The Wonderful Wesleys!
If I dropped the word ‘Wesley’ into a dinner-party conversation, there is a reasonable chance that someone would say ‘Methodist’. ….but maybe not much more. In fact within a relatively-small family there was a large amount of (largely-unknown) talent.
Many people know the phrase at the beginning of the Methodist Hymn Book
Rev John Wesley
which says ‘Methodism was born in song’, and this was largely due to the brothers John and Charles, who were both Anglican Ministers but decided to set up a new church …and we now know this as Methodism.
The two brothers showed a considerable appreciation of music, as well as the emotional effect which music can have within worship. John (1703-1791) was a friend of Pepusch, who arranged the music for ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ .
Charles (1707-1788) had two sons (Charles Jnr., and Samuel) who as children, gave musical concerts at their father’s home in Marylebone.
Charles .Jnr (1757-1834) could, before he was three, play on the harpsichord, any tune he heard, adding a correct bass. He was an organist at various London churches, and composed choral and organ works. The promise of this child prodigy was never completely fulfilled.
His brother, Samuel (1766-1837) was also a gifted child. By eight he had composed an oratorio. He became the finest organ soloist of his day, and was a great extemporizer, composer of choral music, he was one of the first to recognise and promote the music of J.S.Bach, and was a friend of Mendelssohn. In his late teens he temporarily joined the Roman Catholic Church, and at 21 he fell into a street excavation, and was incapacitated for some seven years.
Samuel had a son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) who certainly continued the talent. He was a chorister of the Chapel Royal, and then organist of three London churches, where he showed his expertise in extemporization. Prime Minister Gladstone recommended that Queen Victoria give him a civil list pension of £100 per year. He is still well remembered by church musicians for his anthems, hymns, and services.
Another child of Samuel Wesley, was Eliza Wesley (1819-1895), who was 40 years a church organist and published correspondence from Bach to her father. Other brothers included…R Glenn Wesley,who was an organist at the Cathedral of Methodism ; Rev Charley Wesley, sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal; Matthew Erasmus Wesley, who was treasurer of the Royal College of Organists; Rev Francis Gwynne Wesley who bequeathed a scholarship to the Royal College of Music for the study of Extemporizing; and Gertrude Wesley who was a soprano and harpist……when the Wesley line finished.
SOME FAMILY!
Ayr is Organised!
Archie Thom, the Organist and Choirmaster at Holy Trinity EpiscopalChurch in Ayr has passed the following information to me…..
This an advance notice to alert you to a very special event to take place in Holy Trinity Church, Ayr, on Saturday 28th February 2009 at 7.30pm.
The magnificent new organ in Holy Trinity (Allen Renaissance Quantum 345C, installed December 2008) will feature in a recital for the first time.
The recitalist will be Bengt Nilsson, organist of Gothenburg Cathedral, Sweden.
The diocese of Glasgow and Galloway is twinned with the Lutheran diocese of Gothenburg, and Holy Trinity Church choir have been to sing Choral Evensong in Gothenburg Cathedral. It is therefore a very significant event to welcome such a distinguished visitor to Ayr.
Please forward this email to anyone who may be interested. Any help with publicising the event will be very welcome.
Yours
Archie Thom
…………….This is a lovely building, and if anyone is thinking of going down for this, we may be able to arrange transport if there are enough drivers and cars.
Praise Indeed!
When we first went to St Mary’s Cathedral Glasgow, we found a super tradition. After the recession of Choir and Clergy, almost everyone stays in their seats while the closing Organ Voluntary is being played. At the conclusion, everyone claps.
There is something lovely about this. It is in strong contrast to many Churches where I have played, where people could not get out quickly enough. (Maybe it was my playing which drove them out!). I was often left playing to empty pews, after all the practice I had put in!
We are very lucky at St Mary’s in the tremendous music we are able to hear, and the vocal and instrumental available, and I think they know we appreciate this, but…………..
There has been a rather strange suggestion that… ‘(the Provost and Musicians) would prefer the congregation to applaud after services only when people feel they cannot help themselves!’
Perhaps then, we should be issued with numbered cards to vote, or see how far a Mexican Clap would spread, from an initial twitch of the hands!
We clap at baptisms, we clapped at the anniversary service for the Bishop, we clap at weddings, we clap when we are happy.
No….let’s keep a lovely tradition.. or maybe you disagree….let me know
And again….and again….and again
Many of our hymns have a refrain which follows every verse. Now this a surely a strange word to use, considering the other meaning which is …to NOT do something!….).
It is actually an organist’s nightmare! To keep me in touch with where I am in accompanying a hymn, I keep listening to the words of the last line of each verse, just before the refrain comes along. I remember once losing the place, and was unsure where I was in the hymn. Luckily I guessed correctly and stopped at the right place.
On one other occasion, I started playing another verse and when I noticed, I just took the opportunity to extemporise, and was complimented later for it….talk about serendipity!
But why do we have refrains?…….I don’t think a refrain, when repeated so often, adds anything to the value of the wordage, and smacks slightly of Sunday School Choruses….but maybe someone has other ideas!
‘Angel voices, ever singing…’
At Aberfoyle, we sang one of the most satisfying tunes in any hymn book, as far as part-singing is concerned. It has a tremendous ‘vertical’ feel about it, in that every chord is wonderful, and each part feels important. Even the repeated notes, when they occur, are not boring. As your part remains constant, the other parts ’slither’ in steps through a sucession of rich chords.
The words were written by Rev Francis Pott who was born in 1832 in Southwark, taking Holy Orders in 1856. He wrote several original hymns including the above. However he is better-known for his translations. He was on a committee which compiled Hymns Ancient and Modern. He retired in 1891 with deafness, and died in 1909.
The tune was written by Edwin George Monk (no relation to W.H.Monk), who was born in Somerset in 1819. He was organist and choir-master at Radley College, Oxford, followed by a move north to be organist at York Minster, where he stayed for nearly 25 years. He wrote church music, and he spent much time as editor of hymn books, and chant books (remember them?). He died back in Radley in 1900.
Now if he had only called it ‘ANGELUS VOICES, EVER SINGING’ !
Notes Tremendous!
Have been listening again to a recording made by Frikki Walker of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. It was his first CD (named as is the title of this post) and has a wealth of good ’solid’ music, which allows him to show off the instrument to its best. Recordings were made in May 2006.
Some are particular favourites of mine, and whilst I cannot even approach the playing-skill displayed, I always enjoyed having-a-go at playing them…
- ‘Nun Danket Alle Gott’, arranged as a chorale improvisation by Karg-Elert
- ‘Elegy’ by George Thalben Ball. I have a recording of this made in a south of England village organ, and it sounds so different….actually I prefer the more-gentle registration of the English organ (but don’t tell Frikki!)
- C.S.Lang’s ‘Tuba Tune in D Major’ looks easy on paper, but not so easy in the execution!
- He contributed his own ‘Oxford Elegy’, a gentle little piece with some marvellous original snatches of tunes….which would easily pass the Old Grey Whistle Test.
- The final piece is well-known to almost every church-goer. It is the noisy and fiery ‘Toccata from the 5th Organ Symphony’ by Widor.
I would love to put some of them as links here, but if you would really like to hear the CD, you can borrow mine, or (even better) buy one from the Cathedral!
P.S. If he brings out a CD with his own compositions, perhaps he could call it ‘Voices Tremendous’.
STAINER, JOHN
There is probably not a single Church in the UK which doesn’t have some music of John Stainer’s, and most of this would have been dog-eared copies of ‘The Crucifixion’ (I even had a choir where they all used Tonic Solfa editions!)
He was born in Southwark in 1840, his father being a school-master, with a musical interest. Actually he could play piano, organ and flute. The house was full of music including a chamber organ, and John was taught from a very young age by his father. Things moved very quickly for him:-
- He became a probationer in St Paul’s Cathedral at the age of 8
- a full member at 9. He was also learning the organ and occasionally played at St Paul’s.
- By the age of 14 he had been appointed as organist at a local church in St Paul’s Wharf.
- at 16 he became Organist at Tenbury College, in Worcs for a couple of years under Ouseley
- at 19 he was awarded Batchelor of Music
- by 20 he was appointed organist at Magdalen College, Oxford
- by 21 he became organist to the University
- by 24 he completed a Batchelor of Arts Degree
- by 25 he got his Doctorate in Music after writing ‘Gideon’
- by 26 he got his M.A. from Oxford
- by 32 he became organist at St Paul’s Cathedral
- by 42 he was appointed, additionally, as Government Inspector of Music in Elementary Schools
- by 48 he became Sir John, but he felt that his eyesight was failing (just like Bach and Handel!) and he resigned as organist at St Paul’s.
- by 49 he accepted the professorship of music at Oxford, for 10 years, but he retired at 59 due to arguments with the authorities
- at 60 he went on holiday and in Verona he died of a heart attack. His body was returned to Oxford for burial…
AND YOU THOUGHT HE JUST WROTE ‘The Crucifixion’ !!
SOMETHING FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
An electronic organ with two keyboards and one-octave pedal-board, is available to take away free gratis from Buchlyvie Village Hall, by contacting Sandra McNee on 01360 850220. Give her a buzz, and then take a run out there and try it!
EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG!
THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM A POST I DID EARLIER THIS YEAR (Feb 17th) ON ANOTHER BLOG BUT I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED…..
Evensong at the Cathedral was special tonight…. the choir numbered 50, of present and past choristers who had gathered together to celebrate. The music was selected by Bernard Porter, a previous organist who was 80 years old this weekend, but certainly does not look it!
He was a pleasure to sing under, with gentle criticism and much praise, a wonderful musical knowledge, but who used and practised his skill and craft with a wonderful under-stating. The youngest and most inexperienced chorister gained from being with him, and even those of who have sung for many years still came away knowing a little more about the works we were singing.
Heavens….this seems terribly like an obituary! No, he is still alive and kicking, with an impish grin. I asked him what he will do for the next 20 years, and he said that it will all seem a bit ‘downhill from now on’. So different from those musicians who are so full of themselves, with a puffed-out ego.
So let me add my congratulations…well done Bernard!
