in "not more than twelve volumes" of Hilda. Five further episodes followed. Hilda Tablet was played by Mary O'Farrell. The principal models for Hilda were Dame Ethel Smyth (from whom Hilda took her lesbianism and rural heartiness together with the endlessness of her proposed memoirs), and

Elisabeth Lutyens Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer. Early life and education Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...

, with whom Reed was acquainted, from whom Hilda took her interest in the macabre and obsession with architecture.

The plays

* ''A Very Great Man Indeed'' (7 September 1953) * ''The Private Life of Hilda Tablet'' (24 May 1954) * ''Emily Butter'' (14 November 1954) * ''A Hedge, Backwards'' (29 February 1956) * ''The Primal Scene, As It Were'' (11 March 1958) * ''Not a Drum Was Heard'' (6 May 1959) * ''Musique Discrète'' (27 October 1959)

Cast

as Herbert Reeve * Mary O'Farrell as Hilda Tablet * Marjorie Westbury as Elsa Strauss * Carleton Hobbs as Stephen Shewin *

Deryck Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for appearances in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and ''Sykes (TV series), Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, C ...

as General Gland And included (among others): Denis Quilley,

Leonard Sachs Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor. Life and career Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated ...

, Michael Flanders, Norman Shelley and Rose Hill. Hilda's music, and the pop-songs of Owen Shewin, were created for the series by

Donald Swann Donald Ibrahim Swann (30 September 1923 – 23 March 1994) was a British composer, musician, singer and entertainer. He was one half of Flanders and Swann, writing and performing Novelty song, comic songs with Michael Flanders. Early life Dona ...

. All seven plays were produced by Douglas Cleverdon.

Books

''Hilda Tablet and Others'', BBC Books, London, 1971contains the scripts of ''A Very Great Man Indeed'', ''The Private Life of Hilda Tablet'', ''A Hedge Backwards'', and ''The Primal Scene, As It Were...''.

Quotes

* "By all means throw your voice at the note, but whatever you do, for God's sake miss it!"
—Hilda to a singer of one of her compositions. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tablet, Hilda Hilda Tablet Fictional composers Fictional lesbians Fictional dames