Stephanie Martin

I have visited Elgar’s grave three times over the past seven years and it’s always a moving experience – this very modest gravestone in an out-of-the-way Roman Catholic church in Little Malvern. He shares the stone with his wife Alice who predeceased him, and the grave is always well-kept with floral tributes, though nothing like the monuments to other English composers in Westminster abbey. In Malvern I also visited the Priory, and though I looked at the hills, the pouring rain and my cold deterred me from climbing this time…

We drove to Hereford on Thursday arriving for a morning coffee for the Historic Churches Trust held in Hereford town hall. Preserves, jelly, fudge, plants and baked goods were on sale to support the preservation of old churches in Herefordshire. The Mayor was there, yes, and the Bishop and the Dean of the cathedral along with many other folk from hither and yon.  Each table was carefully set with pink sweet peas.   Our next stop was a visit to Plas Gwyn, the house where Elgar lived from 1904-11. Renee happens to be good friends with the current owner, Timothy Day, who made us… Read More »Plas Gwyn

I managed to pick up a lousy cold and stayed in bed all day Tuesday, unfortunately missing the wonderful trip to Lichfield to meet the Director of Music and to hear the first evensong of Michaelmas at the Cathedral. Sigh. But the silver lining of all this is that I had hours of reading – Dora Penny’s autobiography, Percy Young’s biography of Alice Elgar, and Housman’s Shropshire Lad. Thanks to Renee for nursing me back to health with toast and tea, lots of rest and scrumpy (Hereford apple cider.)  I felt much better today and spent several hours composing at Elgar’s piano (just about… Read More »Minor setback

Here’s a typical Sunday in Wolverhampton. I walked to St. Michael’s church to hear Renee’s bell ringing band call the faithful to church. They only mustered 5 players (there had been 11 at rehearsal, but you see there’s no ale after church) but the 5 bells still create some very interesting, mournful patterns which I found easier to follow. I bussed over to St. Peter’s, the large collegiate church downtown where the concert had taken place the previous evening. The men and boys and Fr Wright led us through “Back to Church Sunday.” When Renee said we had tickets for… Read More »Go Wolves!

Renee organized a Saturday music lunch party. She prepared all the food herself (well, OK, I cut some veggies, but that hardly counts) including three choices of pudding! The musical highlight of the afternoon was a performance of Elgar’s violin sonata played by Michael Jones and David Gregory (David plays in the Birmingham S.O. ) performed of course on Elgar’s piano. They also played some lighter Elgar for us, and I was pressed into playing a duet arrangement of Salut d’Amour with Mike Smith. (I felt like a character from a Jane Austin novel, apologizing for my lack of talent in such… Read More »Elgar and more Elgar

Birmingham Town Hall is a must stop on the pilgrimage route of any oratorio lover. Here Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s Dream and The Kingdom and many other great works had their first performances. I stopped by for a look. Last November I heard Gerontius here sung by the marvelous Birmingham choir Ex cathedra. I was on my way to King’s Norton on the train for an appointment with Frances Badger. Her Grandmother sang in the famous Sheffield Chorus conducted by Henry Coward who travelled to Canada in 1908. Frances was so gracious and showed me her extensive archive which her Dad… Read More »Memories of 1908

  The parish church in Wenlock was adorned for a wedding with beautiful bouquets. Over at the abbey, Nature was in charge of the decorating committee.

 Shropshire’s escarpment inspired a poem by Housman and a song cycle by Vaughan Williams. I’m standing on the top of this stoney cliff and behind me is the wonderful unspoiled farmland – the most prominent sounds are sheep, dogs, cows and many birds in the trees below. Renee and I drove here to visit the charming village of Much Wenlock (as opposed to Little Wenlock) and to see its many attractions: the local butcher shop, where you can buy sausage and very tasty meat pies, and Cornish pasties.  Nearby the neighbourhood Tortie got a nice pat from me since she looks… Read More »On Wenlock Edge

Last night I was able to attend the bell ringing practice in the tower of St. Michael’s and All Angels Church in Wolverhampton. I’ve attended practice three times now, so I’m beginning to understand something about this amazingly complicated and very English form of music making. Several of the ringers allowed me to interview them on camera afterward in the local pub (there are two pubs within a block of the church, and having a pint after practice is an integral  part of the experience) and they said some very wise things about bell ringing. It is a complicated undertaking, and ringers… Read More »Band of Bellringers

I arrived safe and sound here in Wolverhampton and, with my gracious host, enjoyed a lovely evening walk in the park and a pint of real ale while listening to the not-so-far-off cries of the Wolves fans – that’s the local soccer team. I’m staying in the house where Percy Young wrote many of his books – both the musicological ones and the ones about his beloved football team, the Wolverhampton Wanderers (alias the Wolves.) I am allowed to play Elgar’s piano in the front room – a piano given to Percy Young by Elgar’s daughter. Puchased by Elgar in 1902, this piano… Read More »Arrival