2005-2010  Sixth Station – still searching for Redemption

In August 2005, Harvey was appointed superintendent minister for the Croydon Circuit, and Carol and he moved into the Manse in Shirley with me and my bow.

Although I was taken to Parson’s Noyse practices, usually by bus and train, I began to notice that Harvey’s ‘heart’ was not in his playing.  His body was still stuck in an academic ‘mind-centred’ mode.

To my surprise, Harvey was spending more time at the piano keyboard than with me!  He was drawn to various pieces associated with our old friend Frederick Delius.  Was Harvey still obsessed with his Delius/Fenby episode back in the ‘60s?

He managed to play some very complex piano works, notably ‘Stalham River’ by E J Moeran, a Delius disciple, affectionately known as ‘Old Raspberry’ by Peter Warlock and friends!

I remember being played in the village of Stalham, Norfolk, in the 1840s, when John Richardson (Harvey’s great grandfather) was a Circuit preacher there.

(E J Moeran)

Towards the end of his time in Croydon, Harvey submitted an Essay to the London College of Music, earning him their Licenciate diploma LLCM.  I couldn’t help feeling that this, along with his Master’s Degree from Sussex University, was some kind of compensation for failing the LRAM diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in 1965.

Harvey’s body was still very unsettled; was he still searching for affirmation or redemption?  Did he still need to know he was accepted in his musical/theological ambiguities?  Even his move from being a District Chairman to Circuit Superintendent caused bodily tension in him – I could tell.  Was his body still wrestling with, and reacting to those ‘Atonement’ theories he was expected to preach about?

The LLCM Essay has the title ‘Delius the Crucified?’

It is an in-depth analysis of the relationship between Delius and Fenby.  It attempts to trace Delius’s spirituality, which is centred on the thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche, along with a comparison of Fenby’s mystical Roman Catholicism and Delius’s ‘nihilistic’ devotion to the Death of God-philosopher.

Certainly, Music and Theology come together here, but it’s so ‘mind centred’ and far too analytical.  However, there are hints of influential emotions and feelings, if you look and listen hard enough!

If you, kind reader, would like to have a look at Harvey’s Essay ‘Delius the Crucified?’, please let me know.  I would be happy to send it via email.