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1837-1848 In the hands of the Master of the Queen’s Musick!
After four years of ‘being made use of’, I was finally rescued by the Master of the (new) Queen’s Musick, Franz Cramer. Of all the luminaries around John Ella, Franz Cramer was the only one who had that special Schleiermacher ‘Stimmung’ quality which had now become firmly ingrained into my frame and sounding board. And…
1833-1837 – Changing hands again!
Samuel Wesley told the truth about my being stolen to his close friend Vincent Novello. Perhaps it was at a Freemason’s Lodge Meeting, where all manner of secrets are shared. To cut a long story short – or to bring this over-long Norfolk ‘symphony’ to its coda – Sir George Smart had ‘cut a deal’…
1828 onwards – a new world, with ‘stimmung’
For a couple of years Isaac and I travelled relentlessly from one Methodist meeting to another across swathes of north Norfolk, accompanying the hearty singing of these well-meaning people, in Meeting Houses, chapels, farmer’s barns, in beer shops, public houses, and often in the open air. These were people who had clearly found a voice…
Isaac has to deal with Discordant feelings!
When we entered The Black Swan, we interrupted a Methodist Class Meeting led by Benjamin Gregory, a charismatic character, very popular among the poor in the area. Isaac’s wife Esther liked him, and it was she who had arranged for this little Class Meeting to be held in their pub. I was intrigued by what…
Enter the Richardson family
While Samuel Wesley and I were caught up in this ecstatic musical crucifixion, I was aware of a young tall bearded man standing at the back of the communal room, who was clearly absorbed in our playing. However, his body language was a mixture of enraptured admiration and intense anger focussed on the disturbed man…
1827 – Meeting Samuel Wesley
In the summer of 1827, back in England, Sir George took me to Norwich to take part in the fashionable Norfolk and Norwich Triennial Festival. He had been engaged to lead and conduct a performance of G F Handel’s oratorio ‘Jeptha’ in the St Peter Mancroft Church. After the final rehearsal, we went to visit…
1825 – My bizarre encounter with Beethoven
My new association with Sir George Smart, and his playing of me, profoundly resonated with the pervasive and new ‘Romantic’ way of thinking sweeping across Europe in the wake of Napoleon’s demise. I felt caught up in something momentous, of huge significance for all of Western culture and thought. An extraordinary event This affected me…
Moving on after 1815 – Changing Hands
I was played very little during the next few years – left in my velvet-lined case and feeling distinctly redundant! Lady Priscilla was heavily engaged in social parties, gala dances, soirees and the like, and when the Vienna Congress was finally over in 1815, we moved to Florence, Italy where Lord Burghersh was now a…
A Variation – Beethoven’s God/Faith/Spirituality
I was profoundly affected by the sight and the sounds of the deaf composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, struggling through that evening at the grand Congress concert in the Hofburg in November 1814; unable to hear his creations, ‘giving in’ to Michael Umlauf while fumbling through the pages of his manuscripts. I had an inkling, a…
1814 -1815 – Beethoven & the Congress of Vienna
Enter Ludwig van Beethoven, the monumental musician of the age. My remarkable encounter with him came about after Lord & Lady Burghersch had travelled from Berlin to the Congress of Vienna, which lasted from November 1814 until June 1815. This extraordinary gathering was convened after the downfall of Napoleon, with the aim of providing a…