Changing hands yet again & back to Norfolk

Early in 1845 my friends Isaac and Esther Richardson back in Norfolk had seen a newspaper advertisement for a female domestic servant in the home of a prominent London musician.  Many local women and girls were taking work in London, and it did cross my mind whether Isaac had had an ‘inkling’ that I might be found at Franz Cramer’s house!  Who knows?

Mary Ann Richardson was employed at this time because Franz was very ill, and Mrs Cramer needed extra help around the house.  Mary Ann was the ‘apple of her father Isaac’s eye’ and it had pained him having to let her leave home and fend for herself in London. And Isaac still felt the pain of losing me earlier.

Franz Cramer often allowed Mary Ann to take me out of my case, and play me. There was something reminiscent of my very first owner, Lady Priscilla Burghersh, who like Mary Ann then was only 16 years old, but her domestic serving status couldn’t be further from that of the Duke of Wellington’s young niece. However, her handling of me and my bow had more of the sensitivity of her father Isaac and less of Lady Priscilla’s easy-going nonchalance.  Mind you, her repertoire was extremely limited, confined mainly to hymn tunes and folk-songs so familiar to Isaac and his north Norfolk Methodist class-members.

(Johann Frederick Lampe)

Franz was intrigued to discover that some of these Methodist hymn-tunes were simplified versions of colourful, elaborate and highly decorative melodies originally composed by Johann Frederick Lampe (ca1703-1751), who had been a prominent musician at the theatre in Covent Garden and a good friend of Samuel Wesley’s father Charles.  And Franz was very familiar with his work.

Mary Ann seemed very happy to learn some of these original Lampe melodies with all their additional trills, ornaments and ‘scotch snaps’.

When Franz Cramer died in July 1848, Mary Ann was surprised to find that I and my bow had been bequeathed to her in his Will.  I was ‘changing hands’ yet again!

And not only that, we were back off to Mary Ann’s home in Norfolk, as Mrs Cramer was now unable to keep any domestic staff.  However, there was enough money for us to travel home on Mr Stevenson’s world-changing invention – a steam train!