Send in the Clowns

Soul Music

BBC

Music, Music Commentary

4.7 • 831 Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2010

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stephen Sondheim's song, Send In the Clowns, from the musical 'A Little Night Music' was written late in rehearsals for the actress Glynis Johns, playing the part of Desiree.

A song of regret and anger, the part has famously been played by Judi Dench, and the song became an independent hit, sung by Judy Collins, Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand.

Hannah Waddingham played the youngest ever Desiree in Trevor Nunn's production, and used her memories of an unhappy relationship to inspire her performance.

Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.

Producer: Sara Conkey.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2010.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Traitors is back, and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe.
0:06.6	Yeah, it's me.
0:07.8	And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast.
0:13.6	And remember, I'll be listening.
0:15.8	Okay?
0:16.6	No, seriously, I love it.
0:18.4	What a faithful.
0:19.7	We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets
0:22.2	with celeb guests, traitors' legends,
0:25.0	and murdered and banished players.
0:27.0	The Traitors Uncloat.
0:28.3	Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds.
0:32.2	You're listening to a download of soul music from BBC Radio 4.
0:38.2	How I became a clown was somewhere like seven, eight hundred years ago.
0:43.3	A family of entertainers in France joined in with Richard the Lionheart's army coming
0:48.1	back to England to reclaim the throne and they stayed and the name was Feldon and they are
0:52.8	still one of the major circus families
0:54.6	they intermarried continuously with another family called the faucets which was the basic backbone of
0:59.4	British circus and that's all so you go well coming from that history it's like coming from
1:05.4	generations of carpenters you know I'd a knock a nail in a bit of wood so it becomes natural
1:09.5	tonight in the big top in Zippo Circus I will be playing sender the clowns you know I had a knock and nail in a bit of wood so it becomes natural.
1:15.9	Tonight in the big top in Zipro Circus I will be playing Sender the Clowns on the trumpet.
	...

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