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We visited 5 churches today. This manuscript is housed in a glass case in St. Clement Dane. Thomas Smart wrote the chant, written with treble and figured bass, and it’s suggested that Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) probably sang this music since he was a regular worshipper here at that time. We continued on to the Temple Church (recommended by a blog reader from Pennsylvania) which is a popular concert venue set up in collegiate style. Where will the performers of next month’s Monteverdi Vespers set up? We sort of happened upon St. Andrew’s by the Wardrobe after a pub lunch on… Read More »London church crawl

Sunday afternoon I chased down musical services on the Underground (yes, mom) just before a transit strike came into effect. As I popped up above ground in Westminster, Democracy Village (shown at left) paved the way to the Abbey. (One passerby said these folks have been camped out in tents since the war in Afghanistan began – is that 9 years? ) Music at the Abbey was stellar of course, 22 boys and a dozen men. The organ scholar played a transcription of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” after Evensong. Was this suitably sacred music? (one of my organ students would argue… Read More »Prayers and protests

SUNDAY: 11 am Mass at All Saints Margaret Street, London – my second visit to this famous Anglo-catholic church in the heart of downtown London. My first was in 1995, so my perspective (now, as a St. Mary Magian) is quite different. I found myself experiencing and observing the service in a very different way.  Today we celebrated both Dedication and a 50th wedding anniversary. This might seem strange but the Priest gave a very compelling sermon drawing many parallels between marriage and the church – and the perfect hymn concluded the service…”from heav’n he came and sought her to… Read More »Feast of the Dedication

I ‘m feeling a little sad to leave Wolverhampton which was beginning to feel a bit like home. I got quite used to hanging out in that quiet room with Elgar’s piano, and being so well looked after by my host, and enjoying a pint with my new bell-ringing friends. Even the local University architecture reminds me of home – doesn’t this look like Vari Hall at York U? We took the train into London and had tickets to a fabulous string quartet concert at St. John’s Smith Square, a famous 18th-century church which is now used exclusively as a… Read More »Onward to London

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