Dudley Moore Little Miss Britten.

From Beyond the Fringe.
Dudley Performs Little Miss Britten and the Ballad of Gangster Joe.

[@firstnamelastname8850]

Who can, today, understand this sense of humor??? You've got to be SOOO familiar with the music of Britten... and the VERY special art of singing and timbre of Peter Pears! But if you are, this is irresistible. Thanks for uploading the clip.

[@georgeaplin]

I paid a lot of money for the two degrees in music which enable me to get this joke from 60+ yrs ago…and sing in volunteer choirs in 2022.

[@peterwilton9047]

You have to remember that in those days Pears sang to the accompaniment of Britten on prime time television, including some performances of Britten's folk song arrangements. People got the parody because they'd seen the real thing on their TV screens.

[@leif1075]

Did he write either of these songs?

[@DieFlabbergast]

@@leif1075 Of course he did: they are both nonsense comedy songs, though closely modeled on the actual music of Britten and Weill. Brilliant parodies!

[@Barbapippo]

the most extraordinary musical parody I ever heard, the man was a genius

[@isaacsegal2844]

The mind, it boggles, at the thought of an audience appreciating parodies of Britten and Weill.

[@zivkovicable]

Although the Beyond the Fringe audience was probably fairly middle class & educated, I think that his comedy could be appreciated on many levels, & that this sketch would be funny without any previous knowledge of the source material being parodied. Equally the brilliant musicianship can be appreciated in it's own right.

[@Londonfogey]

It's hard to believe now I agree, but I think at the time Britten's music was quite well known even by people who weren't 'highbrow'. There were only really two TV channels and three radio stations back then so there was more overlap between popular and 'high' culture.

[@anthonyclark4732]

Beyond the Fringe was developed on the back of work at Oxford and Cambridge universites and the participants were all well educated guys. At that time Britten, Brecht and Weill were part of general knowledge, at least among those with an arts degree. But even mass audiences probably had far more of what we might call serious general knowledge in those years. This is evidenced, for example, by the scripts of Galton and Simpson, who wrote for Tony Hancock. The audiences repeatedly laughed at Tony Hancock's blunders when talking about history or the arts. Nowadays such things would not get a laugh from a young audience, I feel certain.

[@casparwintermans9492]

There was no audience present. The laughter is canned.

[@isaacsegal2844]

@@casparwintermans9492 I shall rephrase: The mind, it boggles, at the thought of an audience FOR parodies of Britten and Weill. 26

[@surisuri8993]

His comedic and musical genius are well documented. But his ability to cover the vocal range of Peter Pears, one of the greatest lyrical tenors we have ever seen, well, frankly, he did that without even trying. Nothing but respect.

[@neilwalsh1213]

It sound LIKE Britten!

[@conorsheehan9929]

Dudley was supremely talented . A great loss to the entertainment world .

[@peterhuxley8181]

The word genius is often over used but it is well used in the description of Dudley Moore

[@SuperMelvyn]

A splendid classic but it could not exist without the achievements of Britten and Pears. Like all the best parodies it shows appreciation of what is being parodied and should drive us back with fresh admiration for those originals that actually achieve so much more than the parody - as I am sure Moore, Miller and co. would have appreciated.

[@Diatonic1958]

Pure genius! His grasp of the styles he parodies is deep and brilliant. Somewhere, I read that Britten never spoke to him again! Not sure if this is correct but he certainly does a cruel parody of Peter Pears' voice! The Weill/Brecht parody is also wonderful.

[@brianrussel6012]

Dear Diatonic, Dudley parodied Britten and Pears so well! That Britten took offence shows no sense of humour ! I had a dear pal (Brian R., self taught piano ( like me)(bless him, he inspired me to try), he did an amazing parody of Britten, absolutely hilarious : like dear Dudley, it caught the style and 'oddness' perfectly : I'll never forget that wonderful , magical day at Iver...... And so grateful for being able to see these 'gems' on You Tube.😁.

[@flannerymonaghan-morris1317]

Pears however, did find it hilarious.

[@larryhardesty6684]

Yes, Alan Bennett describes this in the preface to The Habit of Art (which is what sent me to this video).

[@jamesdickenson1525]

Devastating - and SO realistic: pure genius!

[@jeffcraven7376]

James Dickenson, Dudley was a musical and comedic genius & we of at least English heritage appreciate his comedy routines, but his jazz piano was the upper, made me smile at him doing it right.

[@ilumalucwile2422]

The most brilliant musical parody I've ever heard. It's hard to listen to Britten/Pears with a straight face after this.

[@andrewdaws7275]

It just gets better over the years

[@TheSpesUnica]

Fantastic! So versatile a singer, and the Britten/Pears parody is just amazing!

[@zorromanaus7768]

Espetacular e fantastico Dudley ,talentos assim dificilnenre veremos no mundo

[@SOUNDsculptures]

Moore was a comic genius. 'Little Miss Britten' is just brilliant. If only he were around today, perhaps we wouldn't have to suffer the plethora of total comedy mediocrity that has taken over the TV. Thanks for posting this.

[@LudwigDeLarge]

Didn't expect to see as ASMR creator here :p

[@Zedwoman]

Fantastic parody of Surabaya Johnny, which I performe many times back in the day.

[@louiecastle]

Such joy! Glorious.

[@JohnSmith-fr1xm]

Sadly so few can understand how brilliant that Britten parody is. Genius

[@DieFlabbergast]

And the Weill parody.

[@treesny]

I wonder what Lotte Lenya made of the Weill/Brecht parody! Moore manages to cram bits of a half-dozen or more of their best-known songs into his pretty broad parody. But the Britten/Pears parody is in another realm. I'm not surprised that Britten (who was notoriously thin-skinned) didn't appreciate Moore taking such deadly aim at his compositional mannerisms. Pears was presumably secure enough as a performer (which is not quite so precarious a calling as that of a composer) to enjoy Moore's very funny send-up.

[@MrZORROish]

certain "artistes" can be very precious

[@bertaga41]

Utterly sublime!

[@charlottelord5738]

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant!

[@mattbod]

Apparently Peter Pears, who in most accounts has been described as a nice bloke with a sense of humour, was flattered and amused by this but prickly Britten was furious and never spoke to Moore again.

[@lionelalberts2650]

TOTALLY TOTALLY BRILLIANT

[@michaelgibson4705]

Did Joel Gray see this before he created the M C in Cabaret?Dudley Moore was a clever comedian and an accomplished musical performer

[@andrewdaws7275]

Priceless!

[@dmcg8400]

Obscene talent. Phenomenal!

[@AntPDC]

Brilliant!

[@neverendinglove2527]

I love him

[@Currabell]

Incredible.

[@mckavitt13]

Brilliant! What a tragedy he became so gravely ill w what would deprive him of just this... long before his untimely, nay, infathomable death. Fondest memories. He could (& did) make Monty Python look like the Muppets! RIP, Sir

[@Londonfogey]

Yes, taken from us far too soon.

[@anthonyclark4732]

No need to rubbish Monty Python. They were good too.

[@mckavitt13]

@@anthonyclark4732 I was "rubbishing" the Muppets!

[@MrZORROish]

MP was really very amateurish - which was part of its charm at the time, but actually truth be told, hasn't worn well with age but relies on nostalgia - Dudley on the other hand is very professional and well crafted despite the spontaneity which is why it makes us laugh without us remembering we're supposed to laugh

[@JoanCrawfordEmmadora]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This is a debt unpaid to Ben and Peter. Amusing parody but not without its antecedents.

[@maximXX]

😂 Brilliant 😅

[@frenchpizza9725]

Ohh how I miss your face. Your laugh. Hope to see you on the other side. Sky World ❤️

[@philiposhea5285]

The introduction is by Jonathan Miller

[@DanielHewsonPianist]

@MichaSchlechtriem Agreed

[@jamesjonesrocket]

he's actually a good singer when he's not taking the piss!

[@WBRachwal]

His imitation of Pears is hilarious! Not my favorite voice ever. There is always a lot of truth in imitation.

[@dontwantadamnchannel]

Ain't that something...

[@rock-a-dayjonny7446]

How old is the maestro? I didn't realize he was working as an adult in the black and white days

[@MuscleDaddyCMH]

It's okay. Pears thought this was hilarious

[@N_Loco_Parenthesis]

What did Britten and Pears make of this?

[@rjohn4143]

Alan Bennett, writing about his own play "Habit of Art": "Britten and Peter Pears came disastrously to Beyond the Fringe some time in 1961. Included in the show was a parody of Britten written by Dudley Moore, in which he sang and accompanied himself in ‘Little Miss Muffet’ done in a Pears and Britten-like way. I’m not sure that this in itself would have caused offence: it shouldn’t have as, like all successful parodies, there was a good deal of affection in it and it was funny in its own right. But Dudley (who may have known them slightly and certainly had met them) unthinkingly entitled the piece ‘Little Miss Britten’. . . . with the offending title printed in the programme, they were reported to be deeply upset and Dudley went into outer darkness as probably did the rest of us."

[@janeym]

GOETHE.

[@adude9882]

The Hoppla bit is straight out of Pirate Jenny.

[@jamesmather2839]

This was apparently loved by Peter Pears and hated by Ben Britten!

[@atomkraftteddy]

Und so was umfragen Volkswagen?

[@strutherhill]

Why Goethe?

[@rexmundi2237]

All Miller had to do to sound like a posh twit is just be himself. Been doing it ever since.

[@JimTLonW6]

I believe Britten didn't have much of a sense of humour, so I wonder what he might have made of this parody; it's actually rather better than most of Britten in my opinion!

[@elton1981]

I've heard he was furious.

[@had300]

Then your opinion shows no real musical sense...

[@anthonyclark4732]

Try listening to Spring Symphony or A Midsummer Night's Dream and you may change your mind.

[@theblueacorn]

No wonder Cook was so jealous of him.

[@Londonfogey]

According to his biography, Peter Cook could effortlessly do anything he put his hand to, EXCEPT anything musical. He couldn't even sing a note. That's probably why he was so jealous of Dud's talent.

[@JackRance1910]

... the irony is that Moore in fact had inherently a better voice than Pears. Notice that here Moore manages the arpeggios etc. much better than Pears could ever manage. Perhaps that was lost on Pears...

[@clareredfarn8613]

See also the parodies of Faure and Schubert here kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqTJeYRmp9F3eJY