Music and the Blitz

Listen to the Air Raid Siren and the All Clear

Ursula's Air Raid Patrol unit sometimes entertain themselves during the lull between bombings by singing together or performing for each other.  Perhaps all is in an effort to block out the disturbing and traumatic experiences of night patrol. 

One member of the patrol group, Mr Armitage, is an opera singer who sings 'just the popular arias' for them.

La donna è mobile from Rigoletto by Verdi, sung by The Three Tenors

Largo al factotum from the Barber of Seville by Rossini, sung by John Rawnsley

Mr Bullock, who connects us to another side of London life, prefers Al Bowlly.

How was John Bullock to know that in April 1941 Al Bowlly would be killed in an explosion at his home in Duke's Street? He was buried in a mass grave with other bomb victims.

Ironically, the last song he recorded, two weeks before his death, was a satirical number by Irving Berlin about Hitler called When That Man is Dead and Gone. The footage here reminds me of Ursula in Germany, when she accompanies Klara and her sisters to watch Hitler's cavalcade en route to Berchtesgaden.

Mis Woolf accompanies  Mr Armitage on the rediscovered piano.

Non più andrai from The Marriage of Figaro, performed by Bryn Terfel

Then Mr Armitage continues by himself.

'How versatile he is,' Miss Woolf said, 'I always thought that was a woman's aria'

Travis Pratt sings O Mio Babbino Caro, from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini

'It's funny, isn't it,' Miss Woolf whispered in Ursula's ear, 'how much German music we listen to. Great beauty transcends all. Perhaps after the war it will heal all too. Think of the choral symphony - Alle Menschen werden Brüder.'

Alle Menschen werden Brüder - All Men Shall Become Brothers

Symphony No. 9 Beethoven. Flashmob performance 

Finally, Herr Zimmerman's performance of Bach's Sonata in G minor, which moves Ursula to think about her father, Hugh.

Bach Violin Sonata in G Minor, performed by Yehudi Menuhin

'When the music stopped there was a moment of pure, profound silence, as if the world had stopped breathing'

The concert is cut short, of course, by a air raid warning.

Click here to visit bombsite.org

This site shows you every bomb dropped during the London Blitz. You can check for yourself Argyll Street, Phillimore Gardens or any where else you care to...

'And Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, De Gaulle's headquarters, the Mint, the Law Courts. She had seen St Clement Dane's herself - blazing like a monstrous chimney fire on the Strand. And all the ordinary people living their precious ordinary lives in Bermondsey, Islington, Southwark. The list went on and on.'

For example, on just one night, 10-11 May 1941, 86,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on London. St Clement Danes was hit for the third time.Read about that and other incidents here. The West End at War site is an excellent source.

St Clement Danes on Fire

Here are some other Blitz related pages

EyeWitness to History

BBC History

Life - colour photos of London during the Blitz

Footage showing scenes from London

Can you see Fred?

Short documentary - London's  Longest Night

29 December 1940

A People's War. Part 1

The first of three documentaries