Writer Claire Tomalin on her mother’s composing career
Claire Tomalin, the Whitbread Award-winning biographer, always knew that her mother had been a published composer in the 30s and 40s. But it was not until years after Muriel Herbert’s death that Claire opened up the fragile manuscripts and discovered what an extraordinary talent she possessed. Muriel started composing in the Edwardian era when women composers were practically unheard of. A prolific musician whose ‘art songs’ were highly regarded, poets such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats allowed her to set their poems to music. Claire joins Jane to discuss why she was inspired to create a new recording of her mother’s best-known works.
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